Actually the one I learned on had another hopper for a completed deck that you could do a few things with like duplicate a deck

at the top of the card.



Just noticed that one doesn't have a drum on it. That means it isn't 'programmed' to tab to proper columns or have them be alpha or numeric.

I worked for a while at a university computing center, beginning in 1974. It was while I was there that we were upgraded from 026 to 029.

The upgrade did provide some improvements but in trying to recall what they were, I draw a complete blank.

commands in my freshman "Intro to data processing" course. Does "COBOL" bring back memories? Our instructor (until he got drafted!) wrote programs that printed out digital reproductions of P!ayboy Playmates. Different times.

PERL was the first language I really "liked" though.

Honeywell DDP-124, which used a Friden Flexowriter as an input device (with had a 5-level paper tape reader/punch attached). This was a LARGE system - it had the expanded memory (all the way to 16K, using hand-woven core memory modules), and a 5Mb disk drive the size of a washing machine, with heads the size of a quarter that flew a visible distance above the platters. Full of mechanical relays, and used a slightly larger 'guard platter' on the bottom, with spaced notches in it for timing via a light pipe and sensor.

When we replaced that system, everything had to be listed in a government surplus list in case any other agency might have a use for any of it. The Smithsonian contacted us and asked for the Flexowriter, since they didn't have one in their collection. So, somewhere in the 'Nation's Attic' is a piece of antique computer equipment that I maintained for a few years!

Also worked on a (very large) custom-made system that had 10 7-foot-tall racks, all hardwired, 5 to a side, with a walkway between the two sides so we could get inside the machine to work on it. 2 of the racks were stacks of power supplies. It had 1"x4" solid copper bus bars for the 200 Amp, plus and minus 5 and 12 volt power supplies. One day someone dropped a screwdriver and it rolled onto the bus bars. We got a loud bang and bright flash, and all we ever found was a piece of the plastic handle halfway across the room. The system never even hiccuped. This one used 7-layer, 14" square fiberglas PC boards and all RTL logic. Someone put a board on an extender one day to get some readings, and got it in crooked. The circuit that shorted out on that board burned a quarter-sized hole through the entire board.

Plugging and unplugging patch cords on unit record equipment like card sorters, etc. Back in '67. Then IBM 1130's, where I learned how to code Fortran. And i used both an 024 and an 029, too!