Remembrances of vacuum tube days
As a young teenager, I developed a love for electronics which became a lifelong love affair. In those days vacuum tubes were the norm and solid state devices such as transistors weren't in usage then....
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I remember as a very young child asking my dad what he did all day at work. He told me “I work for IBM, and I fix machines”. The only “machine” I knew about was a washing machine, so that’s what I imagined he worked on.
Not long after that, I had the opportunity to go with my dad into a large computer room, probably one of the big oil companies that were in Tulsa at the time. I remember being very impressed at all of the equipment in the computer rooms, and my dad even showed me the inside of one of them. I remember distinctly all the wires and vacuum tubes, knobs and flashing lights, the Selectric typwriters being used as consoles, and how the room smelled, the old round-reel tape drives, and the noise of the high speed impact printers. It was all totally new to me, and I don’t think I made much sense of it at that age.
My dad asked me on the way home what I though about all that, and I said something like “It was neat-o, but where were all the “machines?”
I grew up, my dad retired after 32 years, I worked for IBM for 36 years (fixing machines) and retired as well. I still remember those vacuum tubes.
:):)
Not long after that, I had the opportunity to go with my dad into a large computer room, probably one of the big oil companies that were in Tulsa at the time. I remember being very impressed at all of the equipment in the computer rooms, and my dad even showed me the inside of one of them. I remember distinctly all the wires and vacuum tubes, knobs and flashing lights, the Selectric typwriters being used as consoles, and how the room smelled, the old round-reel tape drives, and the noise of the high speed impact printers. It was all totally new to me, and I don’t think I made much sense of it at that age.
My dad asked me on the way home what I though about all that, and I said something like “It was neat-o, but where were all the “machines?”
I grew up, my dad retired after 32 years, I worked for IBM for 36 years (fixing machines) and retired as well. I still remember those vacuum tubes.
:):)
