Hi, Dan & CC crew,
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
On 30-Nov-02 at 18:51 Dan Veeneman wrote:
>While looking for old floppy disks I came across a couple
>of manuals:
>
>Reference Manual for Beehive Terminals, Models I, II and III (1972)
>
>and
>
>Operator Manual OCLC Model 100 Computer Terminal (1974)
<snippety-one>
>I'd also be interested in hearing from anyone who might have
>a Beehive terminal, since they look pretty interesting (if you
>have an interest in old computer terminals, as I do).
<snippety-two>
Holy Cow... My first real job in the computer/datacomm field was as a tech in Western Union's old field service division in Oakland, CA. We had the contract to install and maintain the Beehive terminals for OCLC (Ohio College Library Catalog). I don't have any of the terminals, but I remember them pretty well.
One thing that stood out on them was that their keytops were always off-white or bright yellow. I never saw one with dark keytops. Physically speaking, the Beehive terminals chosen by OCLC (I remember the 105 in particular) were built like the proverbial tank. I would put them nearly equal to the old DEC VT52's and 55's for sheer durability.
OCLC itself was an early experiment in a centralized book cataloging system that any library could sign up to use. If I recall correctly (bear with me... its been 26 years!), the group leased computer storage space and time out to member libraries who either lacked sufficient computer resources to do a local catalog, or who simply didn't have any computer resources available.
Said libraries were permitted to store their catalogs on the OCLC system, and they could (if they wished) receive periodic printed reports which could then be made available to, say, the reference desk.
Somewhere in the cobweb department of my memory resides some of the lookup commands for the old system. Doubt I could recall them outside of hypnosis, though.
Anybody got a big shiny pocket watch and a mirror? ;-)
Keep the peace(es).
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner & Head Hardware Heavy,
Blue Feather Technologies --
http://www.bluefeathertech.com
ARS KC7GR (Formerly WD6EOS) since 12-77 -- kyrrin_at_bluefeathertech.com
"I'll get a life when someone demonstrates that it would be superior
to what I have now..." (Taki Kogoma, aka Gym Z. Quirk)
Received on Sun Dec 01 2002 - 11:41:04 GMT