What was the first computer used for IC testing in the 1970s?

[Mark44]

The first computer I worked with was in '71 for a programming class I took at my first college.

After thinking about this a bit, it was actually the fifth college I attended...
I eventually got my degree from that one.

 

[jedishrfu]

When i did one pgm at college in 1970 and saw the battle for the keypunch and the interminable wait. I decided to forego computers and just focus on my physics and math.

I did get an adding machine to help with physics labs ie working with logarithms for greater precision and sliderules for estimates.

As an Explorer Scout in Highschool, we did batch programming in Fortran on GE-635 machines. In a 90 minute class, I was able to get in two or more runs where others got only one because I’d get there early and one of the teachers would get it submitted and retrieve the printout immediately for me.

I owed him a great debt and would always help him with various computing tasks when I started working at the computer center and he was the supervisor in charge of all shifts.

 

[Shane Kennedy]

Summary:: The first computer that I played with

When I worked for Kantronics, Inc back in the '70s, this was the first computer, the DEC PDP 8, I used to do IC testing after hot & cold temperature soaking, the engineer that could program it with his eyes closed, now works for NASA:
View attachment 294005

It was the controller for a GenRad (1795?) functional tester. We also used DataGeneral Nova and PDP11/23 computers for system test.

 

[anorlunda]

Did anyone else ever experience the Interdata Model 1 computer? It had something in my opinion that was the dumbest thing ever on a computer -- a twist knob for speed.

The idea of the knob was to be able to slow the cycle time down enough so that you could follow the program execution in binary on the front panel lights. That was a debugging technique.

But psychology is far more powerful. Each and every programmer felt that the slow speed of their program was not because of their programming, but rather that the speed knob was not turned up fully. Therefore, every Interdata Model 1 that I saw had its speed knob twisted off and broken.

 

[George Jones]

I really loved Fortran. When I used it, we had to turn in decks of cards for a program and wait for hours to get the output printout in order to trouble shoot the errors.

That's nothing ; I had to wait at least 3 days per run! Part of my communications pathway was literally a bus. I have posted the following story before.

Fortran was my first programming language, which I learned in two high school computer science courses in grades 11 and 12 from 1976 - 78. My high school teacher was a CS grad from the University of Waterloo, so we did some good stuff, e.g., introductory numerical methods.

Running programs was quite an experience. "Back in the day", my small town high school didn't have computers. We penciled in bubbles on computer cards, and then sent out our cards by Geyhound bus to the nearest university, which would run our programs and send the cards and hard-copy results back by bus. Each program had an effective run-time of three or four days! After three days, you would find out that your program hadn't even run, because you penciled in a wrong bubble, causing a fatal syntax error. Result "Execution suppressed."!

Our teacher, Mr. Fennell, managed things well, making sure that we were working on multiple projects and getting results back every day. A very positive experience for (the then young) me.

 

[dlgoff]

Fortran was my first programming language, which I learned in two high school computer science courses in grades 11 and 12 from 1976 - 78. My high school teacher was a CS grad from the University of Waterloo, so we did some good stuff, e.g., introductory numerical methods.

bold by me (thought this was fun stuff).

I wish my high school would have had computer courses. I only was able to learn Fortran when in college.

 

[Astronuc]

I don't know the first computer I used, because it was accessed via a teletype and telephone modem. It was 1969, and the class was being introduced to BASIC. I later learned FORTRAN, PLC, APL, Pascal during the 1970s. FORTRAN was mostly done with punch cards on time-shared systems at the university (IBM or Sperry). APL was done on a video terminal (and I think tape), and I think PLC was also. FORTRAN was mostly what I used through undergrad and grad school, and professionally. I still use legacy code written in FORTRAN, although much of it has been upgraded to modern versions. I've had experience with C++, which I dislike.

At the second university, undergrad engineering students shared resources with science students, all using the computer science mainframes (IBMs). The Engineering School then (1980s) decided to get its own computing system, which started as DEC VAX-11/750 and got upgraded to VAX8650/8800 cluster (I used some pre-internet connections to run remotely on computers at NASA-MSC). During the 1980s, each engineering and science department received PCs and workstations, and we built our own networks. Computing systems have gotten more elaborate since, but I haven't kept up.

 

[hutchphd]

When i did one pgm at college in 1970 and saw the battle for the keypunch and the interminable wait. I decided to forego computers and just focus on my physics and math.

YES. I remember one evening (probably 1971) being at the computer center trying to get my FORTRAN program to run when I had an epiphany. Looking around me at the disheveled and forlorn souls hopelessly and repeatedly feeding decks of cards to the holy computer operator, I realized that these machines worked only by sucking the mental energy from all sentient beings nearby, and I treated them accordingly from that point forward .
I didn't really enjoy computing again until I got a commodore 64 and took a fancy to writing 6502 (6510) machine code. I think my lunar lander program (with real time out-the-window views) was pretty good. Truth be told it was the last computer I really knew everything about and I enjoyed that very much.

 

[jedishrfu]

@hutchphd I too had a similar epiphany though it was with the Altair 680 then the TRS-80 and then the Commodore 64. I liked the VIC-20 but it was just too limiting. I really liked the Atari 800 but it was too pricey being just married and having no cash.

I remember that there was a sales event where Commodore would give you a $100 off a Commodore 64 if you traded in a game. A coworker suggested a cheap $10 pong game from Kaybee Toys.

At the time, I decided to buy a 64 just before the trade-in expired Commodore dropped the price a $100 and still honored the trade-in so I effectively got the machine for $200 less at around $199.

With it color and ease of use, I just loved playing with the sprites which were so much easier to program than the Atari 800 machine player-missile graphics. The nearest you can get to that feeling of programming freedom now is the Processing IDE where with a few lines of code you can write a simple drawing program.

 

[pbuk]

Truth be told it was the last computer I really knew everything about and I enjoyed that very much.

The Commodore 64 and its contemporaries were the last generation of (general purpose) computers that anyone knew everything about. The complexity of every level of a modern system, from pipelined, branch predicting CPU cores, through multi-level caches to optimising compilers and language runtimes with automatic garbage collection it is simply not feasible to comprehend the state of any non-trivial system at any given moment.

 

[Mark44]

The Commodore 64 and its contemporaries were the last generation of (general purpose) computers that anyone knew everything about. The complexity of every level of a modern system, from pipelined, branch predicting CPU cores, through multi-level caches to optimising compilers and language runtimes with automatic garbage collection it is simply not feasible to comprehend the state of any non-trivial system at any given moment.

In a recent thread another member asked these questions (https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...-software-from-the-hardware-activity.1008862/):

Suppose one knows well the laws of physics but knows nothing about computers and IT. Would one be able to deduce how a computer works only by studying its hardware? Could one rebuild the software code and understand its meaning only by looking at the internal flow of bits in its CPU?

For the reasons listed by @pbuk, my thought was that these tasks would be difficult at best, and maybe impossible.

 

[anorlunda]

For the reasons listed by @pbuk, my thought was that these tasks would be difficult at best, and maybe impossible.

I think that's too discouraging. It depends on what you mean by "a computer". Many young people today could follow those Ben Eater videos to make a functioning computer on their desk, program it, and watch the results. The impossible part comes when you say "a computer" means a modern PC or equivalent.

Students still take Economics 101, even though nobody is capable of really understanding everything about a national economy. I think it's sad when the educators tell us that there's no room in the curriculum for a Computers 101 course, taking 3 months to build a computer and to write a "hello world" program.

 

[Mark44]

I think that's too discouraging. It depends on what you mean by "a computer".

The context for @pbuk and me was computers after C64 and presumably to include computers after 8086/8 to 80286 PCs.

Many young people today could follow those Ben Eater videos to make a functioning computer on their desk

Sure, but as I recall he was using a 6502 processor, which is similar to the CPU in the Commodores (Vic 20 and C64). In the thread I quoted, the premise was someone who knew nothing about computers, but did know the laws of physics. With the stipulation that "a computer" means something produced in this century, I stand by my remarks.

 

[Astronuc]

I think that's too discouraging. It depends on what you mean by "a computer". Many young people today could follow those Ben Eater videos to make a functioning computer on their desk, program it, and watch the results. The impossible part comes when you say "a computer" means a modern PC or equivalent.

Mark44's assessment is reasonable, and I agree. Even with a good knowledge of physics, it would be difficult to know how a computer chip actually works without some specialized education.

I remember vividly the time (~1977/1978), when the physics department at a university was desperately searching for someone to program a microprocessor, grad or undergrad. Anyone capable would have received full tuition and expenses from the department. I never followed up, but I suspect some CompSci/CompEng/EE students came to the rescue.

I had been exposed to how microcircuits worked and TTL, but I didn't find it as interesting as other topic related to radiation, astrophysics and particle physics, on top of all the other stuff I had to learn.

Thinking back, the first computer I had was a pencil and sheet of paper, followed later by a K+E slide rule (supplementing the pencil and paper), then an SR-51 calculator. The unidentified computer accessed though a teletype came between the paper and slide rule.

 

[dlgoff]

a K+E slide rule, SR-51 calculator

I still have both of these. At one time I posted photos of these (must have been many years ago though)

 

[Astronuc]

I still have both of these. At one time I posted photos of these (must have been many years ago though)

A classmate in 11th grade had an SR-10, and then upgraded to an SR-11 in 12th grade. He used to do physics and chemistry problems to 6 or more decimal places, while the rest of us used slide rules. Between 11th and 12th grade, I encountered my first HP-35. At some point, I purchased an SR-51. After I received my bachelor's degree, I received a TI-58C. Then later I purchased an HP-41CX, which I still have and use almost every day. Someone dumped an HP-41CX at work, so I snagged that one, too. So I have two.

 

[dlgoff]

IMSAI 8080 was my first hands-on computer.

I bought one of those in Topeka, Kansas when they first came out. Don't know what ever happened to it though.

 

[dlgoff]

@Astronuc

I found the post showing my old slide rules, etc:
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/my-old-computer-collection.727751/post-4774103

 

[Quester]

HP 2100S:

 

[bob012345]

My how you all are dating yourselves! Well my first computer experience was also in the early 70's using punch card machines for class. I remember the feel and sounds in my head very well. I always loved the smoothness and clicking of the mechanical operation of the machine when making cards. In the mid 70's in grad school those machines gave way to terminals and Vax computers in awesome high tech rooms with raised floors and many large tape drives sorting out data from high energy particle experiments.

I missed the era of general slide rules by just a bit but I did use a round flight computer when I learned how to fly.

 

[jedishrfu]

We aren't dating ourselves, we're dating other people and reminiscing about the hay day of computers when folks dreamed of having one at home.

Now that we do we wish to go back in time to when we didn't and thus deny the existence of viruses, malware, internet scams, spam and myriad other headaches of today.

Dreams of a simpler time, sitting under an apple tree and pondering the existence of all things.

 

[Mark44]

We aren't dating ourselves, we're dating other people

The wife won't allow me to date other people...

 

[sysprog]

Dreams of a simpler time, sitting under an apple tree and pondering the existence of all things.

You mean like this guy?

Can't you guys just leave well enough alone?

 

[jedishrfu]

Yes but without the bench.

 

[bob012345]

You mean like this guy?

View attachment 294753

Can't you guys just leave well enough alone?

If I remember correctly, he was staying at home because of a pandemic when he was pondering these things.

 

[sysprog]

If I remember correctly, he was staying at home because of a pandemic when he was pondering these things.