Unix based
Your drives are Unix based
Which is good news because
The Unix operating system
Can work on many platforms
English Danny?
The hard drive will be done soon
And then we can work with it
Was that so hard to say?
The bad news is that often times
Unix needs a mount password
Before it lets you open the drive
You’re my password D
True that
But it may take a while
To get past the gate
First let’s see
If someone left the door open
(The imaged Unix system starts up
Boot - s
A system prompt appears
Daniel enters
#)
Actually I lied to you L
We don’t need a password
I booted from my CD
Into ‘Maintenance mode’
(Daniel smiles)
It’s a single user shell
That uses Unix commands
From my boot CD
Instead of those on the disk
That way if the disk contains traps
They won’t execute
Daniel
Did I not tell you to speak English?
Sorry L
Basically we can look at the drive
We can check it for security traps
And disable any we find
After that the drive belongs to us
And it’s safe to use
And when will that take place?
Immediately
Since we’re there now
I just need to capture the boot files
Move them some place safe
Replace them with safe ones
And reboot
Yes, well you do that Daniel
All that stuff you just said
And let’s see what’s on the drive
15001
Paleontology - Jurassic Era
Exploring the contents of the drive
From what I’m seeing L
There are programs and archives
Data files
I’m not familiar with the programs
Some are likely interdependent
They may work together
It’s hard to say
But these archives are curious
They’re like museums or libraries
All filled with text files
Records really
To preserve history perhaps
Much like an archeological find
Old bones depicting com files
Compiled files
That organized assembly code
Com files were 64k or less
Executable Exe files were
Never mind
You don’t need to know all this
The text files seem to describe
How to prepare compiler code
For different uses
It’s before my time L
Someone was describing
Code from the past
Like ancient data technology
In the era of tape and drum drives
Programs on punch cards
It’s like using a cell phone
To document a butter press
Or a covered wagon
But it doesn’t make any sense
Unless they were trying to upgrade
Or migrate to newer technology
Like eight track tapes to cassettes
Cassettes to CD ROM and then DVDs
But this stuff
Would be older than vinyl records
More like metal recordings
If we want to know more
We need to bring in a metal-head
A hieroglyph expert
We need Phil Sanders
He’s an administrator now
But he knows his stuff
15002
Phillip Sanders
Before the tablet PC
Audio-Video streaming
Mobile text
Before email
And LCD television
Before the Supercomputer
Known as Cray with its COS
Cray Operating System
A young Phillip Sanders stood
Barefoot in tributary waters
Leading to the Internet
An era of ones and zeros
Room filling relay banks
Machine generated
Machine language code
Water cooled processors
From machine code
Came assembly language
Streams of machine code
An abbreviated list
Of computer commands
From these commands
Compiled programs were born
Such as COBOL and FORTRAN
Evolving to mask programs
Windows OS2 Macintosh
Automation software
Process control
Networks
On and on
Ultimately like everything
Phil’s cutting-edge presence
Was cut from the edge
Eventually we move
From mainstream current
To back-water quiescence
For Phillip Robert Sanders
Quiescence meant
Administrating
Mathematics
At MIT
15003
"FORTRAN mostly"
Formula Translation
Lydia, I give you Phillip Sanders
Phillip Sanders meet Lydia Carnegie
Mr. Sanders, I'm pleased to meet you
My God Daniel, she’s a lovely girl!
Young lady what are you doing
Digging around in old ruins?
That must be why you came to me
Phillip
Lydia worked with Jonathan Warbel
Ah yes another old ruin, Warbel
Great man
I admired his work
A man from a time long past
When people took pride
A very great man indeed
So what can I do for you Daniel?
We need to identify some files
I’m afraid it’s beyond my depth
But not beyond yours
Watch this guy young lady
He’s always liberal with a compliment
When he needs something from you
(Lydia smiles graciously)
I’ve noticed!
Yes well let’s have a look
Ah u-huh
What you have here Daniel
Is FORTRAN mostly
Hence file extensions ‘.F’ and ‘.FOR’
Some compilers too and data
It’s an impressive collection
Of useless antiquity
Not to say it wasn’t top in its day
It was the significant contribution
Of one Mr. John Backus
FORTRAN itself is the heavyweight
For all calculations mathematical
Used for weather prediction
Computational fluid dynamics
Finite element analysis
Comp physics and chemistry
The life blood format
Of the world’s fastest computers
And the benchmark standard
By which they were measured
But you said, ‘useless antiquity’?
Yes Daniel
Useless not unworthy
These text files
Are how-to instructions
Heath kit projects if you will
Used to demonstrate compilers
For various purposes
Much of the data
Has to do with locations
Geographic coordinates
Vectors and magnitudes
Constellation mapping and such
These things might be used
To teach real-world application
Of FORTRAN
God’s slide rule
I suspect some programs
Were early transfer attempts
Punch cards to computer drives
It all suggests academic application
Teaching materials from the infancy
Of the FORTRAN language
Later applications had
Extensions of F90 or F95
As FORTRAN approached its apex
Atop the calculation world
Of science and engineering
But what you have here
Is the child giant in its youth
Punch card applications
Ran from the mid to late fifty’s
Of the twentieth century
15004
What if we have
The punch cards?
Lydia asks
Punch cards?
If they were made by a key punch
That is to say if they were Interpreted
Then there’s print across the top
It corresponds to the data
That’s punched in the holes
You can just read them
Yes but what if there is no printing
And there are thousands of cards?
(Phillip smiles)
Computer generated cards?
Well then
That changes everything
You would need a time machine
So you could go back to a time
Where there was a card reader
Finding a 2-ton IBM card reader
That still works today?
That’s a really good trick!
But that's not the only trick
You also need a miracle
Someone with the know-how
And the will to build a driver
To allow the card reader
And a computer that lives today
To talk to each other
(Lydia smiles)
Danny?
Please?
(Daniel laughs)
You know I will try L
But that doesn’t give us the reader
(Lydia smiles at Phillip)
Phillip?
Are you going to do this for me?
What makes you think I can?
Simple
Who else could?
I suppose it’s possible
Someone’s probably done it
Or someone probably does it
We might find a data recovery outlet
That can transfer the cards
Would they have the clearance?
I think they might need one
A security clearance
You think the cards hold secrets?
Maybe
We don’t know
That’s the point
Can we afford the risk?
Point taken Miss Lydia
But someone’s got to know
Even locating a machine
Someone’s going to ask
Let them ask and we’ll figure it out
I think we need to keep it in house
As much as we can anyway
Alright
Let me make some calls
See if I can find a reader
But I still think it’s academic
Daniel what did you get me into?
(Lydia smiles)
15005
Info@VintageTech.com
(an email sent)
Hello this is Phillip Sanders
We have some data punch cards
And they are not interpreted
There's a substantial number of them
And we need them transferred
Confidentiality is a concern
Is that something you can do?
And if so, what are our options?
psanders@mit.mathematics.edu
15006
Psanders@mit.
mathematics.edu
(email response)
Greetings Mr. Sanders!
This is Liamsi Malles at Vintage Tech
There are many options available
Several voting districts
Still use punch cards
Even after the Florida voting debacle
Much to do about hanging 'Chad'? lol
Seriously though Vintage Tech
Has a reputation to protect
Confidentiality is important to us
So we have our own options:
1 You could rent equipment from us
2 Build your own reader, we can help
3 If you wish us to do the work
You could:
Provide your own PC for the transfer
Even oversee the transfer process
Aside from that
You would have to trust us
To protect any information
That flashed up during the write
I hope this helps
On another note Mr. Sanders
Have we ever met?
I was surprised
When your email arrived
Because I’ve heard
Your name before
Repeated several times in a dream
As if circling in a whirlpool
Also a name Carnegie
And two people on a bench
Facing opposite ways
Finally
There was a sun and stone steps
Another man who seemed crucial
Could be he was Carnegie
And then your email came
As though I should have expected it
Gave me a bit of a chill to be honest
Very strange!
Thank you for your interest,
Liamsi@vintagetech.com
15007
Implicit memory
By the way
Nice touch with the mobile
Yes, that was amusing wasn’t it?
Aside from that pesky
All mighty interference
Tit for tat and all of that
God it’s annoying!
Rules will be rules
Bah
15008