Nostalgia for some of us - IBM 1401

[FL Buckeye]

Here's a test:

What is a 5424 MFCU ? (Specifically)

Think it stands for Multi Function Card Unit as it both read and punched round holes in those small 96 column cards of the IBM Sys3 era. I have forgot a lot from back then but was pretty good with solving problems that customers had with the Sys3 systems (hardware). But then IBM split the FE division into two separate divisions and my manager wanted me to stay in FE as I was support trained on the then new 4300 systems. Were you a Sys3 user?

[RodKirby]

Well done, guys!

My first compile was done on a 360/20 (80 col cards) but it was all in preparation for the S/3 (96 col cards). 1970
I became an expert in clearing card jams

It's been: S/3 card (8K memory!) > S/3 disk > S/32 > S/34 > S/36 > S/38 > AS/400 > iSeries et al.

Given (and giving), Carole and I a very good life

[Rich P]

Rod, it's a Multi Function Card Unit, better know as a Multi Function Card Punch. It could "read and write" cards...i.e. punch square holes in them! Let's see who is the really old dude in this thread...anyone ever done a needle sort?

[Rich P]

CWS, actually I recall sorting being sort of a calming, mindless task...until you got a jamb! My biggest problem working at Stanford was getting the ops on the floor to run my source code through the input side of the MFCM(P). They had been sitting in the (here we go way back) in the drawers where cards were stored (who remembers that) in a damp place but we finally got all of them to read and I finished the project (after buying the ops on the floor a round at the Oasis). Just ask any Stanford alum were that is!

[cwsmith]

I guess I just remembered the number wrong... but I was close. Here's a link that shows the IBM 082 Card Sorter:

http://www.technikum29.de/en/computer/punchcard.shtm

And also the Wikipedia page on the IBM 80 series sorters:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_80_series_Card_Sorters

[tmaceroli]

I've just completed my 30th year in IT. I don't program any more, but I pretty much got my start on machines like the 1401. The old Western Union Telegram service ran on 1401s. I worked for the company that broke Western Union's monopoly on the F.31 telegram service - Graphic Scanning Corporation (GraphNet) for any of you communication buffs out there. We used a naked minicomputer (no operating system!) called the General Automation 1830, which was a knock-off of the IBM Series 1 computer. It was a 16-bit machine with 64K of core memory. We programmed in assembly language.

GA eventually installed a second bank of 32K, which could be switched on and off with the upper bank of the original 64 K (address range 32,768 to 65,535) by placing an odd value in memory location 0001. That brought the total memory to 96K. We were hot stuff back then. Now my laptop has 4 Gigs of memory.