| Re: New Light on the Legend of Mel [message #405748] |
Tue, 16 February 2021 16:48  |
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Originally posted by: Joseph Monzo
On Thursday, June 16, 1994 at 11:41:57 AM UTC-7, Carl Lowenstein wrote:
> In article <2tk6ic$q...@nic.lth.se> m...@marvin.df.lth.se (Magnus Olsson) writes:
>> It is a common misapprehension that octal is in some sense more
>> "archaic" than hex (I've been a victim of it myself). Granted, modern
>> computers almost invariably use hex, but even some quite old ones did.
> I remember reading that Turing (yes that Turing) used base-32 arithmetic
> to describe coding for some machine that used 5-level paper tape for I/O.
> The Bendix G-15 (29 bits per word, as is now known to all spectators
> at Usenix Jeopardy) used UVWXYZ for the hexadecimal digits above 9.
> There's nothing quite so final as ZZZZZZZ, in my observation.
> When the computer was annoyed with the operator, its generic error message
> was Z0ZZ Y00.
> carl
> --
> carl lowenstein marine physical lab u.c. san diego
> {decvax|ucbvax} !ucsd!mpl!cdl c...@mpl.ucsd.edu
> clowe...@ucsd.edu
In fact according to its Programming Manual of 1957, the LGP-30 did use
hexadecimal, but using F G J K Q W for 10 11 12 13 14 15.
Joseph Monzo
http://tonalsoft.com
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| Re: New Light on the Legend of Mel [message #405762 is a reply to message #405748] |
Wed, 17 February 2021 01:23  |
Charles Richmond
Messages: 2754
Registered: December 2011
Karma: 0
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On 2/16/2021 3:48 PM, Joseph Monzo wrote:
> On Thursday, June 16, 1994 at 11:41:57 AM UTC-7, Carl Lowenstein wrote:
>> In article <2tk6ic$q...@nic.lth.se> m...@marvin.df.lth.se (Magnus Olsson) writes:
>>> It is a common misapprehension that octal is in some sense more
>>> "archaic" than hex (I've been a victim of it myself). Granted, modern
>>> computers almost invariably use hex, but even some quite old ones did.
>> I remember reading that Turing (yes that Turing) used base-32 arithmetic
>> to describe coding for some machine that used 5-level paper tape for I/O.
>> The Bendix G-15 (29 bits per word, as is now known to all spectators
>> at Usenix Jeopardy) used UVWXYZ for the hexadecimal digits above 9.
>> There's nothing quite so final as ZZZZZZZ, in my observation.
>> When the computer was annoyed with the operator, its generic error message
>> was Z0ZZ Y00.
>> carl
>> --
>> carl lowenstein marine physical lab u.c. san diego
>> {decvax|ucbvax} !ucsd!mpl!cdl c...@mpl.ucsd.edu
>> clowe...@ucsd.edu
>
>
> In fact according to its Programming Manual of 1957, the LGP-30 did use
> hexadecimal, but using F G J K Q W for 10 11 12 13 14 15.
>
> Joseph Monzo
> http://tonalsoft.com
>
I have heard of using K S N J F L for 10 11 12 13 14 15 on the Illiac
II, but I did *not* know about the F G J K Q W on the LGP-30.
Interesting...
--
Charles Richmond
--
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
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| Re: New Light on the Legend of Mel [message #405767 is a reply to message #405762] |
Wed, 17 February 2021 02:36 |
Quadibloc
Messages: 4399
Registered: June 2012
Karma: 0
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On Tuesday, February 16, 2021 at 11:23:26 PM UTC-7, Charles Richmond wrote:
> I have heard of using K S N J F L for 10 11 12 13 14 15 on the Illiac
> II, but I did *not* know about the F G J K Q W on the LGP-30.
A web page on my site lists all the alternatives I know of:
10 11 12 13 14 15
System/360 A B C D E F
C a b c d e f
Bendix G-15, SWAC u v w x y z
Monrobot XI S T U V W X
Datamatic D-1000 b c d e f g
Elbit 100 B C D E F G
LGP-30 f g j k q w
ILLIAC k s n j f l
Pacific Data Systems 1020 L C A S M D
John Savard
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| Re: New Light on the Legend of Mel [message #405769 is a reply to message #405748] |
Wed, 17 February 2021 03:19 |
Christian Corti
Messages: 33
Registered: September 2012
Karma: 0
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Joseph Monzo <monzojoe@gmail.com> wrote:
> In fact according to its Programming Manual of 1957, the LGP-30 did use
> hexadecimal, but using F G J K Q W for 10 11 12 13 14 15.
Obviously... they directly used the 4-bit representation of the
Flexowriter code.
In fact, you can use other characters for 10..15 as long as the lower
four bits have the value 10..15, so instead of FGJKQW you can write
UTHCAS.
You can even replace 0..9 with ZBYRIDNMPE (or the other way round).
All this of coure only with 4-bit input ;-)
Christian
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| Re: New Light on the Legend of Mel [message #405778 is a reply to message #405767] |
Wed, 17 February 2021 11:49 |
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Originally posted by: drb
> A web page on my site lists all the alternatives I know of:
Do you happen to know the menemonics commonly used for the LGP or PDS
systems? I think the IAS machine (MISTIC, ILLIAC, etc) one is widely
reported.
De
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| Re: New Light on the Legend of Mel [message #405786 is a reply to message #405778] |
Wed, 17 February 2021 16:37 |
Quadibloc
Messages: 4399
Registered: June 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 9:49:44 AM UTC-7, Dennis Boone wrote:
>> A web page on my site lists all the alternatives I know of:
> Do you happen to know the menemonics commonly used for the LGP or PDS
> systems? I think the IAS machine (MISTIC, ILLIAC, etc) one is widely
> reported.
No, in general I got the information from manuals on Bitsavers.
In addition to the usual one for the ILLIAC, "King Size Numbers Just for Laughs", a
search turned up an alternate: "Kind souls never josh fat ladies".
A similar search for the Pacific Data Systems sequence turned up no results.
But I *did* find some for the LGP-30.
FiberGlass Javelins Kill Quite Well
For God and Jesus Khrist(os), Quit Worrying
John Savard
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| Re: New Light on the Legend of Mel [message #405787 is a reply to message #405778] |
Wed, 17 February 2021 16:40 |
Quadibloc
Messages: 4399
Registered: June 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 9:49:44 AM UTC-7, Dennis Boone wrote:
>> A web page on my site lists all the alternatives I know of:
> Do you happen to know the menemonics commonly used for the LGP or PDS
> systems? I think the IAS machine (MISTIC, ILLIAC, etc) one is widely
> reported.
While Google did not help me find what mnemonic was actually used for
the PDS system, it does occur to me that its sequence of letters actually
lends itself to a mnemonic; something like
Lovely Computer Arithmetic; Some More Digits
John Savard
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