A System Using an Ancient OS (Page 3): Ah yes, the venerable 1401. If I remember correctly, IBM called it a “business machine”, not a computer. Remember the plugboard? There are still...

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

FredCM wrote:

Before TOS, there was BPS, Basic something or other. Single threaded. But before that... HAH! We don't need no stinking operating systems on our IBM 1401 or 1410! Instead of machine language, we use Autocoder!

Have any of you fellow assembler jocks out there ever looked at the assembler code generated by a high level language compiler? No wonder those programs run so slowly.

Ah yes, the venerable 1401. If I remember correctly, IBM called it a “business machine”, not a computer. Remember the plugboard? There are still people writing tight code in the real-time and embedded systems world because it has to execute out of ROM or SRAM. As computing power increases, the SW engineers just write more verbose programs to add features and a more stylish GUI, so speed doesn’t increase much over time.

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

cedymock wrote:

1971 Fortran IV was still being taught at college level.

First appeared 1957; 62 years ago
Fortran is still being used today. People use it whenever C isn't fast enough (with all coding done on punch cards and/or teletype tape). Which is generally during the processing of giant multidimensional matrices for scientific purposes. After 60 years of compiler development Fortran beats all-comers in this particular niche.

I used Fortran 66 in 1970-72 to model flotation processes while doing a M.Sc. degree. I still maintain several Fortran system for Engineering clients at present (most in Fortran 77 or 2003/2008). Clients have tried moving to C/C++ but have ultimately returned to the processing power (and formula handling) of Fortran.

The nice thing about Fortran is its ability to run legacy code, i.e.: no functionality has been removed since its first release!

bwa

Anhanga Brasil Loc: Cabo Frio - Brazil

cedymock wrote:

1971 Fortran IV was still being taught at college level.

First appeared 1957; 62 years ago
Fortran is still being used today. People use it whenever C isn't fast enough. Which is generally during the processing of giant multidimensional matrices for scientific purposes. After 60 years of compiler development Fortran beats all-comers in this particular niche.

I was taught ForTran VI back in 1979. Burroughs B-1700 (IIRC).

THooker

Back in 1966 I started out in computing with a Univac 1005 and IBM 403 plugboard machine as well as 082 sorter and various other punchcard devices. A great way to start my career in IT. Now building desktops for fun in retirement. OS's included but not limited to DOS, CP/M, Basic, Fortran, RPG, COBOL, OS/2, Win, etc.

Anhanga Brasil Loc: Cabo Frio - Brazil

jerryc41 wrote:

I remember DOS 3.3 as the standard. It was very versatile - as long as you know those obtuse commands.

Yes, I know. When I migrated from MSX to PC (a 386)
it was DOS 6.22 already.
MS-DOS is "slightly" copied from IBM's code, I think.

Anhanga Brasil Loc: Cabo Frio - Brazil

Longshadow wrote:

img src="https://static.uglyhedgehog.com/images/s... (show quote)

DBase ! The best. There was a version for MSX and other
for MS-DOS (II and III). IIRC, Ashton-Tate developed it,
Borland bought it and sold to M$ that launched the VI for
Windows and deep-sixed it. As they did with XTree Gold.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Anhanga Brasil wrote:

DBase ! The best. There was a version for MSX and other
for MS-DOS (II and III). IIRC, Ashton-Tate developed it,
Borland bought it and sold to M$ that launched the VI for
Windows and deep-sixed it. As they did with XTree Gold.

I loved dBase. Wrote an app for "our department", wound up being used by half the company.

Wow, forgot about XTree!

TheShoe Loc: Lacey, WA

Perhaps IBM's OS/2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS/2 - it is still being updated, but not by IBM.

Anhanga Brasil Loc: Cabo Frio - Brazil

Longshadow wrote:

I loved dBase. Wrote an app for "our department", wound up being used by half the company.

Wow, forgot about XTree!

I still keep my XTree Gold on my HDD, but I can not make it
work on Win 7 Pro. I will try to partition my disk and install
XP. But I think FAT-16, FAT-32 and NTFS will conflict.

melismus Loc: Chesapeake Bay Country

TriX wrote:

OS-9 (and OS-9000) is still alive in the real-time and embedded system world - it is fast and small and will run on most CPUs. It is now owned by Microware.

It was owned by Microware back then, and I assume they wrote it.

JoAnneK01 Loc: Lahaina, Hawaii

Started with C/PM back in 1980 with an Osborne. Guess you could say it was the prelude to the laptop. It was in a case that looked like it was in a sewing machine case. Remember walking through Honolulu Airport and two ladies said, "Look she's carrying a sewing machine." Used 2 5-1/4" disc drives with a 5" screen. 1 drive was for the program and the other was used for the data. Later was fitted with 3-1/2" drives and a external monitor. Loved that computer.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

TheShoe wrote:

Perhaps IBM's OS/2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS/2 - it is still being updated, but not by IBM.

Yep, it was one of a number of IBM’s decisions that turned out not to succeed in the market place, along with Token Ring which lost out to Ethernet and SSA which lost out to FibreChannel. My Nextdoor neighbor was an IBM middle level manager, and his company-provided PC came with OS-2. After some months of frustration, he dropped by one day, and asked me to install a Microsoft OS 😫.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

melismus wrote:

It was owned by Microware back then, and I assume they wrote it.

You are correct (and I still have the Microware manuals). It was sold to Radisys and then repurchased by Microware LP.

Murray Loc: New Westminster

cedymock wrote:

1971 Fortran IV was still being taught at college level.

First appeared 1957; 62 years ago
Fortran is still being used today. People use it whenever C isn't fast enough. Which is generally during the processing of giant multidimensional matrices for scientific purposes. After 60 years of compiler development Fortran beats all-comers in this particular niche.

Yes, that’s the one I learned in college.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

THooker wrote:

Back in 1966 I started out in computing with a Univac 1005 and IBM 403 plugboard machine as well as 082 sorter and various other punchcard devices. A great way to start my career in IT. Now building desktops for fun in retirement. OS's included but not limited to DOS, CP/M, Basic, Fortran, RPG, COBOL, OS/2, Win, etc.

Cool! I was trained on the 082 as well as the 029 keypunch, 059 verifier and the 557 collator before going off to 360 school. I think all new CEs (customer engineers) had to start with the punch card machines...