Apollo Guidance computer programmed...

[RichardCranium]

I suggest you read the original article and the relevant programming manuals.

Goes away ... comes back ...

I still reckon that:

The rope core memories would become know as "LOL memory" after the "little old ladies" who knitted together the software at a factory just outside Boston.

is bollocks for the sake of the article.

Magneto-ferric core memory was referred to as 'core' and the bits it was made of was 'ferric rings'. I am old enough to remember that. Except on ICL sites it was called "store" for some reason. Nobody in the IT industry has ever called it 'LOL memory'.

Although I'll accept

Some NASA programmers nicknamed the finished product LOL memory, for Little Old Lady memory

trying to say

The rope core memories would become know as "LOL memory"

is revisionist bollocks.

One team on one site for one project having a joke does not qualify as the origins of a term that has never been used elsewhere!

Next we'll be seeing

"LOL. Lots Of Love. Originally, a term used by NASA in the moon landings to say the computer is working again after a reboot so they are safe again" or some such rubbish.

[zeitghost]

Magneto-ferric core memory was referred to as 'core' and the bits it was made of was 'ferric rings'. I am old enough to remember that. Except on ICL sites it was called "store" for some reason.

For the same reason they called the ALU the Mill?

http://www.ece.uc.edu/~paw/classes/e...prehistory.pdf

[bogeyman]

Nope.

It indicated an overload condition... and dumped tasks, you can't fly the LEM manually.

The problem was caused by the rendezvous radar being left on...

The infamous 1202 alarm.

I believe it was caused by Buzz leaving the docking acquisition radar on at the same time as the the landing radar was on. The two streams of radar ranging data overloaded the poor, knitted computer.

[zeitghost]

The infamous 1202 alarm.

I believe it was caused by Buzz leaving the docking acquisition radar on at the same time as the the landing radar was on. The two streams of radar ranging data overloaded the poor, knitted computer.

It was left on in case it all went totally tits up & they needed to do a quick return to the CM...

[Mich the Tester]

The infamous 1202 alarm.

I believe it was cause by Buzz leaving the docking acquisition radar on at the same time as the the landing radar was on. The two streams of radar ranging data overloaded the poor, knitted computer.

Tough guys. Carry on with the mission with strange alarms going off and nobody able to tell him what they meant. Modern day PC users call the helpdesk in a panic whenever their screen hangs for a few seconds but these guys just soldiered on.

[Churchill]

Goes away ... comes back ...

I still reckon that:
is bollocks for the sake of the article.

Magneto-ferric core memory was referred to as 'core' and the bits it was made of was 'ferric rings'. I am old enough to remember that. Except on ICL sites it was called "store" for some reason. Nobody in the IT industry has ever called it 'LOL memory'.

Although I'll accept trying to say is revisionist bollocks.

One team on one site for one project having a joke does not qualify as the origins of a term that has never been used elsewhere!

Next we'll be seeing

"LOL. Lots Of Love. Originally, a term used by NASA in the moon landings to say the computer is working again after a reboot so they are safe again" or some such rubbish.

Have a look at page 5 of this document... http://www.ibiblio.org/apollo/hrst/archive/1676.pdf

[zeitghost]

"1202 Alarm"

"Go for landing"

"1201 Alarm"

"Go for landing"...


Those guy had balls alright, but then they were test pilots...

Armstrong was 200ms from death on one test flight & afterwards someone saw him calmly filling in a form about the little bit of excitement.

Remarkable.

[bogeyman]

"1202 Alarm"

"Go for landing"

"1201 Alarm"

"Go for landing"...


Those guy had balls alright, but then they were test pilots...

Armstrong was 200ms from death on one test flight & afterwards someone saw him calmly filling in a form about the little bit of excitement.

Remarkable.

Ah. The 'flying bedstead' incident. He certainly was a cool cucumber.

I reckon it was probably mankind's finest hour. I annoys me tremendously that kooks and tin-foil-hatters with zero understanding of engineering and science say it never happened.

[RichardCranium]

Goes away again... comes back ...

Nobody in the IT industry has ever called it 'LOL memory'.

There is a reference on Wikipedia:

Software written by NASA programmers was literally woven by female workers in factories. Some NASA programmers nicknamed the finished product LOL memory, for Little Old Lady memory.

Follow the reference for that...

Visual Introduction to the Apollo Guidance Computer, part 3: Manufacturing the Apollo Guidance Computer.

The AGC used magnetic core rope memory to store its programs (what today we would call ROM). It used magnetic core arrays to store it's dynamic memory, what we would call RAM.

Producing these required skills analogous to textile work, which had long been part of the New England labor force.

The AGC also used the novel integrated circuits for its digital logic. It was a risky choice, as the technology was considered untested at the time, but was necessary to fit the system into the small weight and size required for the Apollo mission.

An early production model (Block I) of the AGC, showing the internal arrangement of circuit and logic modules. This version had to be redesigned when it was realized that the environment inside the Command Module was corrosive, and hence all electronics had to be completely sealed.

The Block II design of the AGC, which actually flew the Apollo missions, incorporates a rugged case and sealed modules to protect them from the Command Modules environment.

Building the AGC drew on the manufacturing skills of Raytheon, Philco, Delco, and a variety of other companies.

No reference to LOL memory. In fact, a Google search of that entire site returns no hits for "lol memory".

So I reckon, in the absence of evidence, IT IS MADE UP BOLLOCKS and Wikipedia is wrong.

[RichardCranium]

Have a look at page 5 of this document... http://www.ibiblio.org/apollo/hrst/archive/1676.pdf

You'll have to indulge me.

I can see "core rope simulator" but I cannot see "LOL memory". Is it on one of the diagrams 'cos I cannot make those out.