Is it just me

[ebee]

Phillips EE kits , yes I had one xxx

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Back at that stage, I also wrote a little BASIC interpreter, but couldn't do that until I had more than the initial 8k ot total RAM. It's greatest limitation was that it could only handle 26 variables (named "A"to "Z"), each of which could be either numeric or character, with a look-up table pointing to the start address in memory (and length) for each of them.

Mine had a special version of 8K BASIC, and 8K machine code Assembler, all in 1K 2708 eproms. I quite heavily modified both, myself. I don't remember there being a 26 letter variable limit, perhaps it used AA to ZZ?

They were the fun, entertaining days of computers, everyone involved was an enthusiast.

 

[ericmark]

How many letters in the computer alphabet? Did it have a J or LL, FF, etc? I remember learning 27 phonetic sounds at school, but could not remember now what they were.

Putting in the code from the mag was painstaking, and one hoped it worked.

It was my sister 11 years younger than me, who got into the computers, I watched the punch cards being read, but I was still back in the steam organ days, still punch cards, but I could relate one hole to one note played.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Putting in the code from the mag was painstaking, and one hoped it worked.

Testing, finding syntax errors, then more testing. They tried lots of more direct methods, even flashing squares on the TV, to send data, and 'floppy records', you could play on a record player.

It was my sister 11 years younger than me, who got into the computers, I watched the punch cards being read, but I was still back in the steam organ days, still punch cards, but I could relate one hole to one note played.

My original partner, before she became ill, worked at the local hospital's patient record department. At the time, all their records had been transferred to punch cards.

 

[JohnW2]

How many letters in the computer alphabet? Did it have a J or LL, FF, etc?

A computer obviously does not understand what human beings regard as 'letters'. An 8-bit computer recognises 256 possible characters, and it is up to human beings to decide which of those they choose to regard as 'letters' and/or to have some other significance/meaning.

 

[JohnW2]

Mine had a special version of 8K BASIC, and 8K machine code Assembler, all in 1K 2708 eproms. I quite heavily modified both, myself.

Like my OS, my BASIC interpreter was initially stored in a 2708 EPROM (8kb / 1 kB). Those things were a pain, in that, in addition to the +/-5V and +12V supply lines, it also, uniquely, needed a higher voltage (I think around +25V) when being programmed.

I don't remember there being a 26 letter variable limit, perhaps it used AA to ZZ?

The 26 variable limit was of my doing. To have allowed user-named variables would have required more code and RAM than I initially had, so the obvious solution at that stage was to just have the 26 variables available, with predefined single character names.

They were the fun, entertaining days of computers, everyone involved was an enthusiast.

Very true. Just like amateur radio 'back in the day' (when it was inevitably all 'DIY').

 

[ericmark]

An 8-bit computer recognises 256 possible characters

This will be why a kilobyte is 1024 not 1000. The decimal system does seem flawed in so many ways, is it 980 kg in what ever replaced the slug, instead of an easy to work with 32? And 4.2 Joules in a calorie, I can still remember 2Πnt/33,000 to work out horsepower, god knows what the formula is today.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

How many letters in the computer alphabet? Did it have a J or LL, FF, etc? I remember learning 27 phonetic sounds at school, but could not remember now what they were.

It didn't/doesn't have an alphabet as such, they use binary, eight data bits. The first four bits, allow a count from 0 to F in HEX, the second four likewise. FF = 256, or 11111111 in binary. The four bits count 0 to 9, then A to F.

 

[ericmark]

Sorry, should have said I understand hexadecimal. Although I have to admit remembering maths taught in university is not easy, as I never really used it. I am glad I went, but sorry to say, never worked using the knowledge gained, no want wants a disabled electrician.

 

[JohnW2]

This will be why a kilobyte is 1024 not 1000.

Strictly speaking, it's far more complicated ('confusing'?) than that. The following excerpts from Wikipedia:

Units based on powers of 10 (SI Prefixes)​

Definition of prefixes using powers of 10—in which 1 kilobyte (symbol kB) is defined to equal 1,000 bytes—is recommended by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The IEC standard defines eight such multiples, up to 1 yottabyte (YB), equal to 1000^8 bytes.

Units based on powers of 2 (IEC Prefixes)​

A system of units based on powers of 2 in which 1 kibibyte (KiB) is equal to 1,024 (i.e., 210) bytes was created by the IEC to solve the confusion over incorrect usage of SI prefixes. It is defined by international standard IEC 80000-13, which is supported by national and international standards bodies (BIPM, IEC, NIST). The IEC standard defines ten such multiples, up to 1 quebibyte (QiB), equal to 1024^10 bytes.

The IBM System 360 and the related disk and tape systems set the byte at 8 bits and documented capacities in decimal units. The early 8-, 5.25- and 3.5-inch floppies gave capacities in multiples of 1024, using "KB" rather than the more accurate "KiB".

Modern standard definitions​

The IEC adopted the IUPAC proposal and published the standard in January 1999. The IEC prefixes are part of the International System of Quantities. The IEC further specified that the kilobyte should only be used to refer to 1000 bytes.