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<p>I don't have numbers, but I do have experience. <br>
</p>
<p>I ran into quite a few card readers on DEC gear - fewer (but
some) punches.</p>
<p>8s, 11s, 10s, 20s, and VAX - they were gone by alpha.<br>
</p>
<p>The card readers were most often specified for migrations -
people who had a<br>
business process, or even just software to move from a card
environment.<br>
Perhaps a 360/70, or 1130. Remember that even into the early 80s,
phone<br>
bills came with an "IBM" card that went back with your check; Mass
driver's<br>
licenses were created with punch cards...</p>
<p>I sometimes thought that a card reader should have been bundled
with the<br>
COBOL and RPG compilers...There were some RFQs where it was clear
that<br>
you had to have a card reader just to check a box - you'd go to
the site years<br>
later and see layers of undisturbed dust on the dust cover :-)<br>
</p>
<p>Then there were the people who used DEC gear to write (and
especially debug)<br>
jobs that would run on the more expensive mainframes.</p>
<p>The compilers (FORTRAN, COBOL, RPG) all had strict card image
modes as well<br>
as looser "interactive" modes. Not just standard conformance, but
to deal<br>
the the card sequence fields at the right end.<br>
</p>
<p>The CR10A would read 1000 cards/min (833 at 50 Hz) - and was
noisy enough<br>
to be heard over the fans/AC of a 10 in a machine room. It was
rather finicky; <br>
the Documations were more reliable. Most models on the 11s were
slower,<br>
but IIRC there was a 1,200 CPM model. <br>
</p>
<p>The CP10 did a whopping 200 CPM - or 365 if only the first 16?
columns were<br>
punched. Punching was always slower - and mechanically more
challenging.</p>
<p>The 10/20 MPB and GALAXY batch systems supported the model of
preparing<br>
jobs on cards - and feeding them in a continuous stream. Some
university<br>
environments used that into the 80s. Being DEC, the "JCL" was
trivially simple;<br>
nothing like the IBM nightmares of complexity. <br>
</p>
<p>OTOH, and probably more consistent with your experience, card
equipment was<br>
almost unheard of when the DEC HW ran Unix...<br>
</p>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 13-Feb-20 11:38, Clem Cole wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAC20D2NbiF2AYKDkWoMn-uSN=iOnVncV3-db6WBiUJAUBPejgA@mail.gmail.com">
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<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Feb 13, 2020 at
10:50 AM Timothe Litt <<a href="mailto:litt@ieee.org"
moz-do-not-send="true">litt@ieee.org</a>> wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
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<div>
<p>Among others, DEC OEM'd Documation card readers.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se0F1bLfFKY"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se0F1bLfFKY<br>
</a></p>
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<div><span class="gmail_default"
style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Mark -
sorry to go a little direct (simh) topic here [this sort
of belongs on Warren's COFF mailing list), but since the
Card discussion started here as I'm kinda curious and will
ask it.</span></div>
<div><span class="gmail_default"
style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span class="gmail_default"
style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Did DEC
actually sell that many? In my years of working around
DEC gear starting in the late 1960s, I think I saw a card
read/punch only once on a PDP-6 IIRC, but it might have
been a KA10. I don't think I ever saw one on a PDP-8/11
or Vaxen.</span></div>
<div><span class="gmail_default"
style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span class="gmail_default"
style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">I certainly
saw and used them on IBM 1401/360 systems, the
Univac 1100s and CDC's. I have not so fond memories of
the IBM 1442, much less a 26 and 29 keypunch (and a couple
of great stories too).</span> </div>
<div><span class="gmail_default"
style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span class="gmail_default"
style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">That said,
when I think of DEC gear, my memories are of paper tape or
either the original DEC-Tape units or a couple of cases
the old cassette tape units DEC had on some of the
laboratory PDP 11/05s.</span></div>
</div>
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</blockquote>
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