Earl_Philips_Pioneer

Earl Philips Here's our first essay from Earl about using the Cardiac Cardboard Computer and the IMSAI 8080. Earl can you add an approximate date to the story for us?

February 15, 2014

When I first started teaching a full year computer class at Reynolds School District in September of 1969, the budget failed and we had no computers. It was interesting to look back at some of my lesson plans for the class. We learned to program on a cardboard computer called CARDIAC that was produced by Bell Telephone Laboratories. There was no electronics and you had to move the instruction counter by hand based on the results of some sliders that were moved based on operation codes. It allowed the students to learn the concepts of machine language programming. Each student had his own CARDIAC (1 to 1 student to computer ratio) and I had a plastic version which I could place on an overhead for a classroom display. I have the instructional manual, but I am still looking for my copy of the CARDIAC.

Around 1974 the Reynolds School District was given a 3M 2018 computer. We could actually hook up a teletype to this computer but you had to start everything with a binary bootstrap program that had to be entered with switches. It had an 8k drum memory and a digital clock which was 3 inches tall, 2 feet wide and 1 foot deep. The kids had a great time programming the computer to read the clock and produce untimely messages and bells when no one was around the lab. On one occasion a principal had to send students to find me because the computer was putting out an alarm and indicating that it needed my assistance immediately.

I also have pictures of my first micro computer. In 1975, I purchased an IMSAI 8080 micro computer ($500) as a kit for my computer class. At this point in time there were two kits available. The Altair was considered the hobbyist version and the IMSAI was supposed to be the higher level commercial version. The students and I had to solder 100 connections for every card slot on the bus, all the lights and switches on the front panel, and all the components of the power supply. I did not have a strong electronics background, so I survived with one rule: The students could not put anything together until I understood what they were doing. They became the teachers and I became the student.

It worked the first time we powered it up and still works today in my basement. If you are interested in pictures of the IMSAI, I will send some your direction.