Prime Computers... (was: RE: [SunRescue] Re: OT: Advice)

[Ken Hansen]

Haw Haw Haw!

Prime!

My old college bought a Prime for use as both an administrative machine, and
a general use machine for the students (pre-1988, IIRC). The scretaries had
these integrated workstations that had the CPU in a box next to the attached
monitor, with a clip at the top (the CPU case was used as a copy holder)...
There was one *major* design flaw with these units - they had floppy drives
that pointed straight-up! Odd little bits were fprever finding their way
into the insides of the workstations from above (paper clips, thumb tacks,
staples, etc) - and like most electronic devices, they didn't do well with
such items littered about the circuit board.

This was at the same time the college was trying to determine if they should
start teaching Cobol to CS majors, since kids were graduating from college
with CS degrees, and couldn't find jobs. The head of the department argued
that graduates need to find jobs after they graduate, and the senior
professor argued that the college was not a "Technical School" or a Vo-Tech
school...

They never did teach Cobol, and many graduates of that program found it hard
to find good jobs upon graduation. Whether or not a knowledge of Cobol would
change that, I can not say ;^)

Ken
(Who still looks back fondly at my near 8 year life in the Mainframe world)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter L. Wargo" <pwargo at basenji.com>
To: <rescue at sunhelp.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2001 5:03 PM
Subject: Prime Computers... (was: RE: [SunRescue] Re: OT: Advice)


> On Sun, 6 May 2001, James Fogg wrote:
>
> > All I can say is that I have been "doin it" for 15 years (paid) and 15
years
> > before that too. I have outlived almost all of my employers (Proteon, a
> > division of Motorola, Prime Computer *geek points for anyone who
remembers
> > them*). Most of the O/S's I learned (AOS/VS, PrimeOS, RSTS, etc) are
dead. I
>
> Aaaagh!  May PrimeOS *stay* dead!  (No offense, but I *hated* the Prime I
> had to use back in '86...)
>
> FORTRAN on a Prime... Memories I am trying to have eradicated...
>
> -Pete
>
>
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