S/360  (Park Royal, London)

System 3 Model 12

IBM Screen VDU 5250

Waverley - Surface Mail (link)

the-telephone-box.co.uk (link)

S/34 Quick Reference Guides

Flowchart Template

96 and 80 Column Punch Cards

IBM S/3 5440 Disk Design

You   were   around   well   before   the   days   of   the   commercial Desktop PC. The   days   when   the   computing   power   of   today's   average Mobile   was   only   achieved   by   a   huge   machine   housed   in an air-conditioned room the size of a small warehouse.   You   can   recall   the   pioneering   days   of   the   'small'   1401, S/360 and the early System 3.

  Interactive Data Entry You knew how to use the roll keys on a 5250 terminal ....   You   have   done   the   majority   of   your   programming   on   a   5250   green   screen   or   even maybe   still   program   on   a   5250   device   and   also   have   a   newfangled   PC   to   'check email'.  

RPG Programming You   know   what   RPG   stands   for   (Report   Program   Generator)   and   IBM   originally intending    forms   to   be   completed   by   the   company   executive's   P.A.   with   no   need   for specialist programmers.   

Storage    Memories    of    the    'candy    floss    machine    style'    removable drives …...   The   larger   IBM   2311   disks   had   6   platters   introduced   for   the S/360   computer. Remember   the   big   storage   cabinets   and system   backups   consisting   of   copy/rotating   the   disk   packs and reel-to-reel tapes ……    You   also   remember      S/34,      S/36   and      S/38   and   the   diskette 'magazines'    that   would   hold   10   x   8"   floppy   diskettes.    Some machines even had two magazines!

Printers You   remember   the   deafening   clatter   of   the   printer   chain when you accidentally opened the cover of the printer. The   most   generally   used   stationary   was   sprocket   punched at   the   edges,   green   ‘music’   ruled,   and   came   in   single   and up to 4-part copies. There   was   a   special   ‘A’   frame   machine   to   de-collate   out   the carbon   interleaves   from   multi-part   stationery   to   enable   the individual copies to be circulated. Printers,   like   the   IBM   5225,   produced   up   to   500   lines   per minute.

IBM 5225 Printer connected to S/34

Punch cards and 8” Diskettes   You   remember   80   and   96   column   punch   cards   and   maybe   punch   tape.      Machines   had huge    hoppers    to    enable    decks    of    punched    cards    to    be    loaded    by    the    computer operator.     

1960s IBM 1401 Installation (@CHM)

You know you're an 'old programmer' when:-   You   could   still   be   quite   comfortable   with   early   forms of   communication.   Use   of   a   GPO   telephone   box,   coin operated   and   perhaps   remembering   pressing   button A, or B to get your money back!   Letters   were   sent   long   distance   by   mail   train   or   boat to   island   locations.      They   were   sorted   en   route   so correspondence    arrived    next    day    even    in    most remote    locations.        City    locations    had    up    to    three deliveries   per   day.      Not   texts   or   emails   in      those   days.     If   a   message   was   urgent   it   was   sent   by   telegram   and delivered by a telegraph boy on a two wheels!

Image Postal Museum Wordpress

Memories   of   'data   entry'   stations   come   to   mind:    Large   grey   or   blue enamelled   desks   with   a   keyboard,    A   slot   for   a   punch   card   or   an   eight inch   diskette,   the   latter   with   a   tiny   monitor.   The   desk   was   of   heavy construction probably manufactured out of a recycled army tank.

Remember,   back   in   those   days   when   smoking   was   good   for   you,   the   data   entry operators   were   either   overly   eccentric   in   some   way,   or   struck   fear   of   verbal   abuse   if you dared tell them about an typo!

Card Sorter and Interpreter

Diskette Data Entry (@CHM)

You   knew   RPG   logic   and   what   what   matching   records are (even worse, you still use them!)   You   actually   recognize   the   simple   elegance   of   the   RPG cycle     -     detail     and     total     time     level     break     cycle processing.    You know what look-ahead fields are.   You   used   most   of   the   99   available   RPG   indicators   in one program!

Removable Disk Pack

IBM 2311 Disk Units and Tape Drives

RPG Debugging Templates

S/34 Workstation Utility (WSU) Debugging Template

Example of S/34 Control Commands

Examples from AS/400 Templates and Reference Summaries: