In the late sixties, I worked in the IBM Hartford DataCenter as a computer operator. The DataCenter's primary mission was to assist customers in installing new equipment by providing machine time for testing. On third shift, my job was to run work left by customers during the day and perform routine software maintenance. Only rarely did customers schedule time in my shift, so the workload was generally light. During this time, I took every self-study ("PI" for Programmed Instruction) course in programming that I could find and was extremely fortunate in having S/360 and other computers available for practice. Later, I moved on to better jobs in IBM. Recently, I found this collection of pictures taken during this time and, looking at them now, wonder if the later jobs were really "better".

A few pictures from the 1980's have been added at the end.

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	029 Keyboard		A 6400?
	2311 Disk Drive		Inside a 2321 data cell.
	System 360 mod 30		Mod 30 panel
	System 360 mod 30		Mod 30 in the dark
	A different mod 30		A 1419 MICR reader attached to the mod 30 at left.
	A 1052 hammering away		1052 at rest
	An 1130 computer		The same 1130
	2250 being used as operator console		2260 screen
	1403 printer with covers open		Rear of 1403 printer
	Two models of 2400 tape drives		High speed rewind
	2400's in the dark		Inside a tape control unit
	Control panel in a tape control unit.		Chips, boards, machine unknown
	????? [Identified as a 360/30 - thank you]		A TOS sysres tape!
	Decks of punched cards		Insert the cards at left to produce these. They are called "core dumps"
	Source listing showing some bad technique		Unit record wiring panel
Pictures below were taken in the 1980's
	A 3250 vector display at a business show on the day its replacement was announced.		An early Industrial PC with an 8-inch floppy drive.
	An early 5080 raster display that replaced the 3250, above. The ultimate 2250.

Comments to:  John Coelho

Photos Copyright 2006 NFR Partners Inc.

Updated: 17 January 2007