| Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347133] |
Mon, 26 June 2017 00:43  |
hancock4
Messages: 6746
Registered: December 2011
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(I wasn't gonna post any more about Mannix, but this 1972 episode was
computer related).
A highly skilled computer designer was killed while playing golf.
Mannix is hired to find critical plans he was working on, for using
"microcircuits" to create "a phenomenal computer that would fit in a
briefcase." (The Intel 4004 was just invented in 1971 and 8008 in
1972, but I doubt the show's writers knew about it.)*
Turns out the designer was living a rather convoluted double life,
but Mannix slowly manages to piece it together, including getting
friendly with the designer's very pretty girlfriend. Mannix figured
a lot of it out from determining some water skis didn't have salt
water corrosion, and that some heavy-duty rifles were for skeet
shooting, narrowing down places to search.
Also involved was Nita Talbot, who we know as the Russian spy from
Hogan's Heroes. Good thing Hogan avoided her as she was a killer.
Mannix found the plans stored in the designer's post office box.
They only showed a quick glimpse of them and it was very hard to
read, but there was something to the effect "Spare telephone lines"
and what looked like schematics for plug and jack or relay circuits.
I did not see any logical gate symbols (AND, OR, NOT)**.
I presume Intel nor any company was about to lend the producers current
schematics of new chips so they could be aired on television.
At the end, Mannix survives (the expert sniper manages to miss every
shot), a car cahse, as well as being clubbed on the head. The
girlfriend survives too, and Mannix asks to see her again. Nita
Talbot's character gets it.
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microprocessor
Old joke: The Soviets will never invent an atomic bomb that fits
in a suitcase because they have yet to invent a suitcase.
** Logical diagrams of a computer are on bitsavers, I think it's the 1401,
if anyone wants to see the real deal.
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347145 is a reply to message #347133] |
Mon, 26 June 2017 12:24  |
Joe Pfeiffer
Messages: 764
Registered: January 2012
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hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes:
>
> Turns out the designer was living a rather convoluted double life,
> but Mannix slowly manages to piece it together, including getting
> friendly with the designer's very pretty girlfriend. Mannix figured
> a lot of it out from determining some water skis didn't have salt
> water corrosion, and that some heavy-duty rifles were for skeet
> shooting, narrowing down places to search.
Rifles for skeet shooting? Please tell me they didn't make a mistake
*that* elementary.
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347146 is a reply to message #347133] |
Mon, 26 June 2017 12:25 |
Michael Black
Messages: 2799
Registered: February 2012
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On Sun, 25 Jun 2017, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
> (I wasn't gonna post any more about Mannix, but this 1972 episode was
> computer related).
>
> A highly skilled computer designer was killed while playing golf.
> Mannix is hired to find critical plans he was working on, for using
> "microcircuits" to create "a phenomenal computer that would fit in a
> briefcase." (The Intel 4004 was just invented in 1971 and 8008 in
> 1972, but I doubt the show's writers knew about it.)*
>
But surely by then it wasn't really far out. Smaller was already the
trend. David Ahl was at DEC at the time, and at some point he had a
portable PDP-8, I forget the details but it would fit in the trunk, and
he wanted DEC to market it as an educational product. I don't know about
fitting into a briefcase, but the 7400 family of TTL logic ICs had much of
what was needed to make a computer, if not everything other than memory.
Those are "microcircuits" too.
I've said it before, but in the November 1972 issue of "73" magazine, for
amateur radio, there was an idea article about making your own computer,
and it didn't include a microprocessor.
So if a briefcase was an exageration at the time of the show, it wasn't
too far off. Maybe a big suitcase would be needed at that point.
Michael
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347147 is a reply to message #347133] |
Mon, 26 June 2017 12:37 |
Quadibloc
Messages: 4399
Registered: June 2012
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On Sunday, June 25, 2017 at 10:43:59 PM UTC-6, hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
> (The Intel 4004 was just invented in 1971 and 8008 in
> 1972, but I doubt the show's writers knew about it.)*
It is reasonable to think that the show's writers weren't also electronics
engineers, or even interested laypersons who had up-to-the-minute knowledge
about the latest advances.
However, they would have known that the Apollo spacecraft, flown in 1969, had a
small computer of sorts aboard.
They would have known that the U. S. Air Force had special computers for
airborne use that were smaller and lighter, but also more expensive, than
civilian models.
They would have been aware of the Bowmar 901B pocket calculator from 1971, if
not yet the HP 35 from 1972.
So the idea that the kind of digital circuits used in computers were getting
smaller would indeed have percolated into the public mind by then.
John Savard
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347149 is a reply to message #347145] |
Mon, 26 June 2017 14:22 |
Charlie Gibbs
Messages: 5313
Registered: January 2012
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On 2017-06-26, Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> wrote:
> hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes:
>
>> Turns out the designer was living a rather convoluted double life,
>> but Mannix slowly manages to piece it together, including getting
>> friendly with the designer's very pretty girlfriend. Mannix figured
>> a lot of it out from determining some water skis didn't have salt
>> water corrosion, and that some heavy-duty rifles were for skeet
>> shooting, narrowing down places to search.
>
> Rifles for skeet shooting? Please tell me they didn't make a mistake
> *that* elementary.
Reminds me of that Beverly Hillbillies episode where Mr. Drysdale saw
Jed and Jethro sitting on the front porch shooting flies off the wall
at the far end of the driveway. ("You have to be careful you don't
hit a bee," warned Jethro, "because if you hit a bee you lose your
turn.") So Mr. Drysdale took them skeet shooting. Jed hoisted his
rifle and over Mr. Drysdale's protests started blazing away, hitting
every clay pigeon. Even Ellie Mae got in on the action with her
slingshot.
--
/~\ cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs)
\ / I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way.
X Top-posted messages will probably be ignored. See RFC1855.
/ \ HTML will DEFINITELY be ignored. Join the ASCII ribbon campaign!
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347151 is a reply to message #347133] |
Mon, 26 June 2017 15:28 |
Andreas Kohlbach
Messages: 1456
Registered: December 2011
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On Sun, 25 Jun 2017 21:43:58 -0700 (PDT), hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
>
> (I wasn't gonna post any more about Mannix, but this 1972 episode was
> computer related).
>
> A highly skilled computer designer was killed while playing golf.
> Mannix is hired to find critical plans he was working on, for using
> "microcircuits" to create "a phenomenal computer that would fit in a
> briefcase." (The Intel 4004 was just invented in 1971 and 8008 in
> 1972, but I doubt the show's writers knew about it.)*
After a web search for
| Mannix "computer in a briefcase"
failed I looked at
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mannix_episodes>. There is no
episode titles containing the word "computer".
--
Andreas
You know you are a redneck if
there are more than five mcdonald's bags currently on the floorboard of your
car.
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347152 is a reply to message #347148] |
Mon, 26 June 2017 15:43 |
mausg
Messages: 2483
Registered: May 2013
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On 2017-06-26, Scott Lurndal <scott@slp53.sl.home> wrote:
> Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> writes:
>> hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes:
>>>
>>> Turns out the designer was living a rather convoluted double life,
>>> but Mannix slowly manages to piece it together, including getting
>>> friendly with the designer's very pretty girlfriend. Mannix figured
>>> a lot of it out from determining some water skis didn't have salt
>>> water corrosion, and that some heavy-duty rifles were for skeet
>>> shooting, narrowing down places to search.
>>
>> Rifles for skeet shooting? Please tell me they didn't make a mistake
>> *that* elementary.
>
> Have you never used shot rounds in a .22 rifle?
>
> http://www.basspro.com/Federal-GameShok-22LR-Bird-Shot-Rimfi re-Ammo/product/120829053330614/
>
> Probably not commonly used with skeet, however.
Back in the 19th century, a competition was to hit glass globes
with a rifle, when thrown up. I understand the trick was to wait till
the globe was at the top of the trajectory. Usually .22 rifles.
--
greymaus.ireland.ie
Just_Another_Grumpy_Old_Man
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347155 is a reply to message #347147] |
Mon, 26 June 2017 16:12 |
hancock4
Messages: 6746
Registered: December 2011
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On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 12:37:22 PM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
> On Sunday, June 25, 2017 at 10:43:59 PM UTC-6, hanc...@:
>> (The Intel 4004 was just invented in 1971 and 8008 in
>> 1972, but I doubt the show's writers knew about it.)*
>
> It is reasonable to think that the show's writers weren't also electronics
> engineers, or even interested laypersons who had up-to-the-minute knowledge
> about the latest advances.
>
> However, they would have known that the Apollo spacecraft, flown in 1969, had a
> small computer of sorts aboard.
>
> They would have known that the U. S. Air Force had special computers for
> airborne use that were smaller and lighter, but also more expensive, than
> civilian models.
>
> They would have been aware of the Bowmar 901B pocket calculator from 1971, if
> not yet the HP 35 from 1972.
>
> So the idea that the kind of digital circuits used in computers were getting
> smaller would indeed have percolated into the public mind by then.
I respectfully have to disagree. In 1972, for the average person,
including TV writers, computers were still quite mysterious. The
electric bill and bank statement were printed on them, but for the
average person, direct contact was extremely rare.
Note that in 1972 CRT on-line terminals to computers were extremely rare.
I distinctly remember my bank branch had to use Touch Tone phones to
get a balance of a checking account. The savings bank used a Selectric
terminal. Very large organizations such as airlines had computer
terminals. If a person did have contact to a computer, it was by
filling out a coding form and submitting it for batch processing.
The average person would not have known of the computers used on
spacecraft or planes; even if they did, they wouldn't know any of
the details.
In 1972, pocket calculators were just coming out, still expensive,
and not even a true computer; just a portable adding machine that could
multiply and divide. Electronic desk calculators had come out, but
many still used the Marchant or Friden desk machines.
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347158 is a reply to message #347147] |
Mon, 26 June 2017 18:16 |
Jon Elson
Messages: 646
Registered: April 2013
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Quadibloc wrote:
> On Sunday, June 25, 2017 at 10:43:59 PM UTC-6, hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
>> (The Intel 4004 was just invented in 1971 and 8008 in
>> 1972, but I doubt the show's writers knew about it.)*
>
> It is reasonable to think that the show's writers weren't also electronics
> engineers, or even interested laypersons who had up-to-the-minute
> knowledge about the latest advances.
>
> However, they would have known that the Apollo spacecraft, flown in 1969,
> had a small computer of sorts aboard.
>
The Apollo Guidance Computer was a pretty sophisticated computer, one of the
first all-IC computers built. Another was the Honeywell Alert, a 24-bit DTL
machine smaller than a shoebox. Both of these were running in the labs in
about 1964. Both of them were implemented with basic SSI level of circuits,
just a couple gates or a FF per package.
Jon
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347164 is a reply to message #347155] |
Mon, 26 June 2017 22:36 |
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Originally posted by: J. Clarke
In article <2040fa28-61f7-46ef-99ed-6ba256bbbec7@googlegroups.com>,
hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com says...
>
> On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 12:37:22 PM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
>> On Sunday, June 25, 2017 at 10:43:59 PM UTC-6, hanc...@:
>>> (The Intel 4004 was just invented in 1971 and 8008 in
>>> 1972, but I doubt the show's writers knew about it.)*
>>
>> It is reasonable to think that the show's writers weren't also electronics
>> engineers, or even interested laypersons who had up-to-the-minute knowledge
>> about the latest advances.
>>
>> However, they would have known that the Apollo spacecraft, flown in 1969, had a
>> small computer of sorts aboard.
>>
>> They would have known that the U. S. Air Force had special computers for
>> airborne use that were smaller and lighter, but also more expensive, than
>> civilian models.
>>
>> They would have been aware of the Bowmar 901B pocket calculator from 1971, if
>> not yet the HP 35 from 1972.
>>
>> So the idea that the kind of digital circuits used in computers were getting
>> smaller would indeed have percolated into the public mind by then.
>
> I respectfully have to disagree. In 1972, for the average person,
> including TV writers, computers were still quite mysterious. The
> electric bill and bank statement were printed on them, but for the
> average person, direct contact was extremely rare.
>
> Note that in 1972 CRT on-line terminals to computers were extremely rare.
> I distinctly remember my bank branch had to use Touch Tone phones to
> get a balance of a checking account. The savings bank used a Selectric
> terminal. Very large organizations such as airlines had computer
> terminals. If a person did have contact to a computer, it was by
> filling out a coding form and submitting it for batch processing.
>
> The average person would not have known of the computers used on
> spacecraft or planes; even if they did, they wouldn't know any of
> the details.
>
> In 1972, pocket calculators were just coming out, still expensive,
> and not even a true computer; just a portable adding machine that could
> multiply and divide. Electronic desk calculators had come out, but
> many still used the Marchant or Friden desk machines.
In 72 pocket calculators could do a good deal more than multiply and
divide. My high school physics teacher had one of the first HP-35s, I
graduated in 1972.
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347166 is a reply to message #347164] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 00:42 |
hancock4
Messages: 6746
Registered: December 2011
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 10:36:42 PM UTC-4, J. Clarke wrote:
> hancock4says...
>>
>> On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 12:37:22 PM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
>>> On Sunday, June 25, 2017 at 10:43:59 PM UTC-6, hanc...@:
>>>> (The Intel 4004 was just invented in 1971 and 8008 in
>>>> 1972, but I doubt the show's writers knew about it.)*
>>>
>>> It is reasonable to think that the show's writers weren't also electronics
>>> engineers, or even interested laypersons who had up-to-the-minute knowledge
>>> about the latest advances.
>>>
>>> However, they would have known that the Apollo spacecraft, flown in 1969, had a
>>> small computer of sorts aboard.
>>>
>>> They would have known that the U. S. Air Force had special computers for
>>> airborne use that were smaller and lighter, but also more expensive, than
>>> civilian models.
>>>
>>> They would have been aware of the Bowmar 901B pocket calculator from 1971, if
>>> not yet the HP 35 from 1972.
>>>
>>> So the idea that the kind of digital circuits used in computers were getting
>>> smaller would indeed have percolated into the public mind by then.
>>
>> I respectfully have to disagree. In 1972, for the average person,
>> including TV writers, computers were still quite mysterious. The
>> electric bill and bank statement were printed on them, but for the
>> average person, direct contact was extremely rare.
>>
>> Note that in 1972 CRT on-line terminals to computers were extremely rare.
>> I distinctly remember my bank branch had to use Touch Tone phones to
>> get a balance of a checking account. The savings bank used a Selectric
>> terminal. Very large organizations such as airlines had computer
>> terminals. If a person did have contact to a computer, it was by
>> filling out a coding form and submitting it for batch processing.
>>
>> The average person would not have known of the computers used on
>> spacecraft or planes; even if they did, they wouldn't know any of
>> the details.
>>
>> In 1972, pocket calculators were just coming out, still expensive,
>> and not even a true computer; just a portable adding machine that could
>> multiply and divide. Electronic desk calculators had come out, but
>> many still used the Marchant or Friden desk machines.
>
> In 72 pocket calculators could do a good deal more than multiply and
> divide. My high school physics teacher had one of the first HP-35s, I
> graduated in 1972.
They were very expensive: Introduced at $395, equivalent to $2,262 in
2016.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-35
Circa 1972, the new pocket calculators were forbidden to be used in
taking tests in many places--$2,200 was beyond the reach of most people.
You made do with your $3 slide rule. It wasn't until the cost came down
that they were allowed. Indeed, part of some tests was to judge the
taker's basic math skills.
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347167 is a reply to message #347164] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 00:50 |
Michael Black
Messages: 2799
Registered: February 2012
Karma: 0
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On Mon, 26 Jun 2017, J. Clarke wrote:
>> In 1972, pocket calculators were just coming out, still expensive,
>> and not even a true computer; just a portable adding machine that could
>> multiply and divide. Electronic desk calculators had come out, but
>> many still used the Marchant or Friden desk machines.
>
> In 72 pocket calculators could do a good deal more than multiply and
> divide. My high school physics teacher had one of the first HP-35s, I
> graduated in 1972.
>
Of course, we don't know when the script was written, chances are it was
some time before the episode was filmed.
Michael
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347168 is a reply to message #347155] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 00:56 |
Michael Black
Messages: 2799
Registered: February 2012
Karma: 0
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On Mon, 26 Jun 2017, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
> On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 12:37:22 PM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
>> On Sunday, June 25, 2017 at 10:43:59 PM UTC-6, hanc...@:
>>> (The Intel 4004 was just invented in 1971 and 8008 in
>>> 1972, but I doubt the show's writers knew about it.)*
>>
>> It is reasonable to think that the show's writers weren't also electronics
>> engineers, or even interested laypersons who had up-to-the-minute knowledge
>> about the latest advances.
>>
>> However, they would have known that the Apollo spacecraft, flown in 1969, had a
>> small computer of sorts aboard.
>>
>> They would have known that the U. S. Air Force had special computers for
>> airborne use that were smaller and lighter, but also more expensive, than
>> civilian models.
>>
>> They would have been aware of the Bowmar 901B pocket calculator from 1971, if
>> not yet the HP 35 from 1972.
>>
>> So the idea that the kind of digital circuits used in computers were getting
>> smaller would indeed have percolated into the public mind by then.
>
> I respectfully have to disagree. In 1972, for the average person,
> including TV writers, computers were still quite mysterious. The
> electric bill and bank statement were printed on them, but for the
> average person, direct contact was extremely rare.
>
But you're assuming tv writers were "average". Popular Science was for
everyone, and they would have carried news of the new calculators coming
along.
But why would tv writers be "average"? They lived in a different circle.
Bob Crane, the actor, was deep into video before it was affordable by
many. Ernest Lehman I don't think wrote TV scripts, but he was a well
known script writer for the movies, and he happened to have an amateur
radio license. There were science fiction writers who found better money
in other venues, so I can imagine some of them writing tv scripts
(especially after Star Trek came along), and science fiction writers often
kept track of matters that were technical.
A script writer didn't have to be technically competent, but if they
followed popular science type things, then they would have known.
Michael
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347188 is a reply to message #347152] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 08:11 |
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Originally posted by: JimP.
On 26 Jun 2017 19:43:14 GMT, mausg@mail.com wrote:
> On 2017-06-26, Scott Lurndal <scott@slp53.sl.home> wrote:
>> Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> writes:
>>> hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes:
>>>>
>>>> Turns out the designer was living a rather convoluted double life,
>>>> but Mannix slowly manages to piece it together, including getting
>>>> friendly with the designer's very pretty girlfriend. Mannix figured
>>>> a lot of it out from determining some water skis didn't have salt
>>>> water corrosion, and that some heavy-duty rifles were for skeet
>>>> shooting, narrowing down places to search.
>>>
>>> Rifles for skeet shooting? Please tell me they didn't make a mistake
>>> *that* elementary.
>>
>> Have you never used shot rounds in a .22 rifle?
>>
>> http://www.basspro.com/Federal-GameShok-22LR-Bird-Shot-Rimfi re-Ammo/product/120829053330614/
>>
>> Probably not commonly used with skeet, however.
>
> Back in the 19th century, a competition was to hit glass globes
> with a rifle, when thrown up. I understand the trick was to wait till
> the globe was at the top of the trajectory. Usually .22 rifles.
Annie Oakley excelled at that. 'Little Miss Sureshot'.
--
Jim
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347197 is a reply to message #347168] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 11:21 |
Quadibloc
Messages: 4399
Registered: June 2012
Karma: 0
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On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 10:55:32 PM UTC-6, Michael Black wrote:
> But you're assuming tv writers were "average". Popular Science was for
> everyone, and they would have carried news of the new calculators coming
> along.
For comparison, the HP 9100A programmable calculator dates from 1968, and while it
wasn't until 1975 that the IBM 5100 came out, its prototype was built in 1973.
John Savard
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347198 is a reply to message #347197] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 11:31 |
Quadibloc
Messages: 4399
Registered: June 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On Tuesday, June 27, 2017 at 9:21:53 AM UTC-6, Quadibloc wrote:
> On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 10:55:32 PM UTC-6, Michael Black wrote:
>> But you're assuming tv writers were "average". Popular Science was for
>> everyone, and they would have carried news of the new calculators coming
>> along.
> For comparison, the HP 9100A programmable calculator dates from 1968, and while it
> wasn't until 1975 that the IBM 5100 came out, its prototype was built in 1973.
....also, remember what Mannix had in common with Star Trek.
It was a product of Desilu Studios, which was also responsible for the TV series
Mission: Impossible.
So the notion of a "briefcase computer" would have been something in the minds
of the scriptwriters even without any basis in fact.
The Olivetti Programma 101 dates from 1965, by the way.
John Savard
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347202 is a reply to message #347152] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 12:24 |
Joe Pfeiffer
Messages: 764
Registered: January 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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> On 2017-06-26, Scott Lurndal <scott@slp53.sl.home> wrote:
>> Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> writes:
>>> hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes:
>>>>
>>>> Turns out the designer was living a rather convoluted double life,
>>>> but Mannix slowly manages to piece it together, including getting
>>>> friendly with the designer's very pretty girlfriend. Mannix figured
>>>> a lot of it out from determining some water skis didn't have salt
>>>> water corrosion, and that some heavy-duty rifles were for skeet
>>>> shooting, narrowing down places to search.
>>>
>>> Rifles for skeet shooting? Please tell me they didn't make a mistake
>>> *that* elementary.
>>
>> Have you never used shot rounds in a .22 rifle?
>>
>> http://www.basspro.com/Federal-GameShok-22LR-Bird-Shot-Rimfi re-Ammo/product/120829053330614/
>>
>> Probably not commonly used with skeet, however.
No, though I do keep a .38 loaded with snake shot when I take my dog out
in the desert.
Yes, you can shoot a shot cartridge in a rifle. No one in their right
mind would use it for skeet shooting, and a .22 is not a "heavy-duty
rifle".
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347204 is a reply to message #347166] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 12:43 |
Michael Black
Messages: 2799
Registered: February 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On Mon, 26 Jun 2017, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
> On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 10:36:42 PM UTC-4, J. Clarke wrote:
>
>> hancock4says...
>>>
>>> On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 12:37:22 PM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
>>>> On Sunday, June 25, 2017 at 10:43:59 PM UTC-6, hanc...@:
>>>> > (The Intel 4004 was just invented in 1971 and 8008 in
>>>> > 1972, but I doubt the show's writers knew about it.)*
>>>>
>>>> It is reasonable to think that the show's writers weren't also electronics
>>>> engineers, or even interested laypersons who had up-to-the-minute knowledge
>>>> about the latest advances.
>>>>
>>>> However, they would have known that the Apollo spacecraft, flown in 1969, had a
>>>> small computer of sorts aboard.
>>>>
>>>> They would have known that the U. S. Air Force had special computers for
>>>> airborne use that were smaller and lighter, but also more expensive, than
>>>> civilian models.
>>>>
>>>> They would have been aware of the Bowmar 901B pocket calculator from 1971, if
>>>> not yet the HP 35 from 1972.
>>>>
>>>> So the idea that the kind of digital circuits used in computers were getting
>>>> smaller would indeed have percolated into the public mind by then.
>>>
>>> I respectfully have to disagree. In 1972, for the average person,
>>> including TV writers, computers were still quite mysterious. The
>>> electric bill and bank statement were printed on them, but for the
>>> average person, direct contact was extremely rare.
>>>
>>> Note that in 1972 CRT on-line terminals to computers were extremely rare.
>>> I distinctly remember my bank branch had to use Touch Tone phones to
>>> get a balance of a checking account. The savings bank used a Selectric
>>> terminal. Very large organizations such as airlines had computer
>>> terminals. If a person did have contact to a computer, it was by
>>> filling out a coding form and submitting it for batch processing.
>>>
>>> The average person would not have known of the computers used on
>>> spacecraft or planes; even if they did, they wouldn't know any of
>>> the details.
>>>
>>> In 1972, pocket calculators were just coming out, still expensive,
>>> and not even a true computer; just a portable adding machine that could
>>> multiply and divide. Electronic desk calculators had come out, but
>>> many still used the Marchant or Friden desk machines.
>>
>> In 72 pocket calculators could do a good deal more than multiply and
>> divide. My high school physics teacher had one of the first HP-35s, I
>> graduated in 1972.
>
> They were very expensive: Introduced at $395, equivalent to $2,262 in
> 2016.
>
But I knew someone, he worked for RCA, and they got some quantity
discount. I can't remembe if it was 1972 or the next year. I generally
don't know people who get something early, so I think it's less rare in
this case than you portray. Of course, it beat a slide rule.
Michael
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347211 is a reply to message #347165] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 13:14 |
Andreas Kohlbach
Messages: 1456
Registered: December 2011
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On Mon, 26 Jun 2017 20:22:21 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc wrote:
>
> On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 1:28:27 PM UTC-6, Andreas Kohlbach wrote:
>
>> After a web search for
>>
>> | Mannix "computer in a briefcase"
>>
>> failed I looked at
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mannix_episodes>. There is no
>> episode titles containing the word "computer".
>
> I can assure you that the episode to which he refers actually existed.
>
> Its title, though, was "Babe in the Woods".
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0641552/
Thanks. Was aired January 1972 first so probably shot summer or fall
1971. Unfortunately YouTube or others I checked don't have a trailer.
--
Andreas
You know you are a redneck if
there are more than five mcdonald's bags currently on the floorboard of your
car.
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347215 is a reply to message #347165] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 14:36 |
hancock4
Messages: 6746
Registered: December 2011
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 11:22:24 PM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
> On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 1:28:27 PM UTC-6, Andreas Kohlbach wrote:
>
>> After a web search for
>>
>> | Mannix "computer in a briefcase"
>>
>> failed I looked at
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mannix_episodes>. There is no
>> episode titles containing the word "computer".
>
> I can assure you that the episode to which he refers actually existed.
>
> Its title, though, was "Babe in the Woods".
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0641552/
Thanks for the update.
I looked up the young woman on IMDB, and she apparently worked for a few
years then stopped. She was older than I thought--almost 30, when she
made the episode. By _today's_ standards, Mannix was quite sexist--most
of the women portrayed were helpless airheads, though a few women were the
criminals, and his secretary was smart. But in this episode the girl
was an airhead, knowing very little about her boyfriend and not seeming
to care.
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347216 is a reply to message #347215] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 14:44 |
mausg
Messages: 2483
Registered: May 2013
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On 2017-06-27, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com <hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote:
> On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 11:22:24 PM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
>> On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 1:28:27 PM UTC-6, Andreas Kohlbach wrote:
>>
>>> After a web search for
>>>
>>> | Mannix "computer in a briefcase"
>>>
>>> failed I looked at
>>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mannix_episodes>. There is no
>>> episode titles containing the word "computer".
>>
>> I can assure you that the episode to which he refers actually existed.
>>
>> Its title, though, was "Babe in the Woods".
>> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0641552/
>
>
> Thanks for the update.
>
> I looked up the young woman on IMDB, and she apparently worked for a few
> years then stopped. She was older than I thought--almost 30, when she
> made the episode. By _today's_ standards, Mannix was quite sexist--most
> of the women portrayed were helpless airheads, though a few women were the
> criminals, and his secretary was smart. But in this episode the girl
> was an airhead, knowing very little about her boyfriend and not seeming
> to care.
>
This was balanced on the soap operas as showing the husbands as idiots,
of course the soaps were selling to housewives.
--
greymaus.ireland.ie
Just_Another_Grumpy_Old_Man
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347221 is a reply to message #347168] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 14:59 |
hancock4
Messages: 6746
Registered: December 2011
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On Tuesday, June 27, 2017 at 12:55:32 AM UTC-4, Michael Black wrote:
> On Mon, 26 Jun 2017, hancock4@ wrote:
>
>> On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 12:37:22 PM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
>>> On Sunday, June 25, 2017 at 10:43:59 PM UTC-6, hanc...@:
>>>> (The Intel 4004 was just invented in 1971 and 8008 in
>>>> 1972, but I doubt the show's writers knew about it.)*
>>>
>>> It is reasonable to think that the show's writers weren't also electronics
>>> engineers, or even interested laypersons who had up-to-the-minute knowledge
>>> about the latest advances.
>>>
>>> However, they would have known that the Apollo spacecraft, flown in 1969, had a
>>> small computer of sorts aboard.
>>>
>>> They would have known that the U. S. Air Force had special computers for
>>> airborne use that were smaller and lighter, but also more expensive, than
>>> civilian models.
>>>
>>> They would have been aware of the Bowmar 901B pocket calculator from 1971, if
>>> not yet the HP 35 from 1972.
>>>
>>> So the idea that the kind of digital circuits used in computers were getting
>>> smaller would indeed have percolated into the public mind by then.
>>
>> I respectfully have to disagree. In 1972, for the average person,
>> including TV writers, computers were still quite mysterious. The
>> electric bill and bank statement were printed on them, but for the
>> average person, direct contact was extremely rare.
> But you're assuming tv writers were "average". Popular Science was for
> everyone, and they would have carried news of the new calculators coming
> along.
Popular Science, while a mass market publication, was definitely not for
"everyone". It was intended for those with a technical background,
such as guys with home workshops. A lot of the articles were about home
repair. While it did report on new technological developments, it did
so in a fairly general way. Also, a lot of its "coming soon" items never
came to pass. P/S and P/M are available on google books, and in older
issues you can read about all sorts of futuristic gadgets that took
decades to come about, if ever at all. We talked about their big article
on time sharing, which never quite developed into a mass home service as
originally predicted.
> But why would tv writers be "average"? They lived in a different circle.
> Bob Crane, the actor, was deep into video before it was affordable by
> many. Ernest Lehman I don't think wrote TV scripts, but he was a well
> known script writer for the movies, and he happened to have an amateur
> radio license. There were science fiction writers who found better money
> in other venues, so I can imagine some of them writing tv scripts
> (especially after Star Trek came along), and science fiction writers often
> kept track of matters that were technical.
True enough, and we could see that on Star Trek. But Mannix was a mass
market detective show, not a sci-fi show. We already discussed that the
first season--which had a computer center in it--was totally inaccurate.
In any event, the Mannix writers were looking for drama and action, not
a computer story. In this episode, the focus was on a murder, why and
whodunnit.
> A script writer didn't have to be technically competent, but if they
> followed popular science type things, then they would have known.
A script writer in 1972 might, or might not, have known about general
trends in technology, such as electronic miniaturization. IMHO, generally,
TV writers in that era were pretty clueless about real life, be it
technology, college, high school, or marriage and family. IMHO, in
Hollywood they were kind of isolated from the real world. They were
writing entertainment, which wrote what they thought people wanted
to see--pretty girls, action, rich people, drama--not necessarily
what was really going on in real life. More specifically, often they
grossly exaggerated real life for dramatic purposes, such as suggesting
in 1972 that a computer could fit into a briefcase.
(When did the "luggables" came out? I had a Compaq 'luggable' from work;
it had a tiny CRT screen and weighed a ton. I think it needed house
current, not batteries. Later they came out with true laptops, but I
forgot when, and they weren't cheap.)
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347222 is a reply to message #347198] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 15:01 |
hancock4
Messages: 6746
Registered: December 2011
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On Tuesday, June 27, 2017 at 11:31:46 AM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
> On Tuesday, June 27, 2017 at 9:21:53 AM UTC-6, Quadibloc wrote:
>> On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 10:55:32 PM UTC-6, Michael Black wrote:
>
>>> But you're assuming tv writers were "average". Popular Science was for
>>> everyone, and they would have carried news of the new calculators coming
>>> along.
>
>> For comparison, the HP 9100A programmable calculator dates from 1968, and while it
>> wasn't until 1975 that the IBM 5100 came out, its prototype was built in 1973.
>
> ...also, remember what Mannix had in common with Star Trek.
>
> It was a product of Desilu Studios, which was also responsible for the TV series
> Mission: Impossible.
> So the notion of a "briefcase computer" would have been something in the minds
> of the scriptwriters even without any basis in fact.
> The Olivetti Programma 101 dates from 1965, by the way.
That's a good point. Indeed, Mannix and Mission and Impossible were done
by the same executive producer, Bruce Geller.
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347225 is a reply to message #347216] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 17:17 |
hancock4
Messages: 6746
Registered: December 2011
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On Tuesday, June 27, 2017 at 2:44:06 PM UTC-4, ma...@mail.com wrote:
>> I looked up the young woman on IMDB, and she apparently worked for a few
>> years then stopped. She was older than I thought--almost 30, when she
>> made the episode. By _today's_ standards, Mannix was quite sexist--most
>> of the women portrayed were helpless airheads, though a few women were the
>> criminals, and his secretary was smart. But in this episode the girl
>> was an airhead, knowing very little about her boyfriend and not seeming
>> to care.
>>
>
> This was balanced on the soap operas as showing the husbands as idiots,
> of course the soaps were selling to housewives.
Generally, entertainment reflected the attitudes of the era. A lot of
stuff made in the 1950s (TV and movies) would be seen as very sexist
today. However, sometimes back then a producer would experiment with
something very progressive, and often it was not well received.
Storytellers had to tread lightly with advanced ideas. Showing too
smart, too strong, or too powerful a woman in that time MUST have
included various add-ons, such as the woman having inherited a
business from her deceased husband and father, and still being
a bit vulnerable. Way back then many women themselves gladly accepted
their role as homemaker and saw their husbands as the breadwinner.
(I talked to a lot of women of the WW II generation and they were
happy to quit their arduous defense jobs and stay home for their
husbands and raise kids. Most women who continued to work did so
because they financially had to. Attitudes didn't really change until
the 1960s.)
Likewise with African Americans--in the 1950s, showing a black
person as socially equal to whites was actually deemed offensive
in some parts of the country and would block a TV show or film
from being shown in those areas.
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347226 is a reply to message #347133] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 17:20 |
hancock4
Messages: 6746
Registered: December 2011
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On Tuesday, June 27, 2017 at 4:13:16 PM UTC-4, Dave Garland wrote:
> The Osborne O-1 came out in 1981, and was very successful. That would
> have been the first luggable that the general public was exposed to.
> Like the later ones by IBM, Compaq, Corona, et al., it did require AC
> power. And weighed about as much as a "portable" sewing machine.
A lot of stuff back then was called "portable" but really wasn't.
My portable electric typewriter could be carried, but it was more
properly called a "luggable". (They did make several kinds of
manual typewriters, and some had a lightweight design, intended for
reporters to carry on assignment.)
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347232 is a reply to message #347133] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 18:52 |
Quadibloc
Messages: 4399
Registered: June 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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The HP 9830A calculator, which was programmed in BASIC, and thus would be
considered a computer rather than a programmable calculator by most people, dates
from 1972.
Too late to be known to someone writing a TV show to be shown in 1972, and one of
those, while it sat on a desktop, would not have fit in a briefcase. And not
likely to be that well known to people outside the scientific and technical
fields.
But it is another data point.
John Savard
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347235 is a reply to message #347166] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 19:02 |
|
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Originally posted by: J. Clarke
In article <67eebfee-26a7-489f-9193-0525983875e3@googlegroups.com>,
hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com says...
>
> On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 10:36:42 PM UTC-4, J. Clarke wrote:
>
>> hancock4says...
>>>
>>> On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 12:37:22 PM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
>>>> On Sunday, June 25, 2017 at 10:43:59 PM UTC-6, hanc...@:
>>>> > (The Intel 4004 was just invented in 1971 and 8008 in
>>>> > 1972, but I doubt the show's writers knew about it.)*
>>>>
>>>> It is reasonable to think that the show's writers weren't also electronics
>>>> engineers, or even interested laypersons who had up-to-the-minute knowledge
>>>> about the latest advances.
>>>>
>>>> However, they would have known that the Apollo spacecraft, flown in 1969, had a
>>>> small computer of sorts aboard.
>>>>
>>>> They would have known that the U. S. Air Force had special computers for
>>>> airborne use that were smaller and lighter, but also more expensive, than
>>>> civilian models.
>>>>
>>>> They would have been aware of the Bowmar 901B pocket calculator from 1971, if
>>>> not yet the HP 35 from 1972.
>>>>
>>>> So the idea that the kind of digital circuits used in computers were getting
>>>> smaller would indeed have percolated into the public mind by then.
>>>
>>> I respectfully have to disagree. In 1972, for the average person,
>>> including TV writers, computers were still quite mysterious. The
>>> electric bill and bank statement were printed on them, but for the
>>> average person, direct contact was extremely rare.
>>>
>>> Note that in 1972 CRT on-line terminals to computers were extremely rare.
>>> I distinctly remember my bank branch had to use Touch Tone phones to
>>> get a balance of a checking account. The savings bank used a Selectric
>>> terminal. Very large organizations such as airlines had computer
>>> terminals. If a person did have contact to a computer, it was by
>>> filling out a coding form and submitting it for batch processing.
>>>
>>> The average person would not have known of the computers used on
>>> spacecraft or planes; even if they did, they wouldn't know any of
>>> the details.
>>>
>>> In 1972, pocket calculators were just coming out, still expensive,
>>> and not even a true computer; just a portable adding machine that could
>>> multiply and divide. Electronic desk calculators had come out, but
>>> many still used the Marchant or Friden desk machines.
>>
>> In 72 pocket calculators could do a good deal more than multiply and
>> divide. My high school physics teacher had one of the first HP-35s, I
>> graduated in 1972.
>
> They were very expensive: Introduced at $395, equivalent to $2,262 in
> 2016.
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-35
>
> Circa 1972, the new pocket calculators were forbidden to be used in
> taking tests in many places--$2,200 was beyond the reach of most people.
> You made do with your $3 slide rule. It wasn't until the cost came down
> that they were allowed. Indeed, part of some tests was to judge the
> taker's basic math skills.
I had one. Nobody ever told me I couldn't use it on a test. Of course the
tests I took generally were such that a calculator didn't help. Note that
there was no objection to using 2741 attached to a 370 either--it would
have been no more help.
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347236 is a reply to message #347202] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 19:14 |
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Originally posted by: J. Clarke
In article <1bd19pv1ou.fsf@pfeifferfamily.net>, pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu
says...
>
>> On 2017-06-26, Scott Lurndal <scott@slp53.sl.home> wrote:
>>> Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> writes:
>>>> hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes:
>>>> >
>>>> > Turns out the designer was living a rather convoluted double life,
>>>> > but Mannix slowly manages to piece it together, including getting
>>>> > friendly with the designer's very pretty girlfriend. Mannix figured
>>>> > a lot of it out from determining some water skis didn't have salt
>>>> > water corrosion, and that some heavy-duty rifles were for skeet
>>>> > shooting, narrowing down places to search.
>>>>
>>>> Rifles for skeet shooting? Please tell me they didn't make a mistake
>>>> *that* elementary.
>>>
>>> Have you never used shot rounds in a .22 rifle?
>>>
>>> http://www.basspro.com/Federal-GameShok-22LR-Bird-Shot-Rimfi re-Ammo/product/120829053330614/
>>>
>>> Probably not commonly used with skeet, however.
>
> No, though I do keep a .38 loaded with snake shot when I take my dog out
> in the desert.
>
> Yes, you can shoot a shot cartridge in a rifle. No one in their right
> mind would use it for skeet shooting, and a .22 is not a "heavy-duty
> rifle".
Further, I suspect that the recoil of a "heavy duty rifle" would make skeet
rather difficult.
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347245 is a reply to message #347232] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 21:20 |
hancock4
Messages: 6746
Registered: December 2011
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On Tuesday, June 27, 2017 at 6:52:33 PM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
> The HP 9830A calculator, which was programmed in BASIC, and thus would be
> considered a computer rather than a programmable calculator by most people, dates
> from 1972.
>
> Too late to be known to someone writing a TV show to be shown in 1972, and one of
> those, while it sat on a desktop, would not have fit in a briefcase. And not
> likely to be that well known to people outside the scientific and technical
> fields.
>
> But it is another data point.
How much did they cost? I don't think price is mentioned here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_9830#HP_9830
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347246 is a reply to message #347245] |
Tue, 27 June 2017 21:33 |
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Originally posted by: J. Clarke
In article <9e79b085-c83f-4025-8b83-ba8b90cf033e@googlegroups.com>,
hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com says...
>
> On Tuesday, June 27, 2017 at 6:52:33 PM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
>> The HP 9830A calculator, which was programmed in BASIC, and thus would be
>> considered a computer rather than a programmable calculator by most people, dates
>> from 1972.
>>
>> Too late to be known to someone writing a TV show to be shown in 1972, and one of
>> those, while it sat on a desktop, would not have fit in a briefcase. And not
>> likely to be that well known to people outside the scientific and technical
>> fields.
>>
>> But it is another data point.
>
> How much did they cost? I don't think price is mentioned here:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_9830#HP_9830
Depends on the options.
<http://www.hpmuseum.org/hp9830.htm>
For pricing scroll to the bottom.
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347260 is a reply to message #347256] |
Wed, 28 June 2017 06:41 |
|
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Originally posted by: J. Clarke
In article <slrnol6jds.18r.mausg@smaus.xxx>, mausg@mail.com says...
>
> On 2017-06-27, J. Clarke <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> wrote:
>> In article <1bd19pv1ou.fsf@pfeifferfamily.net>, pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu
>> says...
>>>
>>>> On 2017-06-26, Scott Lurndal <scott@slp53.sl.home> wrote:
>>>> > Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> writes:
>>>> >>hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes:
>>>> >>>
>>>> > Probably not commonly used with skeet, however.
>>>
>>> No, though I do keep a .38 loaded with snake shot when I take my dog out
>>> in the desert.
>>>
>>> Yes, you can shoot a shot cartridge in a rifle. No one in their right
>>> mind would use it for skeet shooting, and a .22 is not a "heavy-duty
>>> rifle".
>>
>> Further, I suspect that the recoil of a "heavy duty rifle" would make skeet
>> rather difficult.
>
> Thats why the glass-globe shooters used .22 guns.
That and well-made .22 rimfires are quite remarkably accurate.
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347261 is a reply to message #347225] |
Wed, 28 June 2017 06:47 |
jmfbahciv
Messages: 6173
Registered: March 2012
Karma: 0
|
Senior Member |
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hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
> On Tuesday, June 27, 2017 at 2:44:06 PM UTC-4, ma...@mail.com wrote:
>
>>> I looked up the young woman on IMDB, and she apparently worked for a few
>>> years then stopped. She was older than I thought--almost 30, when she
>>> made the episode. By _today's_ standards, Mannix was quite sexist--most
>>> of the women portrayed were helpless airheads, though a few women were
the
>>> criminals, and his secretary was smart. But in this episode the girl
>>> was an airhead, knowing very little about her boyfriend and not seeming
>>> to care.
>>>
>>
>> This was balanced on the soap operas as showing the husbands as idiots,
>> of course the soaps were selling to housewives.
>
> Generally, entertainment reflected the attitudes of the era. A lot of
> stuff made in the 1950s (TV and movies) would be seen as very sexist
> today. However, sometimes back then a producer would experiment with
> something very progressive, and often it was not well received.
> Storytellers had to tread lightly with advanced ideas. Showing too
> smart, too strong, or too powerful a woman in that time MUST have
> included various add-ons, such as the woman having inherited a
> business from her deceased husband and father, and still being
> a bit vulnerable. Way back then many women themselves gladly accepted
> their role as homemaker and saw their husbands as the breadwinner.
> (I talked to a lot of women of the WW II generation and they were
> happy to quit their arduous defense jobs and stay home for their
> husbands and raise kids.
Then you didn't talk to any farmers, women who were intelligent nor
small business owners.
> Most women who continued to work did so
> because they financially had to. Attitudes didn't really change until
> the 1960s.)
>
> Likewise with African Americans--in the 1950s, showing a black
> person as socially equal to whites was actually deemed offensive
> in some parts of the country and would block a TV show or film
> from being shown in those areas.
/BAH
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347265 is a reply to message #347133] |
Wed, 28 June 2017 08:25 |
scott
Messages: 4239
Registered: February 2012
Karma: 0
|
Senior Member |
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Dave Garland <dave.garland@wizinfo.com> writes:
> On 6/27/2017 1:59 PM, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
>
>> (When did the "luggables" came out? I had a Compaq 'luggable' from work;
>> it had a tiny CRT screen and weighed a ton. I think it needed house
>> current, not batteries. Later they came out with true laptops, but I
>> forgot when, and they weren't cheap.)
>>
> The IBM 5100 came out in 1975, and used tape cartridges for storage.
> You could get it with BASIC or APL,
Or both - there was a switch on the front that switched between
BASIC and APL - at least on the one I used.
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347266 is a reply to message #347204] |
Wed, 28 June 2017 08:44 |
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Originally posted by: JimP.
On Tue, 27 Jun 2017 12:43:57 -0400, Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca>
wrote:
> On Mon, 26 Jun 2017, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
>
>> On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 10:36:42 PM UTC-4, J. Clarke wrote:
>>
>>> hancock4says...
>>>>
>>>> On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 12:37:22 PM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
>>>> > On Sunday, June 25, 2017 at 10:43:59 PM UTC-6, hanc...@:
>>>> >> (The Intel 4004 was just invented in 1971 and 8008 in
>>>> >> 1972, but I doubt the show's writers knew about it.)*
>>>> >
>>>> > It is reasonable to think that the show's writers weren't also electronics
>>>> > engineers, or even interested laypersons who had up-to-the-minute knowledge
>>>> > about the latest advances.
>>>> >
>>>> > However, they would have known that the Apollo spacecraft, flown in 1969, had a
>>>> > small computer of sorts aboard.
>>>> >
>>>> > They would have known that the U. S. Air Force had special computers for
>>>> > airborne use that were smaller and lighter, but also more expensive, than
>>>> > civilian models.
>>>> >
>>>> > They would have been aware of the Bowmar 901B pocket calculator from 1971, if
>>>> > not yet the HP 35 from 1972.
>>>> >
>>>> > So the idea that the kind of digital circuits used in computers were getting
>>>> > smaller would indeed have percolated into the public mind by then.
>>>>
>>>> I respectfully have to disagree. In 1972, for the average person,
>>>> including TV writers, computers were still quite mysterious. The
>>>> electric bill and bank statement were printed on them, but for the
>>>> average person, direct contact was extremely rare.
>>>>
>>>> Note that in 1972 CRT on-line terminals to computers were extremely rare.
>>>> I distinctly remember my bank branch had to use Touch Tone phones to
>>>> get a balance of a checking account. The savings bank used a Selectric
>>>> terminal. Very large organizations such as airlines had computer
>>>> terminals. If a person did have contact to a computer, it was by
>>>> filling out a coding form and submitting it for batch processing.
>>>>
>>>> The average person would not have known of the computers used on
>>>> spacecraft or planes; even if they did, they wouldn't know any of
>>>> the details.
>>>>
>>>> In 1972, pocket calculators were just coming out, still expensive,
>>>> and not even a true computer; just a portable adding machine that could
>>>> multiply and divide. Electronic desk calculators had come out, but
>>>> many still used the Marchant or Friden desk machines.
>>>
>>> In 72 pocket calculators could do a good deal more than multiply and
>>> divide. My high school physics teacher had one of the first HP-35s, I
>>> graduated in 1972.
>>
>> They were very expensive: Introduced at $395, equivalent to $2,262 in
>> 2016.
>>
> But I knew someone, he worked for RCA, and they got some quantity
> discount. I can't remembe if it was 1972 or the next year. I generally
> don't know people who get something early, so I think it's less rare in
> this case than you portray. Of course, it beat a slide rule.
>
> Michael
About 1975 I was taking classes at a community college. We had two
very heavy electronic calculators. Probably weight about 2 pounds
each. They cost about $400 each. I think they werre made by Litton.
The guy running the resource center, visual aids and those two
calculators, had purchased a 4 function calculator with a percent key
a few years earlier. He told us he paid $800 for it.
--
Jim
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347277 is a reply to message #347226] |
Wed, 28 June 2017 11:50 |
Peter Flass
Messages: 8375
Registered: December 2011
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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<hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote:
> On Tuesday, June 27, 2017 at 4:13:16 PM UTC-4, Dave Garland wrote:
>
>> The Osborne O-1 came out in 1981, and was very successful. That would
>> have been the first luggable that the general public was exposed to.
>> Like the later ones by IBM, Compaq, Corona, et al., it did require AC
>> power. And weighed about as much as a "portable" sewing machine.
>
> A lot of stuff back then was called "portable" but really wasn't.
>
> My portable electric typewriter could be carried, but it was more
> properly called a "luggable". (They did make several kinds of
> manual typewriters, and some had a lightweight design, intended for
> reporters to carry on assignment.)
>
>
I remember a college that got a "portable" PDP-11 - you could wheel it
around on a cart.
--
Pete
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| Re: Mannix "computer in a briefcase" [message #347278 is a reply to message #347277] |
Wed, 28 June 2017 12:14 |
hancock4
Messages: 6746
Registered: December 2011
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On Wednesday, June 28, 2017 at 11:50:11 AM UTC-4, Peter Flass wrote:
> <hancock4@> wrote:
>> On Tuesday, June 27, 2017 at 4:13:16 PM UTC-4, Dave Garland wrote:
>>
>>> The Osborne O-1 came out in 1981, and was very successful. That would
>>> have been the first luggable that the general public was exposed to.
>>> Like the later ones by IBM, Compaq, Corona, et al., it did require AC
>>> power. And weighed about as much as a "portable" sewing machine.
>>
>> A lot of stuff back then was called "portable" but really wasn't.
>>
>> My portable electric typewriter could be carried, but it was more
>> properly called a "luggable". (They did make several kinds of
>> manual typewriters, and some had a lightweight design, intended for
>> reporters to carry on assignment.)
>>
>>
>
> I remember a college that got a "portable" PDP-11 - you could wheel it
> around on a cart.
Yes. Lots of items called portable, like portable TV sets, required
a cart to wheel them around. (They did have some tiny TV sets).
For our Teletype 33, they mounted wheels and a handle on it, and it
was fairly easy to move around. The phone line had a plug on it.
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