Text 61552, 59 rader
Skriven 2010-07-27 09:53:15 av Paul Quinn (3:640/384)
  Kommentar till text 61545 av Miles Maxted (3:772/1.0)
Ärende: Mercurial meaderings...
===============================
Hi! Miles,

On 25 Jul 10 06:39, you wrote to me:

 MM> And this ex-Royal New Zealand Signaller thanks you for the
 MM> nostalgic memory of ...

[Talking of the early 70s, BTW...]

 PQ>> that he'd already read it and knew that it wasn't important.  I
 PQ>> mean the guy said that he had already translated the hole punches
 PQ>> into ASCII in his head!

This was at a 'static' (ASA) COMMCEN at the time.  It was top secret stuff in
them thar days, during the latter stages of the Vietnam conflict and cold war. 
The front desk was just that, a desk.  The view into the internals of the
COMMCEN ceased about 3 metres behind the desk but the entire outfit took up two
floors of a modern office block building, and the generator room (open during
diesel maintenance) was another huge area that probably took up another two
floors because of the complicated-looking plumbing (half of which was below
ground level).

 MM> Baudot codes (ITA1) preceded the Murray code (ITA2) used on the
 MM> tapes,  which led in turn to the EDCDIC and ASCII we all love, in
 MM> effect.

I recall having to learn about EBCDIC during one of my computer classes at tech
college; yeah, I just did a Google to confirm.  :)

 MM> To extend your historics,  I used to enjoy visiting the telegraph

[ ...trim... ]

 MM> and write down the message....   bloody amazing in the light of my
 MM> own crude 15wpm morse and 7 bit memory.

Damned right.  You get that with any human endeavor that allows for
specialisation, even going right back to the 'stone age'; flint chipping ain't
as easy as it sounds.  :)

I managed to arrange a tour of the internal workings of the COMMCEN sometime in
the period of the late 80s/early 90s (in support of my tech college studies),
after their transition to purely digital operations.  Their computerised
configuration included two mainframes (though probably only minis) installed
within metres of each other, with the second providing a mirroring of the
first's digital manipulations.  Fantabulous stuff.

All the time though I had three 'minders' with me, as security was still tight.
 Luckily I knew two of the fellers socially as well as by way of our working
relationship, by that point in my career.  :)

'tis nice to 'chew the fat', Miles.

Cheers,
Paul.

... MONEY TALKS, but all mine ever says is GOODBYE!
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.4.7
 * Origin: Quinn's Post - Maryborough, Queensland, OZ (3:640/384)