[ale] Need Tractor Feed Dot Matrix printer

Fri May 27 01:24:48 EDT 2005

Ok, here's my background -

My first machine was a TRS-80.  I was 9 years old, and I remember having 
to rewind the cassette tape (drive?) to play "star trek" (it was the 
only game I had; I'm not a Trekkie/er).  I was stoked when at age 12 my 
Dad got an IBM XT (Xtended Technology baby!).  It had TURBO mode that 
bumped it from 4.77Mhz to 8 Mhz.  I remember mastering WordStar at age 
13.  I think I was the only kid in Jr. High that turned in "printed" 
homework.  In fact, I think that a few teachers even rejected it (but 
it's been a while).   Anyway, I'm pushing 30 now, so I'm feeling a bit 
old.  The new BBS Documentary that just came out isn't helping matters any.

Sorry if this post makes anyone feel bad - it isn't intended to.  I just 
wanted to add my history to 'history'.

Kind regards,
CB

James P. Kinney III wrote:

>Ol' fart ;)
>On Thu, 2005-05-26 at 22:26 -0400, Mark Wright wrote:
>  
>
>>I have worked on 6262's.  Didn't know anything about them but usually 
>>got them running.
>>
>>The most bodacious  (thats the only word that comes to mind) printer I 
>>have ever worked on was an STK 5000.  It was not a dot matrix but a 
>>band printer.  It was the biggest and baddest impact printer in the 
>>land.  It could print 5000 132 character lines in one minute.  It was 
>>huge.  Imagine a continuos tractor fed sheet  of paper two feet wide 
>>flying through this huge machine as it is pounded by a row of hammers 
>>132 characters wide.  The noise of five or six servo controlled motors 
>>big enough to power a golf cart going full blast was incredible alone, 
>>then the hammers printing...
>>
>>There used to be four of these in the windowless State archive building 
>>downtown that printed all the tag and title forms for the state.  They 
>>were still in use last time I was there about 1999.
>>
>>I took a Fortran class using punch cards, a card reader to input 
>>program and data and output from a line printer.  We didn't even have 
>>console with a tube an keyboard.  The card reader and printer we 
>>connected using IBM SNA (systems network architecture) and a T1 to GA 
>>Tech's mainframe.
>>
>>I the late 80's I installed a computer for AT&T that cost 4 million 
>>without any disk or tape subsystems.  They bought the disk, tape and 
>>network stuff from other companies.  This computer and the connected 
>>devices would just sit idle in the case another computer on the other 
>>side of the data center had a failure.  These computers routed 800 
>>calls.  AT&T lost about 100 million in business because that first 
>>computer went down once.  (anyone remember a 800 number and cell phone 
>>issue in the late 80's in New York?) Hence the approximately 6 million 
>>dollar hot spare.
>>
>>I love stuff like this.  I have more stories.  I better shut up.  Once 
>>a Space Shuttle launch was put off because we asked for time to apply 
>>patches to a System at AT&T.    Ok Ok, I'm stopping
>>
>>Oh wait!  The console processor on the Mainframes I worked on used 
>>UNIX!  (Is that close to having a Linux topic?)
>>
>>Mark
>>
>>
>>On May 26, 2005, at 2:36 PM, Matt Magee wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Not old enough to have worked with a 1403, but one place I worked at 
>>>had a pair of 6262s which apparently operate in a similar manner.  The 
>>>6262s will induce hearing loss if you leave the doors open!
>>>
>>>People would ask why we used these huge twinax connected monsters.  
>>>The reply was always "because it works!"
>>>
>>>Ben Coleman wrote:
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
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>>>>
>>>>Brian J. Dowd wrote:
>>>>| My first home computer (1975) ran a Teletype ASR33...
>>>>| Now that was a kick. Stood on an attached stand and was shipped to
>>>>| me bolted to a wooden palette. Sounded just like a newsroom at 110
>>>>baud :-)
>>>>| Is anyone else ancient on this list or are the other geezers still
>>>>| running DOS or Windows?
>>>>
>>>>I'm ancient enough to remember the IBM 1403 line printers from the 
>>>>same
>>>>era.  Talk about loud!  I remember one where if you had several lines 
>>>>of
>>>>asterisks (typical for the header and trailer pages), it sounded as
>>>>though someone was hitting it with a hammer.  Fast, though!
>>>>
>>>>Ben
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>>>>=4V83
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>>>
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>>
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