Gotta love the old computers...

[Matthew]

Here's what went into doing math in the Navy in the 50's:

http://www.eugeneleeslover.com/VIDEOS/fire_control_computer_2.html

There's some other cool info on that site, too.

 

[RJM62]

Gotta love those old Navy training films, too. We used a lot of them in high school, along with various Navy textbooks. I'd say the Navy materials were supplemental textbooks for one-half to three-quarters of our shop courses. (The AC-65.x and AC-43.x were the primary textbooks for all four years).

The military, and especially the Navy, has a training program for anything you possibly could want to learn. They teach subjects much more efficiently than civilian schools, in my opinion.

-Rich

 

[RickH]

Speaking of old computers...here's the 1st one I wrote a program for.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_1620

 

[Ghery]

And the first one I wrote a program for -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_360

360/67, to be precise.

 

[weilke]

You guys are old !

 

[gkainz]

mine ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIVAC_1100/2200_series altho I really can't recall the exact model, as it may have been some one-off specialty boxes for the Navy. They used a combination of Sperry Rand, Burroughs, DEC PDP, and Goodyear (yes, the tire/blimp guys) computers in the sim labs. One of them - I think it was the Burroughs IIRC you had to arrive a half hour earlier than your lab time slot on Monday morning to boot up - the bootstrap was toggled in via toggle switches on the front panel ... pages and pages of bootstrap instructions. One mistake and you started over...

 

[Matthew]

And the first one I wrote a program for -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_360

360/67, to be precise.

Pretty sure that's the same for me, too.

What I thought was really neat about that Navy film is that the computers were analog and mechanical. They just worked. I know it's all electronics and software now, but still. Somebody had to really put some thought into creating those mechanical calculators.

 

[AdamZ]

Ha I used to represent a guy named J. Presper Eckert. anyone ever hear of him?

Thats him standing up on the left. Also FWIW I always adimre problem solvers. The guys that come up with things like the fire computer.

 

[gkainz]

Ha I used to represent a guy named J. Presper Eckert. anyone ever hear of him?

Thats him standing up on the left. Also FWIW I always adimre problem solvers. The guys that come up with things like the fire computer.

Oh yeah, ENIAC ... predecessor to the UNIVAC I mentioned ... hmmm, actually redecessor or at least partial contributor to most of what modern computing is today.

 

[murphey]

Gotta love those old Navy training films, too. We used a lot of them in high school, along with various Navy textbooks. I'd say the Navy materials were supplemental textbooks for one-half to three-quarters of our shop courses. (The AC-65.x and AC-43.x were the primary textbooks for all four years).

The military, and especially the Navy, has a training program for anything you possibly could want to learn. They teach subjects much more efficiently than civilian schools, in my opinion.

-Rich

And the Navy's "Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators", 1960 (rev 1965) is still the Gold Standard for all/most introductory aerodynamics courses. Math doesn't really change that much (unless you're into quantum physics, string theory or ....)

 

[Cap'n Jack]

And the Navy's "Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators", 1960 (rev 1965) is still the Gold Standard for all/most introductory aerodynamics courses. Math doesn't really change that much (unless you're into quantum physics, string theory or ....)

Even in quantum physics, the math is the same. The way we apply the math is simply different.

 

[Ghery]

You guys are old !

My kids say that, too.

 

[RickH]

Ha I used to represent a guy named J. Presper Eckert. anyone ever hear of him?

Yep. I also have a local friend who is a nephew of John Atanasoff.

 

[brcase]

This was my 2nd computer after I sold my Commodore 64. with the HDD, Tape Drive and teletype printer.

http://bytecollector.com/dg_systems.htm

Brian

 

[MadseasoN]

I can't compete with you guys. My first:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_TI-99/4A

Now days I use a dual proc quad core with 16GB RAM. It's a bit faster than the TI-99.

 

[RickH]

This was my first microcomputer...1976.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SWTPC6800_Computer.jpg

 

[flyersfan31]

Some great old stuff is described in wikipedia. The Commodore PET - I remember playing a flight simulator on that. Text based. We thought it was AMAZING!

 

[Trapper John]

Some great old stuff is described in wikipedia. The Commodore PET - I remember playing a flight simulator on that. Text based. We thought it was AMAZING!

That's like a trip in the wayback machine.

We used to screw around on a PLATO terminal in the late '70s playing primitive games. It could display graphics, which was amazing at the time. Had a tank of Helium (or maybe compressed air) attached to the terminal for some reason, maybe cooling...


Trapper John

 

[Geico266]

You guys are old !

I used one of these!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abacus

 

[ScottM]

That's like a trip in the wayback machine.

We used to screw around on a PLATO terminal in the late '70s playing primitive games. It could display graphics, which was amazing at the time. Had a tank of Helium (or maybe compressed air) attached to the terminal for some reason, maybe cooling...


Trapper John

I played on one of those too. I also had access to a IBM 360 via an acoustic coupled modem. The computer was where Grant works now, I wonder if they still have it (NOT!). But my first PC was a DEC MicroVax. It also had a port to a Cray XMP that we would run some models on from time to time. The Cray was in a building next to mine in Albuquerque. We also had several other VAX computers and a SI Graphics machine that we would prep color animation on for presentations. When I left government work all I had access to was the brand spanking new 8086 IBM PC, it was a bit of a let down.

 

[Matthew]

That's like a trip in the wayback machine.

We used to screw around on a PLATO terminal in the late '70s playing primitive games. It could display graphics, which was amazing at the time. Had a tank of Helium (or maybe compressed air) attached to the terminal for some reason, maybe cooling...


Trapper John

Wow - I forgot all about PLATO. I used to goof around on one of those things, too.

 

[Ghery]

I played on one of those too. I also had access to a IBM 360 via an acoustic coupled modem. The computer was where Grant works now, I wonder if they still have it (NOT!). But my first PC was a DEC MicroVax. It also had a port to a Cray XMP that we would run some models on from time to time. The Cray was in a building next to mine in Albuquerque. We also had several other VAX computers and a SI Graphics machine that we would prep color animation on for presentations. When I left government work all I had access to was the brand spanking new 8086 IBM PC, it was a bit of a let down.

I lived on a VAX 11/780 at Martin Marietta in the early 1980s. When I interviewed with General Dynamics I asked what they had in the way of computers for analysis work and they had an Apple II. One of many reasons I didn't go to work for them.

 

[OtisAir]

for all you programers, what is used to write iTouch applications? I'm not a programmer at all, but thought it would be fun to tinker around with baby apps for these things.

 

[MadseasoN]

for all you programers, what is used to write iTouch applications? I'm not a programmer at all, but thought it would be fun to tinker around with baby apps for these things.

http://developer.apple.com/iphone/index.action

I've never written apps for iPhone but I've tinkered with Windows Mobile apps. There's probably an iTouch/Phone SDK for Visual Studio available.

 

[jtheune]

I lived on a VAX 11/780 at Martin Marietta in the early 1980s. When I interviewed with General Dynamics I asked what they had in the way of computers for analysis work and they had an Apple II. One of many reasons I didn't go to work for them.

Don't know who you talked to but I worked for Gen Dy in the early-late 80s and we were just moving from a 11/780 to microVax and we also had some SGI workstations as well as sun workstations.

 

[Ghery]

Don't know who you talked to but I worked for Gen Dy in the early-late 80s and we were just moving from a 11/780 to microVax and we also had some SGI workstations as well as sun workstations.

This was in 1982 (?) and it was the EMC group in San Diego. Coupled with some other more important things that happened during and leading up to the interview, there wasn't enough tea in China to get me to work there. Poorest treatment I've received in my entire career on an interview trip.