UNIX Arcana [was Re: Perl (or Unix vs. MS, actually) ]

[pll at lanminds.com]

In a message dated: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 08:56:37 EDT
"Jerry Feldman" said:

>Burger King's point of Sale system in the early 1970s was a PDP-8M with 4 
>attached registers. No disk, no paper tape, core memory. For the modem, we 
>had to time the 1200 baud with timing loops and send a bit at a time. No 
>UART. We also had to strike the hammers on the printer drum. Keyboard 
>required to reads (row and column). If the system crashed, a service guy 
>had to come in, plug in the paper tape board, and reload the program. 

You know, I just heard someone complaining that the quaility of 
"service" people has taken a drastic drop in the last 20-30 years.
I guess if, to work for Burger King inthe 1970s you needed to be able 
to operate a PDP-8 class machine you'd have to be a whole lot smarter 
than those "touch screen monkeys" they have now-a-days, which 
explains why QoS at the burger joints has gone down hill ;)
-- 

Seeya,
Paul
--
	It may look like I'm just sitting here doing nothing,
   but I'm really actively waiting for all my problems to go away.

	 If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right!