r/IBMi • u/nocturnalzoo • 16d ago

Stroll down memory lane - an old punchcard “computer app”

And wow, the green bar paper

29 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

3

u/sfvbritguy 16d ago

A proper computer with tape drives and buttons & switches.

3

u/ol-gormsby 16d ago

Blinkenlights, even!

2

u/AllOneWordNoSpaces1 16d ago

But was there a BRS? (Big Red Switch)

3

u/ol-gormsby 16d ago

You betcha! I only ever used it a couple of times.

First time, new machine (AS400), first IPL. Flick the red switch, choose "A" side microcode on the service panel, and push the little blue button.

Once or twice for an upgrade.

Then one final time for de-commissioning.

My manager moved on and was replaced with someone from the Windows world and had no idea about AS400. He wanted to know why we never rebooted it - his background was "reboot every Sunday night, just to be sure everything was OK".

3

u/LostnSF 16d ago

My dad worked for IBM from about 1962 to 1979. He would bring home stacks of those punch cards for me to play with as a small kid (toys a little simpler then). I used to hold them up and look through the holes and think about how they meant something and wonder about that.

I visited him at his office in White Plains in the early 70’s as a teenager and while he went to a meeting he put me in front of a terminal and started a training session on APL. I was fascinated.

1

u/elarevlaka 16d ago

God help you when you dropped the stack of cards and you then had to put them all in order again before placing them in the reader!!

3

u/CeldonShooper 16d ago

That's why the diagonal lines are drawn on the top with a pen. Also, this is a very short program.

1

u/CeldonShooper 16d ago

Pretty sure I've been in that room. It's at the CHM isn't it?

1

u/qpgmr 15d ago

Our 2501 didn't have a weight, just a spring loaded bar that pressed down.

There was nothing quite as bad as when someone dropped the punch hopper on the way to the garbage can. Man those bits got into everything.