You're not too far off the mark. I'm a Navy tactical computer system specialist, and we still have the capability to load prgrams from PAPER tape. Although we've come into the 70's and do most of our work on 7 and 9 track mag tape. We even have 80 MB hard drives....with 24 inch platters. Those are the bomb. This is of course, for the tactical equipment, some of which was designed in the 50's and 60's, implemented in the 70's and 80's with appropriate ruggedization and shock testing. It works, and it works well for what it does. Ships last for a long time and the logistics support has to be there. That's why this old otherwise obsolete equipment costs so much. The company has to keep making parts for it. The new commercial of the shelf stuff is causing all its own sort of pain with 18 month obsolescence of key parts. It ends up cheaper to build a whole new system instead of repairing what we have. Sometimes, we can't even repair it because the parts are no longer manufactured.
Wordstar...still got a computer that runs it. Can't convert that old stuff anymore.
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Would that BBS happen to be "An OS/2 World" If so, then...Hi John!!!
You're not too far off the mark. I'm a Navy tactical computer system specialist, and we still have the capability to load prgrams from PAPER tape. Although we've come into the 70's and do most of our work on 7 and 9 track mag tape. We even have 80 MB hard drives....with 24 inch platters. Those are the bomb. This is of course, for the tactical equipment, some of which was designed in the 50's and 60's, implemented in the 70's and 80's with appropriate ruggedization and shock testing. It works, and it works well for what it does. Ships last for a long time and the logistics support has to be there. That's why this old otherwise obsolete equipment costs so much. The company has to keep making parts for it. The new commercial of the shelf stuff is causing all its own sort of pain with 18 month obsolescence of key parts. It ends up cheaper to build a whole new system instead of repairing what we have. Sometimes, we can't even repair it because the parts are no longer manufactured. Wordstar...still got a computer that runs it. Can't convert that old stuff anymore.