[GreenKeys] 32 and 33's

[David I. Emery]

On Sat, Oct 06, 2007 at 09:17:47PM -0500, Don Robert House wrote:

> Then there were the high school time-sharing machines.  These 33s  
> took a real physical beating with each and every student trying their  
> programs over and over, not to mention hitting the machine with their  
> fists when the program did not run correctly.

	I'm ashamed to admit this, but I totaled the plastic case on a
33 serving as console on a pioneering prototype supermarket POS scanning
system I was working on debugging the software for one evening in the
70s when I found a particularly egregious bug in the code after a
frustrating couple of days chasing it fruitlessly (and after a beer or
two at dinner helped lubricate me a bit).  When I finally found the bug
and realized just how stupid it was,  I pounded hard on the case in
frustration and triumph at finally nailing the bug and cracked it in
two.  Fortunately I knew how to repair 33's and quickly grabbed a
replacement case from  a spare and broken machine collecting dust in our
junk room before anyone got upset.   But indeed the syndrome of pounding
on a 33 when software didn't work was pretty widespread, they were very
poundable objects somehow...

-- 
  Dave Emery N1PRE/AE, die at dieconsulting.com  DIE Consulting, Weston, Mass 02493
"An empty zombie mind with a forlorn barely readable weatherbeaten
'For Rent' sign still vainly flapping outside on the weed encrusted pole - in 
celebration of what could have been, but wasn't and is not to be now either."