Railfan Technology > Man, Did They Get It Wrong!

Found this photo at strangecosmos.com that really gave me a chuckle.

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So where do I get one of these, and does the old dude come with it?

What year did they make this model. Certainly looks to be pre-transistor.

At first I thought that might be the control room of a submarine.

They did miss it just a little. However, looks like this photo may have been taken around the time Pong was a high tech game. If so, we can forgive them a little.

Reminds me of some of the mockups that used to be in the big geosphere at Epcot back in the '70s. Today the kids look at me like I am crazy when I state something was an E ticket ride.

Jay

From the description I'd say 1954-ish.

OK so some things are familiar-- I see a keyboard, a monitor, and a (dot-matrix) printer, but what's the steering wheel for?

That is a photoshopped image of a mock-up of the Manuvering Room of a nuke sub as part of a display at the Smithsonian. Here's the un-photoshopped version. Not sure what or where the railroad content is.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/14 22:09 by TheNavigator.

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Must be a woodburner!

Ah so that's how BNSF is going to operate their trains in the future. By remote control from the BNSF Network Operation Center in Fort Worth TX. Just put a camera in the cab and operate the train by remote control monitors from the NOC. That will cut down on crew size for sure.

Other than the steering wheel, the image is reasonably credible for 1960 or so...

As a long-time mainframer, back in 1971 or so, I had lofty ideas of one day putting a presumed-to-be-dirt-cheap-by-1980 used, 'worn out' IBM 360/40 in my basement some day. I even planned on some heavy duty air conditioning and electrical service, and all the rest of the necessary environmental requirements.

Why a 360/40? I was doing various graphics programming using 4 2250 graphics terminals attached to a 'monster' 2780(?) graphics controller, all attached to a 360/40 while I was in the USAF. From conceptual AWACS programming & graphics to 3-D simulated aircraft dog fights and a cockpit simulator, it was a BLAST programming technology that would become 'old had' 20-30 years later...

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=ibm+360+40

Needless to say, 15 years later, a VIC 20 was a LOT easier to install as my first home computer!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/14 01:46 by BRAtkinson.

Love that steering wheel. Gotta get one for my car.

Jim

BRAtkinson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Other than the steering wheel, the image is
> reasonably credible for 1960 or so...
>
> As a long-time mainframer, back in 1971 or so, I
> had lofty ideas of one day putting a
> presumed-to-be-dirt-cheap-by-1980 used, 'worn out'
> IBM 360/40 in my basement some day. I even
> planned on some heavy duty air conditioning and
> electrical service, and all the rest of the
> necessary environmental requirements.
>
> Why a 360/40? I was doing various graphics
> programming using 4 2250 graphics terminals
> attached to a 'monster' 2780(?) graphics
> controller, all attached to a 360/40 while I was
> in the USAF. From conceptual AWACS programming &
> graphics to 3-D simulated aircraft dog fights and
> a cockpit simulator, it was a BLAST programming
> technology that would become 'old had' 20-30 years
> later...
>
> https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=ibm+360+40
>
> Needless to say, 15 years later, a VIC 20 was a
> LOT easier to install as my first home computer!

Do you know if any of your work from back then make it into one of these, http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii151/Ikey3125/IMG_2830_zpsf420568b.jpg ?

Jay

Ironically, this photo has been around for a while, back when computers sat on a desk, instead of just pulling it out of your pocket...

Chooch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Love that steering wheel. Gotta get one for my
> car.
>
> Jim


The "Steering Wheel", I assume (not being a Nuke), is actually the steam throttle valves for the sub. One for ahead, and one for astern. The control station is from the USS SANDLANCE.

Scott Schifer
Torrance, CA
TinyTrains Website

BRAtkinson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Other than the steering wheel, the image is
> reasonably credible for 1960 or so...
>
> As a long-time mainframer, back in 1971 or so, I
> had lofty ideas of one day putting a
> presumed-to-be-dirt-cheap-by-1980 used, 'worn out'
> IBM 360/40 in my basement some day. I even
> planned on some heavy duty air conditioning and
> electrical service, and all the rest of the
> necessary environmental requirements.
>
> Why a 360/40? I was doing various graphics
> programming using 4 2250 graphics terminals
> attached to a 'monster' 2780(?) graphics
> controller, all attached to a 360/40 while I was
> in the USAF. From conceptual AWACS programming &
> graphics to 3-D simulated aircraft dog fights and
> a cockpit simulator, it was a BLAST programming
> technology that would become 'old had' 20-30 years
> later...
>
> https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=ibm+360+40
>
> Needless to say, 15 years later, a VIC 20 was a
> LOT easier to install as my first home computer!

Former IBMers get involved in this sort of thing:

http://livingcomputermuseum.tumblr.com/post/53705555666/restoring-an-ibm-system-360-model-20

I have a series of DVDs about the Missouri Pacific. Most all of it is MoPac produced. The series on the computer system is a pretty interesting look back on things.

Fine but does it brew coffee?

Ray_Murphy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> > Needless to say, 15 years later, a VIC 20 was a
> > LOT easier to install as my first home
> computer!
>
> Former IBMers get involved in this sort of thing:
>
> http://livingcomputermuseum.tumblr.com/post/537055
> 55666/restoring-an-ibm-system-360-model-20

Hehe. Retro-computing is a neat hobby. My computing days don't go back to mainframes, so I tinker with newer stuff. I just finished making a 1995-made Macintosh Powerbook WiFi capable, even though the WiFi standard was not formalized until 1997, and WiFi devices weren't available commercially until 1999. I think I'm guilty of being a revisionist historian here? :-)

And speaking of revisionist history, the less-informed really ought to be careful believing the photo orignally posted in this thread. It's supposed to be funny, but many people actually take it seriously. That's how urban legends get started!

For the fans of Star Trek The Original Series, Episode 20 "Court Martial" aired in February 2, 1967 is a better reflection of what the more-informed thought about where computer technology was going. Look carefully and you'll see a desktop computer in a lawyer's office, possibly predicting the advent of personal computing about a decade later.

- WiFi capable PowerBook 190cs and Trainorders viewed with Netscape 4.08. Due to the small resolution screen (640x480 256 colors) and the still-unsettled HTML Style Sheet standard, the page looks a bit messy, but otherwise, Trainorders functions reasonably well with this 1995 technology. The WiFi adapter is made by Lucent Technologies, a research arm of AT&T which spun off, IPO'd, and made some people filthy rich, including a lady named Carly Fiorina.

- PowerBook 190cs with a 33 MHz Motorola 68040 CPU is too old and too slow to play modern video. However, Apple was a pioneer in bringing video to personal computing with QuickTime, and here's my little demonstration. For the digital video geeks on TO, the clip is 320x180 in resolution with "thousands" of colors using the CinePak video codec, IMA 4:1 audio codec, 15 fps. It looks better on a display that can display more colors. Bandwidth is about 1500 kbps, which is about the same as DVD quality (854x480 resolution) video using H.264 posted here on Trainorders, so digital video technology has come a long way. The WiFi adapter's software driver is named "WaveLAN/IEEE" in the video. FYI, WaveLAN was the name of the wireless networking technology by AT&T before WiFi became the industry standard.

The video clip being played is a 30 second excerpt from a video I posted couple of years ago, chasing the UP 6936 in Feather River Canyon:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2786623

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WOW PB 190cs LOVE! I have a few older Mac laptops, including a 3400 I might have to drag out..

Brian Ehni

davew833 Wrote:
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> OK so some things are familiar-- I see a keyboard,
> a monitor, and a (dot-matrix) printer, but what's
> the steering wheel for?


Thats the mouse