I was very good with APL… Even sold it to a customer with a 360/158… That still uses it in PC’s (I think)…
which machine was the math machine? /158 or /168 ? I might have them confused.
I came into that when we were using it for unbounded geometry calculations (machine tool path).
I took BAL and Fortran G APT-IV and put it on the Super-Minis of the time (circa 1982) and we added bounded sculptured surfaces. That was my contribution to modern CNC. Somewhere I still have the award for making the first bolt which went from CAD -> finished product with complete automation. Elapsed time: 5 minutes from the time the CAD system said “Make it”
Actually it was 370/158 the one I worked with. But 370/168 also existed (and was faster). Don’t remember the difference betwwen the xx5 and xx8 models, maybe floating point assist.
I started with APL in a 360/44PS (it was a floating point accelerated model in the 360 line).
CAD/CAM/NC in the early 80’s… good, very good, congrats.
We (GE) were one of the big pioneers in what NC has become (now CNC). Only difference is our computers were in the air conditioned room next to the shop floor. The controllers where 8086 processors which behaved as tape to the “tape lathe” or “tape miller”.
APT-IV is responsible for the first fully automated factory. GE-AEBG. Raw materials (bar stock) & parts came in the front; fully assembled engine cores (main shaft, wheels, and blades) came out the end for the end (when I left it)
My team had done the same at GE-LSTG (Large Steam Turbine Generator) . those 200 ft long monsters which generate power. APT-IV was cutting all that metal before I left.
What we did with 1-2 MIP cpus back then… LOLOL. if we could only do that equally well with our 200+ MIP machines. >:)
HA! The first computer I used at work was a Univac 1108. Then my company switched to a series of computers called ‘Sigma’ (we had Sigma 6 and then Sigma 7). I remember we had to code our programs to run in 15 minutes or less, because that was how long they could keep the machine up and then it would overheat and need to cool down. And spindles? Our customer database, the backbone of the company, was on a series of tapes. We had to be so careful to compress the data as much as possible…packed or even binary to save a byte or two per record, because that added up!
Then they switched to machines from ‘Big Blue’ but 10 cylinders of available storage??? That would have been an obscene luxury.
God, I feel so old.
I’m sure today’s generation is reading this and shuddering in horror at the “Dark Ages of Computers”. 
When I was in University, I wrote a paper for English class about ENIAC.
Dare we tell them were “Bug in the computer” really came from ? LOL
So, here’s the latest funny tale in my adventure. I decided that I love my new Plex server so much, it was time to think about ‘cutting the cord’. I bought an HDHomeRun and a digital antenna. Brought everything home, unpacked it, plugged it in, and then…made a big pot of coffee, on the assumption that I’d be in for yet another long battle trying to figure out how to get it to work. I poured a mug of coffee, muttered ‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends’, and signed into my Plex server. Pulled up the ‘Live TV’ settings screen and Plex announced, ‘I see a tuner I recognize, do you want me to use that?’
Me: ‘ummmmm well yes, please, are you sure you don’t want to argue about it?’
Plex: ‘Scanning for channels. Done. Setup complete.’
Alllll righty, then… It took longer than that to make the coffee…
Well you could try changing the language to something you don’t understand so that you can run everything through google translate if it would make you feel better.
Yeah HDHomerun is fairly low maintenance. They do periodically update the firmware on them, so I check in on that every now and then but that is about it.
it’s been a while - but my TS677 came in a couple of weeks ago. installed with two m2- 256 and a G-ForceGTX1050. i didn’t do anything special - just moved my old drives over and booted it up. I’m using QTier. mostly using the GTX for the HDMI output capability - not using it for hardware transcoding as I don’t see the advantage…so much power!
@bwe said:
it’s been a while - but my TS677 came in a couple of weeks ago. installed with two m2- 256 and a G-ForceGTX1050. i didn’t do anything special - just moved my old drives over and booted it up. I’m using QTier. mostly using the GTX for the HDMI output capability - not using it for hardware transcoding as I don’t see the advantage…so much power!
That definitely will be a big performance jump from your TS-251. Glad you are enjoying it 
