Oldest computer you've used for "real work"?

[Dave Frederickson]

(03-10-2015 01:45 AM)Paul Berger (Canada) Wrote:  

(01-22-2015 06:16 AM)MarkHaysHarris777 Wrote:  In the evenings I baby-sat the IBM 360-44 on the second floor of the same lab-- circa 1969-1973. That machine was the first computer to analyze electrocardiograms over phone acoustic pickups from remote labs around the Mid-west U.S... also had ferrite core RAM (an entire 256K originally) and selectric IO tty.

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibi...P2044.html

memories
cheers

The 1052 console as used on S/360 and several other IBM systems of that vintage is really a selectric print mechanism with a keypunch keyboard on the front and they are hard wired into CPU. The real selectric I/O such as used in the 2741 and 2742 is an Office Products (OP) selectric with solenoids to select the characters and functions and contact straps for feedback and to sense what was being typed on the keyboard, and since it was basically an OP selectric anything typed on the keyboard also printed. Terminals based on these mechanisms where used in banks and finance companies up to around the mid 80s.

There was also a second selectric I/O that used magnets and reed switches instead of open contacts and its keyboard was not connected to the printer, but was still the same keyboard mechanics. This version also had some components beefed up to make them more durable. These where used on a variety of terminals in the late 70s and early 80s including a custom terminal system built for one of the Canadian banks.

You guys need a USB Typewriter.