"Roy Brown" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Jim Gilbert wrote:
>On the dear old Series III/MPE III that I started with (c 1979, but
>sshhh...), you could get APL.

August 31, 1979.  My first exposure to an HP3000 Series III, as I
first registered for college while Hurricane David bore down on
Jacksonville.

By the end of 1980 I'd finished the APL course J.U. offered as part
of their C.S. curriculum.  So there.  :-)

>You bought the software interpreter, a hardware assist board, and however
>many APL terminals you needed.

Or, if you were cheap and had a near-endless supply of tractor-feed
paper, some DECwriter hardcopy teletype-style stations.  :-)

>I still have my copy of the HP3000 APL manual in my loft, plus all the code
>listings (long ported elsewhere) for a factory scheduling system.

Less than 5 feet from me is my APL/3000 Pocket Guide.  :-)

>Even within the Classic series, I think this was unobtainable from the
>Series IV/MPE IV onwards.

APL was never offered on the HP-IB systems (S30 and up).  The last
hardware that supported it was the Series III with the microcode
board.  I *know* that it was offered under MPE IV, because (a) we
went to MPE IV just before I graduated in 1982 and (b) when I joined
the Response Center in 1984 I was one of only three people in the
entire North American Support Operation who admitted any knowledge
of APL and thus was the RC's APL "maven" for a while.


--
    Mike Reaser, Atlanta, GA, USA         B1vf+w+d+(cv)g+kvs++l+
ICQ 36141307   If it's there, remove the YOUKNOW to, well, you know

          Always remember to pillage *before* you burn!

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