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geekmaster · 12-10-2011, 05:37 PM

Thanks for the pointers. I was just in a hurry and chose not to RTFM at that moment in time, and my memory for details like that just "ain't what it used to be".

Okay, I am an old-timer in this industry.

In the REALLY olden days, disk drives* were the size of a laundromat washing machine, and their removable multi-platter disk packs* held what at the time was considered a staggering amount of storage (an entire 512 Kbytes -- yes, that's right, a 10 kilogram removable disk pack held 0.0000005 terabytes). They were so expensive that they were used only for really important random access data (and temporary "scratch" files, sort of like virtual memory). Most data was stored on punch cards, with the more valuable stuff on spools of 7-track or 9-track magnetic tape, with data bits so large you could see them with the naked eye by sprinkling powdered iron on them. I had my own personal keypunch machine in my basement, and my own ASR-33 teletype (with paper tape punch) in my living room.

When I was doing the quick-and-dirty one-liner above, it was just a "one off" script, and after trying square brackets with the ".." did not work, I just brute-forced it with a hex digit list. That actually made sense, because it was faster to type 16 hex digits and copy/paste it than it would have been to look up the correct syntax. I was tempted to clean it up before publication above, but I decided to show that doing things the "hard" way is sometimes faster than doing it the "right" way, and getting it done quickly in a way that works is what really matters, rather than trying to earn "style points"...

There is a nice "Unix Rosetta Stone" that has been around for decades, that I kept posted on the wall near my desk: http://bhami.com/rosetta.html

There are *always* better ways to be found given enough time, but sometimes "good enough now" is better than "more better later".

* ADDENDUM:

Disk packs were about the size of a small car tire. Here is a photo of one:

http://www.tpsoft.com/museum_images/...20Pack%202.JPG

And here is a photo of a disk drive that used them (hint: the buttons on the front are about 1 inch by 1 inch):

http://www.computermuseum.li/Testpag...A60A-270MB.jpg

12-10-2011, 05:37 PM	#4
geekmaster Carpe diem, c'est la vie. Posts: 6,433 Karma: 10773670 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Multiverse 6627A Device: K1 to PW3	Thanks for the pointers. I was just in a hurry and chose not to RTFM at that moment in time, and my memory for details like that just "ain't what it used to be". Okay, I am an old-timer in this industry. In the REALLY olden days, disk drives* were the size of a laundromat washing machine, and their removable multi-platter disk packs* held what at the time was considered a staggering amount of storage (an entire 512 Kbytes -- yes, that's right, a 10 kilogram removable disk pack held 0.0000005 terabytes). They were so expensive that they were used only for really important random access data (and temporary "scratch" files, sort of like virtual memory). Most data was stored on punch cards, with the more valuable stuff on spools of 7-track or 9-track magnetic tape, with data bits so large you could see them with the naked eye by sprinkling powdered iron on them. I had my own personal keypunch machine in my basement, and my own ASR-33 teletype (with paper tape punch) in my living room. When I was doing the quick-and-dirty one-liner above, it was just a "one off" script, and after trying square brackets with the ".." did not work, I just brute-forced it with a hex digit list. That actually made sense, because it was faster to type 16 hex digits and copy/paste it than it would have been to look up the correct syntax. I was tempted to clean it up before publication above, but I decided to show that doing things the "hard" way is sometimes faster than doing it the "right" way, and getting it done quickly in a way that works is what really matters, rather than trying to earn "style points"... There is a nice "Unix Rosetta Stone" that has been around for decades, that I kept posted on the wall near my desk: http://bhami.com/rosetta.html There are always better ways to be found given enough time, but sometimes "good enough now" is better than "more better later". * ADDENDUM: Disk packs were about the size of a small car tire. Here is a photo of one: http://www.tpsoft.com/museum_images/...20Pack%202.JPG And here is a photo of a disk drive that used them (hint: the buttons on the front are about 1 inch by 1 inch): http://www.computermuseum.li/Testpag...A60A-270MB.jpg Last edited by geekmaster; 03-13-2013 at 08:31 PM.