My first personal computer experience was with an IBM 3270 PC in 1986. I had been working for several years as a Mainframe programmer when I took a job with a subsidiary of Tenneco. I was more than surprised when my new desk included a personal computer tied into the IBM Mainframe! The IBM 3270 PC was really an IBM PC XT with a 3278/3279 emulation board, 640 KB of RAM, 10 MB of disk storage, 2 5.25" floppy drives with an IBM Color Graphics Adapter.
Up until this time, I worked mainly on terminals and I had one screen. The IBM 3270 PC computer had special software allowing me to have five windows running concurrently. I used four for mainframe sessions and it was very useful. I could work on code in one window, compile code in another, review compiler output and execute all at the same time. Overnight I went from being limited to one at activity at a time to running parallel processes. It was truly a remarkable machine and I will never forget the awe and excitement I felt with this computer.
I soon found myself waiting for the office copy of PC Week to arrive and would read it cover to cover to learn about the latest software and hardware offerings. To the chagrin of the IT Department, the accounting and marketing departments were sneaking personal computers in the back door for analysis and promotional work. I wound-up working with these departments to pull mainframe data down to the personal computers in a format that could be used by spreadsheet and graphical software.
Within a year of my IBM 3270 PC I had a toolkit in my desk so I could upgrade computer memory, disk drives, video adapters, etc. I could pull chips, add math co-processors and had become a PC Geek. Looking back, that period of time was exciting, revolutionary and a remarkable leap forward.
Originally created for my M.E in Instructional Technology, I enjoy sharing a blog or two about life along the way.
Brian ,
ReplyDeleteI started dealing with computers as mainframes were diminishing from the market .But I always here from my friends who used to work with the mainframes that they liked it and they feel that they had more control on the system ...
Brian - How fortunate you are to have witnessed this transition and have knowledge of how it works. I feel like I am an end user. I wish that I knew more about it all. I find it amazing that PCs came from switches used to put in code, no monitor or printer and no forseen purpose to being used to process data. I worked as an accountant for 10 years to start my working life and I relyed heavily upon computers to "crunch numbers". Do you wonder where the next leaps will be made? I wonder if there won't be a series of parallel leaps in various fields as has been the pattern for current development.
ReplyDeleteI remember the days when you bought chips in a bag and used a chip puller to replace the old ones. I was so impressed with my ability to swap memory etc.
ReplyDeleteThese kids today, they have it sooo.. easy.
Until recently I used multiple monitors, A free months ago in an effort to simplify my system I switched to one big one.