<story><title>Three geeks rescue a 50-year-old IBM 360 mainframe from an abandoned building</title><url>https://ibms360.co.uk/?page_id=22</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>GnarfGnarf</author><text>Their main problem will be finding card stock. When compiling, the binary object is output on punched cards. They will need lots of blank Hollerith cards for compiling and testing. Not a lot of places make punched cards anymore.&lt;p&gt;Also, need card punches for input: IBM 029, Univac 1701. Will also need ribbon for printing readable characters at top of card.&lt;p&gt;Card readers are high-maintenance equipment. The cards are fed at high speed with a picker knife that needs precise adjustment. The card stock is sensitive to humidity. If it swells, it doesn&amp;#x27;t go through the card reader.&lt;p&gt;I wrote Assembler in the 70&amp;#x27;s on Univac 9300 and 9400&amp;#x27;s, 360 clones.&lt;p&gt;I see small lots of cards on eBay for astronomical prices. They probably wouldn&amp;#x27;t even work because of swelling.</text></comment>
<story><title>Three geeks rescue a 50-year-old IBM 360 mainframe from an abandoned building</title><url>https://ibms360.co.uk/?page_id=22</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>rmason</author><text>My late father started collecting antique cars in the forties.  I used to read his car collector magazines as a kid.  They would have detailed stories about &amp;#x27;barn finds&amp;#x27; of rare autos and this story reads like the best of them.&lt;p&gt;I well remember Michigan State&amp;#x27;s IBM 360 in the computer center back in the seventies.  You could see it through glass windows from the hall, they were so proud of that machine.</text></comment>