The IBM 305 RAMAC was the model number for the entire computer system and
the disk storage unit was the IBM 350.
I have some 14" platters somewhere here from what I recollect were from a IBM 2316
removable disk pack dating from the mid 60's which were used with a System/360
machine.
If you happened to be in the machine room at the time one of these disk storage
units experienced a head crash, it was a sound you do not forget.
That is quite a comparison Warren.
Additionally, one of the very first digital computers was the ENIAC.
18,000 valves, 1800 sq feet and weighed 50 tons. (some sources state 30 tons) 160kw of power to drive it.
Its internal memory was only 20 words at first. This was upgraded through time. (1946)
Various methods to determine the best materials to build the computer were employed.
Lab rats were starved in an experiment to find what wiring insulation they would attack first. I'd expect our flash drives are quite safe.
Now we carry items that far exceed the capacity of old systems in our pockets. Thanks Warren, its quite an eyeopener, bigger is not better
If you happened to be in the machine room at the time one of these disk storage
units experienced a head crash, it was a sound you do not forget.
Indeed Gary. When I worked for IBM as an engineer back in the early 80's I spent time at one stage trashing 3340's to make way for the 3370 at the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac (then the Bank of NSW). Apart from being trained to maintain these things by aligning individual heads with the aid of oscilloscopes and a whole lot of time, we used to also prepare them for disposal to Sims Metal. Nothing could be sold off, it had to be destroyed. So, for fun, we used to spin them up to operating speed and then force open the covers - and lightly tap the edge of the spinning pack. Even though they were enclosed (as opposed to the older open packs) they still flew to bits. Now - the noise you're referring to is popping back into my head...
That's an awesome comparison, Warren!
Gosh, I wonder where we'll be in 50 years.
Gary, that's interesting what you said about the crash noise of the older hard drives.
I reckon the difference could be even greater, especially if they get quantum computers working. I forget the exact comparison I read the other day but it would be something like the entire internet's storage on something you carry in your pocket. Processing speeds many orders of magnitude faster than what we have are expected.
But will it make us happy? Will idiots stop shooting each other? Will (to borrow from Bob Marley) the colour of a man's skin be of as little consequence as the colour of his eyes? Now that would be progress.
I have been going through my collection of Radio and hobbies (on CD), reading editorials and science articles. We had some very funny ideas in the 1940's about the future (after the war was over) paricularly about atomic energy.
In the 1950's the controversy about the introduction of television. In those days Australia lived within its means and we had no overseas currency to waste.
In the 1960's The dawn of the computer age and the beginning of miniaturisation.
I reckon the difference could be even greater, especially if they get quantum computers working. I forget the exact comparison I read the other day but it would be something like the entire internet's storage on something you carry in your pocket. Processing speeds many orders of magnitude faster than what we have are expected.
.
I seem to remember a retailers story of a customer who bought a PC and asked if someone could put the internet on a floppy for him ....
I was an Operator on IBM 1440 & the first 360\20 to come into NZ many moons ago. Also later on the ICL 1900 & 1902. I can remember those big disk drives like washing machines. Never had a head crash cos we had a pressurised aircon computer room. Then there was tape drives with their vacuum systems for controlling tape loops.
And card readers .... and the punch girls .....
I still remember my boss in 1992 paying $2500 for a hard drive, for our CAD design business with......wait for it.......200Mb storage!!!!!!
Man, in comparison, thats about 50 songs worth.....
Chris
In 1988 I paid $800 for a 20MB MFM drive and thought I was getting a bargain at the time, and I did not have a boss to pay for it either.
When I loaded it with everything I needed there was still 15MB left. ( I think). It has Multimate, Symphony, DOS 6.22, Wordstar, GWBasic, Space Quest 1 and 2 and a lot of other stuff we used in those days
Note: I still have it in an old computer and it still works.
Yes we had one at work, a "portable" Compaq with an orange plasma screen. It was a scpecial one called for to work on the Link 11 so we had to have it. By the way that link does not work for me.
Great thread!
I was just having a conversation with a friend at work the other day when we had (another) 20TB RAID installed. We worked out if you got 20TB worth of original 5 1/4" 110kb floppies and stacked them they would reach about 390,000 km - to the Moon!! :-D
The way it was the way it is
