Inqism-06: New Cushions

[Russ]

IBM-PC

I graduated college in the very early seventies. In my computer class, I learned PUNCH CARDS

Ah...nostalgia.
My first programming class was with punch cards. You had to type carefully as there was no backspace. And those punchers (whatever they were called) were massive beasts.
One clever student learned that if he was late on a project, he could soak a card in water, then dry it out. When it hit the card reader it would shred and jam it up. Bought a day while the staff cleaned the reader.

[Be Free]

My first program was written in the early 1970's and I had two choices: I could toggle each character in one bit at a time and press a button to store it or I could punch out a card one column at a time with a stylus. I thought the IBM 024 keypunch was major improvement. By the time the 129 came around with the ability to store a whole card in memory before it punched it (that gave you the ability to backspace) I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

I also took Typing in high school and I can tell you without reservation that it is the only class I took (including college) that taught me a skill that I use every day. I thought it was just an "easy A" filling out my senior year schedule since I had already take every math and science class the school offered. Who knew?

[kmclemore]

Well, this had drifted a bit from cushions, but I’ll chime in anyway...

In college my first programs were also written on punch cards, on an 0129 machine. When I first started working for IBM it was just before the IBM PC was invented, so I worked on the IBM Management Computer (aka "IBM System/23 Datamaster") which was a large desk-based unit with (2) hard-sectored 8” floppy slots, a green-screen and a monster-sized "console" ** (the original name for what we now call a keyboard), which had been sourced from the mainframe entry console. When the PC came out I was assigned to that project and remained in the IBM PC business for the remainder of my 15 years there, eventually becoming a senior consulting systems engineer. Early PC’s had only 16k memory, two 180kb 5.25” single-sided soft-sectored floppy drives and a cassette port for backing up data (that I think *nobody* ever used). I also worked with PC DOS 1.0, the source code for which was literally stolen by Bill Gates (et al) from Digital Research’s CP/M operating system (don’t get me started on how much of a creep that guy is). In particular I helped to add the Czech codepage to DOS v3.1, since my mother-in-law was Czech (living here in the US) and she wanted to use it to write in her native language. I ended up traveling to communist Czechoslovakia to finalize the job. I still have a set of the very first Czech key caps in a box somewhere. (Did you know that professional IBM keyboards had interchangeable key caps?) I built her one of the first IBM laptops - a Model 500 - for her to use... I still have it, having upgraded her many times over since then... she’s 94 now and still uses a laptop!

Oh, and as to the venerable 0129 punch card machine, one of my customers, for whom I was a IBM Systems Engineer, was the State of NJ and they still had them on lease, well into the 1990’s! We finally convinced them they were no longer needed.


** Interesting factoid... the use of ‘console’ still exists, even in the latest Windows operating systems. Try this...

• Open up a command prompt window which can be found in your Windows menu under All Programs --> Accessories, but be sure to open it using "Open as Administrator" by right-clicking on the Command Prompt choice and choosing Open as Administrator from the menu.
• When you get the C:\ prompt type cd \ and press Enter. (This gets you to the root of your drive.)
• Now type copy con myfile.txt ... this command copies all your keystrokes from the “console” (CON) to a new file called “myfile.txt”.
• Now press Enter (return) and your file has been opened up for keyboard (console) entry. Keep writing until you’ve written a small paragraph or so. You can use the Enter key to make new lines.
• When you want to finish, press and hold the Ctrl (control) key and hit the Z key - this adds a file-end character to your file and closes the file. Your C:\ prompt will return.
• Now type dir myfile.txt and press Enter and you’ll see your newly created file.
• To delete the file you can type del myfile.txt and press Enter.
• You've just used the first word-processor for the IBM PC!

[Inquisitor]

I guess we did kind of amble over to the bar for a few pints.

I got the samples in, but have an email back to them. Some of the data on the cards doesn't match what the website says.



Totally subjective, but I'll use the upper right corner. I'm going for the color scheme below. Its only 50k double-rubs, but that's still higher than Sunbrella and it has a soft touch. I'd say its cotton or wool in feel. Definitely not as stiff as my Sunbrella mainsail or Bimini cover.



The bottom row is the outdoor, 100k versions where you can leave out all the time. The teal is darker than my Sunbrella, but I think that's just wear and sun fading.

Would anyone here have an with a 150% Genoa on a fuller? Do you have the Sunbrella trim that when rolled up it keeps the sail protected? Do you have the width of those two strips on the leach and foot? That's my other big sewing project.

[NiceAft]

Would anyone here have an with a 150% Genoa on a fuller? Do you have the Sunbrella trim that when rolled up it keeps the sail protected? Do you have the width of those two strips on the leach and foot? That's my other big sewing project.

Right now Nice Aft is under a tarp, and tonight's weather is snow, sleet, rain with a low temperature of 29f (-1.6c). I'll try to check out the measurements on Wednesday. Someone else may be able to check this out for you quicker.

[Inquisitor]

Would anyone here have an with a 150% Genoa on a fuller? Do you have the Sunbrella trim that when rolled up it keeps the sail protected? Do you have the width of those two strips on the leach and foot? That's my other big sewing project.

Right now Nice Aft is under a tarp, and tonight's weather is snow, sleet, rain with a low temperature of 29f (-1.6c). I'll try to check out the measurements on Wednesday. Someone else may be able to check this out for you quicker.

You're a scholar and a gentleman and I'm in no hurry. The material isn't even ordered. I tried to calculate it with mine. Its laid out in the attic of my father's house, nice and warm. But I have it rolled tight and my measurements said I could do it with like 6 inches. But! I know that's just silly talk. I wouldn't normally do it that tight.

[C Buchs]

this was long before the IBM-PC

IBM-PC

I graduated college in the very early seventies. In my computer class, I learned PUNCH CARDS

At home, I was fortunate enough to have a Apple II in the household. Even in 1980 high-school, the class computer was terminal based with dual 12" floppies. I harken back... as a freshman at UT, I used punch cards. When I ever visited home and whined about the lousy computer and waiting hours for my results, Dad would break out the slide rule and make me do logarithms!

Memory Lane. Some great... some not so good.

My dad wasn't an early adopter, he said he wanted to wait and get a computer when the technological advancements started to slow down. We got a Commodore 64!

Jeff

[Be Free]

Ken,

I was a systems programmer for IBM 370 family mainframes. The IBM SE was my friend

Bill

[kmclemore]

Ken,

I was a systems programmer for IBM 370 family mainframes. The IBM SE was my friend

Bill

A fellow IBM'er! Yesterday I just got my first notice about the Cooper v IBM pension settlement... called them today... turns out I get an extra $2.47 per month. Whoopee. Given the settlement was $1.4B, one wonders where the rest of the cash went. (well, I don't really wonder... it went to the lawyers... sigh...)

[Jimmyt]

Would anyone here have an with a 150% Genoa on a fuller? Do you have the Sunbrella trim that when rolled up it keeps the sail protected? Do you have the width of those two strips on the leach and foot? That's my other big sewing project.

Right now Nice Aft is under a tarp, and tonight's weather is snow, sleet, rain with a low temperature of 29f (-1.6c). I'll try to check out the measurements on Wednesday. Someone else may be able to check this out for you quicker.

Sorry guys, just saw this. Foot is 8 inches on my 150 Genoa. Leech is 12 inches.

You guys need to hit me with a rock when you need this stuff. I don't always see it. My boat is right downstairs in a conditioned space, so it's very little trouble for me to get info.

We don't want Ray getting frostbite!

[Inquisitor]

Would anyone here have an with a 150% Genoa on a fuller? Do you have the Sunbrella trim that when rolled up it keeps the sail protected? Do you have the width of those two strips on the leach and foot? That's my other big sewing project.

Right now Nice Aft is under a tarp, and tonight's weather is snow, sleet, rain with a low temperature of 29f (-1.6c). I'll try to check out the measurements on Wednesday. Someone else may be able to check this out for you quicker.

Sorry guys, just saw this. Foot is 8 inches on my 150 Genoa. Leech is 12 inches.

You guys need to hit me with a rock when you need this stuff. I don't always see it. My boat is right downstairs in a conditioned space, so it's very little trouble for me to get info.

We don't want Ray getting frostbite!

Thank you JimmyT. I'm not always sure I remember who has what on their boats or I'd have hit you up directly. I appreciate it.

[Inquisitor]

I received the polyurethane based leather cloth samples. Reading up on materials, I found this was a viable candidate for pool-side furniture and was curious about how it looks compared to the vinyl cushions in the . It is very flexible and has the softness of calfskin, yet has a double-rub of 100k (3x better than Sunbrella). I thought it interesting that as a gauge for use, they classify it usable for: Casino, Commercial, Hospitality, Motorhome, Residential, Worship Seating!

I like the feel of it and would be fine with it in the house instead of leather furniture. Especially the far right sample... I'm not sure I can tell the difference between it and my leather truck seats. The "Emu Skin" would be uncomfortable. I can easily feel the simulated feather nubs and the Admiral will attest, the Princess and Pea has nothing on me. I find if I'm sleeping on a leather sofa (don't ask ) it feels clammy. I'll be going with the cloth samples above (more in next post). But, if you're interested, you might want to request some samples... the price per yard is about the same as Sunbrella. In some future project, I could easily see this for a wall/ceiling liner instead of paint. Here are some pictures up close. The backing looks almost like felt.

[Inquisitor]

North Carolina used to be a huge textile center in the US until it was outsourced to China, India, et al. Evolution seems to be one of those mill sites resurrected from the ashes specializing using Olefin (100% Polypropylene). I've traded emails with Evolution fabrics here in North Carolina. They seem to be a smaller company (only in the grand picture of a huge multi-national corporation). Via email, my questions concerned their outdoor fabric being suitable for sun protector on the furling Genoa. The response said they cannot recommend it in that environment. I needed to call them, for clarification. They have no problem stating their outdoor material is suitable for poolside furniture, but have no testing in a salt-water environment. It sounded more they felt the need to be conservative in their claims.

I am going to try making my cushions out of their material. Try refers to my skill in sewing, not in risk of their material.

They have many grades, but I pull from three different grades: 50k, 75k and 100k double-rubs. The last one is also rated for outdoor use. Up close, you can see the weave is small/tighter at the increased toughness.



Although, totally subjective, I'm going with the 50k "Hailey Bone" for my interior. It feels like cotton and texture has enough random interest similar to hand woven linen.



The jury is still out on Genoa sun shielding material.