[A K Rao]

I worked on Fortran 20 when I was doing my thesis work during my Post Graduation in 1984.

That was my first Computer on which I worked.

Since my subject was Genetics and breeding I had to deal with huge amount of data for which I went to work on this Computer!

That was a big computer occupying a complete room and to enter the data , we used to use Punch cards! It was an unique experience!

What was the Computer you first worked on?

[OldGuy]

Wow! If you were using a computer that still required punch cards in the 1980s, you were using a very old computer.

I took college courses to learn how to punch computer cards back in 1972, but never had the opportunity to use the skill. The technology was changing as I was in class and computers were coming out that used internal programming and memory systems rather than punch cards.

My first chance at using anything close to a computer was a huge typewriter that used an 8 inch floppy card to store all files. It was text only, and the only display screen was on the keyboard, showing about three lines. It could use maybe a dozen fonts, and you could use variable effects to make a very nice looking typed page.

That was somewhere in the mid 1970s. Even then, it was old. The company that had been using it had discarded it in the trash and I retrieved it in a dumpster dive. It all still worked fine, but the saved files used up most of the disc space. I discovered the reason they tossed it. There was only one disc, and I could not find anyone who sold new discs to add to a collection. The system would no longer delete old files and there was almost no room for new files.

I discovered I could go in, edit out everything in an older file and then resave it with no content and that was the only way to get more space on the disc. That gave me enough room to save dozens of new files, but even then, I eventually ran out of room and could no longer add anything new.

I had the brainstorm of using a large magnet on the disc itself to force erase the content. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Yup, it erased everything. That was when I discovered the operation system was also on that disc and there was no longer any operational function on that beast. Back in the trash, but it was fun while it lasted.

[A K Rao]

Working on the FORTRAN-20 was a unique experience! We used to have fun in punching card. We needed tp add end card at the end while getting the listing, without which the listing of the data would run for ever!

Nice to know that, We too had such electronic type writer which I couldn't use for longer time as the Company purchased new Desktop with printer! I liked your idea of erasing the memory and I laughed out loud to know that you erased the program files also in it!

[MaryVerma]

I really do not know what it was. But we had a cool flat screen monitor (almost everybody used white monitors with a huge back, but we bought the latest model) with Pentium 4. It was extremely expensive and cool in 2003. And we had Windows XP I think...

[oldbuddy]

An IBM 360 that used punch cards for input.
I took a Fortran Class in college that I never used.

[mrki444]

Some type of Pentium. It had Windows 95, 32MB of RAM, not network card or CD-rom. Diskette and Office packet were my First touch with computers.

[A K Rao]

An IBM 360 that used punch cards for input.
I took a Fortran Class in college that I never used.

Wow! How big was that unit? Fortran 20 occupied a big hall and it was like a small factory. We used to punch our cards in a separate room. Then we used to get the listing in another unit and we used to submit the cards at one window and finally we use to get the results from another place on a paper! That used to be fun to swatch everything being processed as the equipment was enclosed in a Glass Room!