HP definitely had a card reader... both a traditional one, and some
years later, and "optical mark-sense" reader that could read a card with
the "holes" marked by ink rather than physically punched.

When I started at UTC (decades ago)... computer classes had to punch
their programs on IBM keypunch machines.  Our IBM was too small/slow, so
we would periodically reboot into our "communications mode" which hooked
up our IBM card reader, punch, and printer with a larger IBM at
Knoxville.  We collected the student card decks, submitted them to UTK,
and waited on the printouts to return.  Then we booted back into local
production.  This happened a few times a day (turnaround was pretty
miserable).

We got an HP2000/Access system in Fall 1975.  It not only supported card
reader and printer, but also supported the remote job entry
communications with the IBM at UTK.  So we had a card reader upstairs in
the student keypunch lab, as well as a printer, and there was no more
waiting for submission.  They could just feed their jobs directly to the
reader, their printouts came back to the printer, and it was available
constantly.  Big step forward.

Later we got an HP3000, and had a copy of MRJE/3000.  Now students could
enter their programs online via Editor/QEdit/Quad/whatever they prefer,
submit their jobs via MRJE, and view their output in SPOOK before
actually printing it out.  Even better still.

As for the "mark-sense" reader... we had this grand plan to do grades on
"mark-sense" cards.  The idea was to "print" class cards (one card per
student, sorted by instructor by class), and let them pencil-in mark the
corresponding grade for the student.  It was great in theory, but the
"mark-sense" reader had much less than stellar performance and
reliability (it sucked!), and having the "printed" cards burst on their
perforations to yield the "card" left some rough edges which the reader
really, really hated.  And it was slow as Christmas.  Heck, it was
slower than Leap Year.  That lasted one semester, I think, and we went
to OpScan forms instead (much better).  Much of this was a holdover from
our old IBM grade processing days (which was on punched grade cards that
were also fed to a unit-record device that read the marked grade and
"punched" the result onto the card).  Some habits are hard to break :)

The same card reader we had on the HP2000/Access also worked on the
HP3000/Series II... we kept it for legacy purposes even after going to
"online" entry of the "card decks".  I do not recall the readers being
supported beyond the Series II / Series III however, and I don't recall
the I/O interface either (other than it pre-dated HP-IB).

Jeff

On 5/21/2014 2:00 PM, Simpkins, Terry wrote:
> If I recall correctly, when I was with HP's Disc Memory Division (DMD) in Boise back in the early '80s, we actually had a card reader connected to one of our 3Ks.
> I brought several boxes of cards with me from grad school, and we read them into EBCDIC files.  
> Don't ask why I was carrying boxes of punch cards around the country.
>
> Terry W. Simpkins
> office: +1 757-766-4278
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Gilles Schipper
> Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2014 12:54 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] Tape to Punched Cards
>
> Gilles Schipper 
> Sent via mobile
> 416-702-7900
>
>> On May 21, 2014, at 12:44 PM, "Johnson, Tracy" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> This looks like something Wirt would have used
>>
>>
>> ASCII to EBCDIC anyone?
>>
>>
>> http://www.osti.gov/scitech/servlets/purl/4500931
>>
>>
>> Was there a CSL for that?
> No need.
>
> FCOPY has always had that capability.
>>
>> Tracy Johnson
>> Business Analyst
>> Measurement Specialties, Inc.
>> Office (757) 766-4318
>> Cell (757) 755-6470
>> [log in to unmask]

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