"Take me to your leader . . . Sorry, I meant your letter."

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/images/icp/M911285E31245S18/us__en_us__ibm100__selectric__selectric_1__900x773 .jpg

Wasn't Magnetic Peripherals on 39th and Tulsa? We were using CDC disk drives which I believe were made by MPI in some of our test sets at the AT&T manufacturing plant here in OKC. They had removable 14" platters.Yep, just a tad to the east of Tulsa, at 4000 NW 39 in the building that had been Western Electric's pilot plant. When I started there in July 1965, it was General Electric's Military Communications Department and had expanded to a second building across the RR track to the south, on NW 36. After Honeywell bought G-E's entire Computer Division and created Honeywell International Computer Systems, they started building their own new building out at Reno and Morgan Road. Then Honeywell and Control Data merged some of their efforts to create MPI. Eventually MPI became part of Seagate; by that time there were at least five buildings scattered around town!

I once heard one of those head crashes; sounded like a buzz saw running through a pine knot! Really got the attention of everyone in the office when it happened.

A little bit of each. All of this recollection has gotten me started on putting together what will be, if I ever finish it, my 23rd book...

Jim...I just might get in touch with you in the coming weeks. I have been working on my very first book for the past several years. My unfinished manuscript is currently being held hostage by my desktop computer, until I can get it repaired (not my highest priority at this time.)

http://www.soundexchangetampabay.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/turntable-parts-record-player-technics-sl1200-sl-1200.jpeg

Contrary to what folks think, this ain't technology of the past... Bought a Numark TT-100 a few years ago to replace my old Technics linear tracking turntable, and am constantly buying old and newly made albums. :-D

Kind of sad, I recently threw away a perfectly good Scott semi-automatic turntable. For the young folks, semi-automatic meant, no changer, manual placement of the stylus on the record, but when the record was completely played, the arm returned to it's "dock" automatically.
C. T.

I still have a Sanyo Direct Drive turntable.

Bluedogok,
You may not remember, but belt drive was considered "quieter", supposedly, direct drive was for amateurs. My Scott was belt drive. Now, that's probably a lot of "crap", but at the time the HI Fi/Stereo mags all promoted the belt drive.
C. T.
I still have a Sanyo Direct Drive turntable.

I once knew a guy who was roommates with a guy who had an Empire belt drive turntable.
It was awesome. For a turntable. As I said, previously, I really wanted a linear tracking turntable and I remember that some German company produced one that cost about a billion dollars on account of all the little gears and whatnot. Then, some Japanese? company came out with a very reasonably priced version that substituted a different timing mechanism to control the movement of the tonearm down the rail. Of course, this was about the time that 8-Tracks--and then cassettes--hit the market so it would have been like buying a new horse-drawn buggy . . . Still . . . I sure wish that I had a way to play the huge stack of old LPs gathering dust in the garage. (Even though most of my favorites are accessible via Youtube =)

RM,
Google Kim Kommando and you will find a turntable in her shop and it's fairly reasonable. Worth a look anyway. I had forgotten about the linear tracking turntables. I saw them in good hi fi stereo stores but didn't know anybody that had one. I don't know how they were rated from a "distortion" standpoint which is what how they rated all turntables back then. The belt drives had less distortion than the direct drives. Of course, with my "perfect" and delicate ear, I had to have a belt drive. Actually, it was just stupidity. I spent more because it seemed like the thing to do at the time!
C. T.
I once knew a guy who was roommates with a guy who had an Empire belt drive turntable.
It was awesome. For a turntable. As I said, previously, I really wanted a linear tracking turntable and I remember that some German company produced one that cost about a billion dollars on account of all the little gears and whatnot. Then, some Japanese? company came out with a very reasonably priced version that substituted a different timing mechanism to control the movement of the tonearm down the rail. Of course, this was about the time that 8-Tracks--and then cassettes--hit the market so it would have been like buying a new horse-drawn buggy . . . Still . . . I sure wish that I had a way to play the huge stack of old LPs gathering dust in the garage. (Even though most of my favorites are accessible via Youtube =)

Bluedogok,
You may not remember, but belt drive was considered "quieter", supposedly, direct drive was for amateurs. My Scott was belt drive. Now, that's probably a lot of "crap", but at the time the HI Fi/Stereo mags all promoted the belt drive.
C. T.
My Sanyo was a $75.00 garage sale special in 1994, the Audio Technica cartridge in it was almost that by itself. At the time that I bought it they were getting hard to find, the only ones that seemed to be on the market at the time was the audiophile quality ones which there was no way I could afford those at the time.

I seem to remember the magazines always went back and forth on the drive type.

I think the German version of the Linear Tracking Turntable may have "borrowed" some of their technology from the Swiss.
sjQj_-JoGEk
The coolest part of that thing is that it doesn't require electricity.
Only gravity.
Which, incidentally, is the same force that ruins vinyl records over time.
Especially when combined with curved tonearms attempting to approach them at an angle, no matter how carefully balanced the counter-weight may be. =)

...
Only gravity.
Which, incidentally, is the same force that ruins vinyl records over time.
Especially when combined with curved tonearms attempting to approach them at an angle, no matter how carefully balanced the counter-weight may be. =)

But if the tonearm is curved so the actual cartridge/needle makes contact with the record at the correct angle, the angle doesn't matter, right? Just gravity... Been a long time since I've done that kind of math, don't feel any need to wrack my brain trying to figure it out again, it's wracked enough already, not wrecked, wracked...

I have that exact turntable! You know, with a belt drive you can put a little twist in the belt and pick up all the backward masked messages. Cool huh? Turn me on, dead man!

I have that exact turntable! You know, with a belt drive you can put a
little twist in the belt and pick up all the backward masked messages.
Cool huh? Turn me on, dead man!
I have a Panasonic from 1973. I don't know the name but it has ii
in the name. Very nice.

I always wanted a Bangs Oluflen (sp) turntable. Some day I'll have
a McIntosh tube power amp.

The same friend of a friend actually had his Empire turntable hooked to one of these
(or a more primitive design that didn't have digital display capabilities):
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/McIntosh_MA6800.jpg

The flaw in the design was that it didn't go up to 11.

At one point, my brother had a version of this Phase Linear setup.
Except he only had the tall speakers.
http://p2.la-img.com/255/11094/2745824_5_l.jpg

I hear they came close to reproducing the sound of a Bose Acoustic Wave Machine.

(or was it "MagnaPlainer" (sp?) speakers that he had . . ? hmmmmm.
plus a real nice Reel to Reel tape recorder . . .)

edited to add: I think, on second thought, that he had a pair of these:
http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mDZBqycJsP4aCuQiayw4fEg.jpg
in his apartment. in consideration of his neighbors he also had the best headphones money could buy. =)

I never did like the sound of the Magnaplanar or other flat panel speakers.

My first cassette recorder. An early entry of Realistic into the consumer cassette recorder market. 1969. To record, you held the red button down while turning the dial to "record."

http://i.imgur.com/pdUq131.jpg

My first cassette recorder. An early entry of Realistic into the consumer cassette recorder market. 1969. To record, you held the red button down while turning the dial to "record."

http://i.imgur.com/pdUq131.jpg

Wow I didn't realize cassette players existed that far back. I thought everything was on album in the 60s until the introduction of the 8-track player in the 70s and then the cassette player in the 80s. Interesting.

Think "Ionet" and "Alta Vista" . . .
(and stacks of AOL CD's from the mail used for coasters)
d0mg9DxvfZE

Wow I didn't realize cassette players existed that far back. I thought everything was on album in the 60s until the introduction of the 8-track player in the 70s and then the cassette player in the 80s. Interesting.

Yep, cassettes got their start in the mid 60s, around the same time as 8-tracks. Initially, 8-tracks were much more popular, particularly as a music medium in cars (partly because of poor audio quality of early cassettes). Eventually, however, cassette technology caught and surpassed the 8-track, and they were easier to record. I still have cassettes from my high school and college days (69-75) that are still playable.

Wow I didn't realize cassette players existed that far back. I thought everything was on album in the 60s until the introduction of the 8-track player in the 70s and then the cassette player in the 80s. Interesting.

8 tracks were around before the 70's. my 68 GTO had a factory installed player.

My parents had a 4/8-track player in their 66 Ford LTD, it had a switch to work on 4-track cartridges and 8-track cartridges. The broadcast studio versions of the 4-track cartridges were developed in the late 50's.

Our Family Car (a mid-60's Chevrolet, Chevelle Station Wagon, red and sort of sportysnazzy for a station wagon) had a built-in 8-Track player.
It didn't have air conditioning. Or cruise control. But it had a big V-8 engine. I once drove it for several hours across the plains of Southwestern Kansas at about 80 on a two lane while wearing out Santana Abraxas 8-Track on the way to OKC.

If i had known about Carpal Tunnel I probably would have simply used the AM Radio.

I was watching Billy Madison (the Adam Sandler movie) the other night and he got excited because it was 'nude magazine day' and he ran to the mailbox. I thought, who is still getting nude magazines in the mail? Then it hit me - Billy Madison came out in 1995 (19 years ago).

I was watching Billy Madison (the Adam Sandler movie) the other night and he got excited because it was 'nude magazine day' and he ran to the mailbox. I thought, who is still getting nude magazines in the mail? Then it hit me - Billy Madison came out in 1995 (19 years ago).

Are you implying that the Post Office is Technology of the Past?
(think for a moment how many actual humans are employed by the post office and what the effect on the general economy would be if the money flowing through these, generally kind and considerate and hardworking delivery persons was to be no more)

I have to admit that going to the Post Office, maybe four times a year, is a real drag.
Stamps . . . Waiting . . . Etc.
But the delivery people are top notch.

Thank Goodness 2020 is just over the virtual horizon to set things right. =)

btw: old technology Adam Sandler on a black and white television with rabbit ears as an antenna on SNL was way better than anything he did after that.

Not so much a comment as to the post office being old technology as much as it was nude woman printed on paper in magazine form being old technology.

Here you can find every article of PC Magazine back to the early 1980s. Very interesting stuff.

PC Mag - Google Books (http://books.google.com/books/about/PC_Mag.html?id=w_OhaFDePS4C)

https://scontent-a-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10659352_909820819046224_4361436043598889690_n.jpg ?oh=ad772a49dc9192dfce4fb8a5c0f5fd83&oe=548EB4BE

This was a high-tech kid toy when I was little. Mine was a hand-me-down from my older sister. I remember getting frustrated because the filmstrip would frequently stall, or else skip, causing it to un-sync with the record. You'd have to either start it over or put up with it being off-track. I'm pretty sure I was OCD enough even back then that I couldn't stand it not to be just right. I guess we finally threw it away.

9151

I actually put one of these together. It actually worked. I think it was the only electronics project I ever did.
http://www.peeblesoriginals.com/vintage/cub-scout-crystal-radio.jpg

Omigosh, what a throwback advertisement. 10MB hard disk.
Drool fool! I had a Mac Classic with 35mb of hard disk space, 8 mb of
memory and it used the new and improved 3.5mb disks. It could even
multitask. Not sure what that meant.

It only cost me $1,500. I'm currently using it as a boat anchor and
I don't even own a boat.

I don't want to talk about my Apple IIc. I cry too much when I do.

I still have a TRS-80. It's a beastly thing, but I had some fun writing programs in BASIC on it. It was really odd to me to boot the operating system on one 5 1/4 floppy and put the program or file diskettes into the second floppy drive. Gotta love that green screen!

When I used to use it, there was also a Tandy dot matrix printer that hooked up via parallel cable. That was a headache.

Eli Whitney's revolutionary cotton gin. (http://www.biography.com/people/eli-whitney-9530201)


http://www.eliwhitney.org/7/sites/default/files/styles/span-2/public/cottongin1s.jpg?itok=qGaCd9iw%22

Technology from the past.

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130627170126-original-floppy-disk-horizontal-gallery.jpg

The first system that I worked on (Computervision CGP-200X Graphics System) used these.

http://216.23.170.205/Hard%20Drive%20Inf/CDC%20Hard%20Disk%20Pack%201.JPG

The first system that I worked on (Computervision CGP-200X Graphics System) used these.

http://216.23.170.205/Hard%20Drive%20Inf/CDC%20Hard%20Disk%20Pack%201.JPG
LOL! That's too much fun.

Thanx.

The first system that I worked on (Computervision CGP-200X Graphics System) used these.

http://216.23.170.205/Hard%20Drive%20Inf/CDC%20Hard%20Disk%20Pack%201.JPG

Bluedogok,
You are just a child, I worked with EAM equipment in 1962 until 1965, then we had removable disc packs half the size of yours. IBM 1401, 1410. But, I enjoy the picture, it does bring back memories.
C. T.

Bluedogok,
You are just a child, I worked with EAM equipment in 1962 until 1965, then we had removable disc packs half the size of yours. IBM 1401, 1410. But, I enjoy the picture, it does bring back memories.
C. T.
Don't listen to him, Bluedogok. He's old and senile. He remembers things
from the 70's.

Wait. So do I.

Nevermind.

Carry on.

Bluedogok,
You are just a child, I worked with EAM equipment in 1962 until 1965, then we had removable disc packs half the size of yours. IBM 1401, 1410. But, I enjoy the picture, it does bring back memories.
C. T.Looks like a 2311 disk pack; absolutely state of the art in 1965!

I'm waiting for somebody to come up with a pic of an 8-inch floppy and the story of why they were invented -- it wasn't for data storage at all!

I remember working with those disks (well, similar, they were 3350s, I believe), and 8-inch floppies, and Zenith Z-100s, ad nauseum at Tinker in the 80s/90s (they had just gotten off of punch cards when I started there in 1986, they were using the cards as notepads).

Looks like a 2311 disk pack; absolutely state of the art in 1965!

I'm waiting for somebody to come up with a pic of an 8-inch floppy and the story of why they were invented -- it wasn't for data storage at all!

Jim,
Sorry, no cigar! It's a 2314. Count the platters. A 2311 had six platters with ten recordable surfaces, the top and bottom surfaces weren't used. The 2314 has eleven platters with twenty recordable surfaces. Now to really "Underwhelm" the youngsters that are reading this, the 2311 (same size platters as the device pictured except half the recordable surfaces) held a total of 7.25 mb. The 2314 (shown above) holds 28.5 mb. As for the eight inch floppy, I will have to look that up, I never actually used them although I was the supervisor of a couple of folks that maintained an old IBM product we had. I was glad they handled that communications box because it was really out of date. We needed it to communicate with several systems around the world and it was used till the late 80's. By the way, the first removable disks I worked on were 1311s, the predecessor to the 2311s. The 13 series were used on IBM 1401, 1410, 1470, and a few other main frames. I worked on the 1401 and 1410. We also had non-removable drives as big as the utility room in most houses. The original 2314s were nick named "Pizza ovens" because of the method for unloading them. Unlike the 2311 where you raised the lid (like a top loading washer), you pulled a drawer out and removed the 2314 and somebody thought that the handle and front of the drive was similar to a pizza oven front. Sorry, I got carried away, or maybe I should be carried away.
C. T.

If "They" had spent as much time and effort developing THIS concept
(instead of making computers smaller and faster)
the world would be a different place.

http://img.rlt.com/A/14100/2_perpetual_motion.jpg

If "They" had spent as much time and effort developing THIS concept
(instead of making computers smaller and faster)
the world would be a different place.

http://img.rlt.com/A/14100/2_perpetual_motion.jpg
That's the main driver of my laptop!

Jim,
Sorry, no cigar! It's a 2314. Count the platters...etc...
I'm convinced that you've forgotten more than we know.

See ya fer Catfish on the 5th.