Nostalgia

[L. Adrian Griffis]

On Mon, 10 Mar 2003, zscoundrel wrote:
> I can beat that.
> 
> My first computer job didn't even have a crt tube connected to the 
> system!!!  It was an IBM s/360 model 30 with a whopping 24k memory 
> expansion module the size of an large side-by-side fridge!  The system 
> console/log was an IBM selectric with a pin feed roller platen.

Ha!!  You had it easy.  On my first programming job, I worked on
a single board system called a Sym-1.  It was 6502 based, with 4K
of static RAM, and was programmed through either a flexable membrane
key pad, or through a software driven serial port, if you had a
terminal.  I had to hand assemble my own code and enter it into
the system in hexadecimal.  Also, I designed and built I/O
expantion hardware using breadboards to test the ideas, and then
with a soldering iron and these cheap Radio Shack prototyping
boards.  Does anyone else out there remember how handy a 74145 is
for address decoding?

Adrian