Nixie sighting

[Mac Doktor]

What the Future Sounded Like (twelve seconds in):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KkW8Ul7Q1I

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

"For 30 years I have been trying to set the story straight about the name HAL coming from IBM with one letter added to each. That was pure coincidence. HAL stands for Heuristic Algorithmic computer."—Arthur C. Clarke, 2001

[Mark Moulding]

Also a multiple-Decatron counter at about 12:06...

~~
Mark Moulding

[GastonP]

At 15:31 there is a view of the system setup that contained those nixies playing a "concert.

At 16:27 another different set (or the same but in a different setup)

BTW after 18:00 the vid starts being NSFW.

[Nick]

Ooh. At 20:21 there's what looks suspiciously like a DEC PDP 8/S on the far left...

[Joe Croft]

The first computer I ever got to 'play' with was a PDP8/E in high school. 3 teletypes and a dec writer for terminals. I loved the smell of paper tape in the morning!

-joe

On Monday, December 30, 2019 12:25:58 PM CST Nick wrote:
> Ooh. At 20:21 there's what looks suspiciously like a DEC PDP 8/E on the far

> left...
>
> On Sunday, 29 December 2019 22:53:32 UTC, Terry Bowman wrote:
> >

> > *What the Future Sounded Like* (twelve seconds in):

[Robert G. Schaffrath]

For me it was a timeshared PDP/11-70 which was located several miles from my high school. We had two "fast" DecWriter II's running at 300 baud that were used for normal interactive programming and two ASR33 teletypes that we could punch our assignments on offline and then upload later when an LA36 line was available (had to set the acoustic coupler line speed to 110 before we swapped the DB25 connectors between the LA36 and ASR33). I still have some old punched tapes and yes they still have the smell of the oil! Fun thing I used to do was punch actual readable messages into the tape. There were ways to send ASCII symbols to the ASR33 punch that caused characters to be formed by the punched dots. My favorite was "DOES NOT COMPUTE!".

Sometimes, I miss that old tech though I really would not want to have to make a living now working with it. Much prefer Linux/Windows/MacOS and C, C#, Node.js and a few other languages I picked up over the last 40 years.

[Mac Doktor]

On Jan 1, 2020, at 8:45 AM, Robert G. Schaffrath <robert.s...@gmail.com> wrote:

There were ways to send ASCII symbols to the ASR33 punch that caused characters to be formed by the punched dots. My favorite was "DOES NOT COMPUTE!".

That's what we did with my TI 57 programmable calculator. It had to be held upside-down while the numerals "4377" slowly appeared.

There was an ASR33 in the Guidance Dept. when I was in High School. I was allowed to sit down and play with it for a few minutes in my senior year. I don't think they actually used it very much.

Sometimes, I miss that old tech though I really would not want to have to make a living now working with it.

I wouldn't mind to make some money off of old tech. Specifically, my ASR33. It comes with a stand. Local pickup only. I hate to give it up but...

Much prefer Linux/Windows/MacOS and C, C#, Node.js and a few other languages I picked up over the last 40 years.

6502 Assembler, FORTH, 6811 Assembler, and...HyperCard!

My beloved HyperCard is gone but it has been superseded by LiveCode (free uncrippled version available).

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe: attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion... beams...in the dark in the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time...like tears in the rain." — Roy Batty, Blade Runner

[Mitch]

I remember that! We used to print, "4377." 

[Robert G. Schaffrath]

Funny, I do not recall that. I had a TI-57 in high school that was a gift from my parents. Quite useful for pre-calculus in 12th grade. When I was in college, I saved up and bought a TI-59 that used magnetic cards to save programs on. Still have it though the battery module is long dead. Probably have the TI-57 somewhere too. I retired it when I got the TI-59.

On Wednesday, January 1, 2020 at 3:53:39 PM UTC-5, Terry Bowman wrote:

[Mac Doktor]

On Jan 2, 2020, at 10:12 AM, Robert G. Schaffrath <robert.s...@gmail.com> wrote:

Funny, I do not recall that. I had a TI-57 in high school that was a gift from my parents. Quite useful for pre-calculus in 12th grade.

Yeah, I couldn't believe that my parents would spring for something that expensive but I was about to complain. I did beg for a TI 58 but they balked at that.

When I was in college, I saved up and bought a TI-59 that used magnetic cards to save programs on. Still have it though the battery module is long dead. Probably have the TI-57 somewhere too. I retired it when I got the TI-59.

Mine's around here somewhere. Same story, the NiCads puked and destroyed the switching power supply inside the battery pack. I didn't know there was one in there otherwise I would have yanked the batteries out as soon as they died. I used the AC adapter for a long time after they gave up the ghost and then one day it just wouldn't power up.

[gregebert]

I still have my $10 APF scientific calculator from 1976 which got me thru high school, college, and did my taxes on it for a few years thereafter.

The VFD display is still working nicely. Not programmable.

BTW, that price ($10) is what I paid for it in 1976 at a drugstore. It outlasted the 2 other calculators that I purchased over the years intended as replacements.

And yes, I have thought about re-making it into a nixie-tube gonculator.....

[Mac Doktor]

On Jan 2, 2020, at 12:09 PM, gregebert <greg...@hotmail.com> wrote:

I still have my $10 APF scientific calculator from 1976 which got me thru high school, college, and did my taxes on it for a few years thereafter.

The VFD display is still working nicely. Not programmable.

Our first calculator had a VFD and did square roots for some odd reason. No idea where it is now.

At this point I'm using an HP 35s. WAY more functions than I need but at least I've finally reached the point where RPN just seems natural. It's also quicker than the algebraic method which helps my brain a bit.

I used FORTH for a while and found the stack-based approach very intuitive. I daresay I was actually pretty good at keeping it all straight in my mind but that was many years ago on an Apple ][+.

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor”

"Never install version point-zero of anything"

[alb.001 alb.001]

My first  calc. was a 4-function Rapid-Man from Eaton's Canada.  It cost me about $150 back in 1970  and I continued to use it at work in the pharmacy of the old Brampton Peel Memorial Hospital  - it was the first electronic calculator in the whole hospital - administration was too cheap to buy us any new high technology.  I also had the first fax machine in Brampton Ontario  it came from a Canada Government surplus sale  and when I printed out the transaction record the header was  "PMO Private Office Fax "   ie from Jean Chretien !!      

Pharma Phil

 

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[Charles MacDonald]

On 2020-01-02 3:06 p.m., alb.001 alb.001 wrote:
> My first  calc. was a 4-function Rapid-Man from Eaton's Canada.  It cost
> me about $150 back in 1970  and I continued to use it at work in the
> pharmacy of the old Brampton Peel Memorial Hospital  - it was the first
> electronic calculator in the whole hospital - administration was too
> cheap to buy us any new high technology.

My first Job was selling calculators at Eaton's
there were many rapid man lines

800 series, handheld LED units
1200 series Neon 12 digit display, with panaplex or NEC readouts
1208 8 digit LCD desk unit bought from Rockwell
2000 series printing units with epson drum printheads and no display

in the back room we joked that they were made by "Rapidly Dated Systems
and Equipment" as opposed to Rapid Data Systems

  I also had the first fax
> machine in Brampton Ontario  it came from a Canada Government surplus
> sale  and when I printed out the transaction record the header was  "PMO
> Private Office Fax "   ie from Jean Chretien !!
>
> Pharma Phil
>
>> ---------- Original Message ----------
>> From: Mac Doktor <themac...@gmail.com>
>> Date: January 2, 2020 at 12:19 PM
>>
>>
>>> On Jan 2, 2020, at 12:09 PM, gregebert < greg...@hotmail.com

>>> <mailto:greg...@hotmail.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I still have my $10 APF scientific calculator from 1976 which got me
>>> thru high school, college, and did my taxes on it for a few years
>>> thereafter.
>>>
>>> The VFD display is still working nicely. Not programmable.
>>
>> Our first calculator had a VFD and did square roots for some odd
>> reason. No idea where it is now.
>>
>> At this point I'm using an HP 35s. WAY more functions than I need but
>> at least I've finally reached the point where RPN just seems natural.
>> It's also quicker than the algebraic method which helps my brain a bit.
>>
>> I used FORTH for a while and found the stack-based approach very
>> intuitive. I daresay I was actually pretty good at keeping it all
>> straight in my mind but that was many years ago on an Apple ][+.
>>
>>
>> Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
>> "The Mac Doctor”
>>
>> "Never install version point-zero of anything"
>>
>
>>
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>>
>
>
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--
Charles MacDonald Stittsville Ontario
cm...@zeusprune.ca Just Beyond the Fringe
No Microsoft Products were used in sending this e-mail.

[John Smout]

I have an Anita 1011 calculator. It is for sale, because I have no idea what to do with it. It needs a greater authority than I to make it work, because on arrival it didn't and I don't want to fiddle with it.

I bought it from a man whose mother had died. This was back in 2009. She once worked for the Morris Cowley car factory in Oxford, England, in the accounts department. On her retirement she was allowed to keep the calculator and I understood when I bought it that it was working well. I was shown a few photographs of it in operation, The one below seems to be the only picture I still have, showing 00000000s.

It arrived in a large box, well packed in a sea of styrofoam peanuts. But when I opened it, it was clear the cheap plastic pressel switch on the back had perished and shattered. This was brittle, delicate and protruded somewhat.

I replaced the switch with a metal toggle, but all I could get the display to show, once switched on, was all 999999s. So it has been stored like this since 2009 and I now need to get rid of it.

As it is such a rare item, I have not the heart to gut it for the tubes and I would like it to go to a good home, someone who might be able to repair it perhaps.

It comes with the manual for a later model, which came with it when I received it. I understand the operation is exactly the same.

Here are a few more pictures, before I fitted the toggle switch where the loose wires and round hole are. The assembly has some very early ICs and I expect for this reason only it is interesting. 13 PCBs is not for the faint-hearted, but I would be overjoyed if anyone could restore this rarity. It may be a simple fix, it may be a horror. Who knows?

I still have a mobile number, home phone and address for the person I bought it from. No idea if these still work, but it's provenance of some kind.

Offers please.

Happy New Decade,

John S