The 70s Called And Does Not Want This Stuff Back

We stopped by one of the biggest automotive museums in town.  They also have mind-boggling displays of historical electronics and other items.  In a corner, unmarked, there was this:

In an instant, I knew what these were.  Memories came pouring back.  When we were growing up, my Dad worked at Brookhaven National Lab on Long Island (NY), and I would get dropped off to visit sometimes, usually bringing by a pizza at 10 or 11 p.m.  I think it was part of the divorced parents swapping the kid for the weekend.

The first time I ever got to write computer code was on these huge machines.  About age 14.  Not exactly this machine, but one of its close cousins.  I could type in BASIC code on a huge, bulky terminal and get a response from the room full of computers with old reel-to-reel storage.  Of course, I wrote character generators for Dungeons & Dragons.  Somewhere I still have a few of those old sheets. browned after 40+ years.  Barely readable the last time they surfaced.

On the right is the punch card reader.  For 30 years after those days, my Dad would usually write to me by tucked two or three punchcards into an envelope with short notes on them.


 

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