Songs for Saturday: Today is Babbage's birthday
Not only is today Boxing Day, it's also the birthday of Charles Babbage: December 26, 1791. He invented the stored-program digital computer, which he called the Analytical Engine. That also makes the Analytical Engine the first unfinished computer project (unless you count Babbage's Difference Engine, but that wasn't a general-purpose computer). Contrary to popular belief, the mechanical precision of the time was quite capable of producing it (proved by the full implementation of the Difference Engine, using 1820s-level technology, in the 1990s), but the machining proved much more expensive than expected, and the project eventually ran out of funding. It's an old story.
But this post isn't about Babbage, or the Difference Engine -- this post is about a song I wrote back in 1985 called Uncle Ernie's [ogg] [mp3], and that in turn was directly inspired by Mike Quinn Electronics, a surplus joint located in a run-down old building at the Oakland airport, run by a guy named Mike Quinn. I had to search for the name of the store; everyone just called it "Quinn's". There's a good description of the place in "Mighty Quinn and the IMSAI connection" on The Official IMSAI Home Page. As far as I know there is no connection to "Quinn the Eskimo" by Bob Dylan besides the title.
At one point Quinn's had a Bendix G-15 for sale, with a price tag just short of $1000. Unlike the one I first learned programming on, it had magtape drives as well as paper tape. Somebody eventually bought it; I hope they gave it a good home. That's almost certainly the origin of the line about magtape drives in the second verse. A 7090 would have occupied the entire building.
Almost all of the other computers mentioned -- Altair, Imsai, Apple 3, PC Junior, Heathkit Hero (yes, Heath sold robot kits back in the 1980s) -- were also quite real, and some of the smaller ones almost certainly did show up at Quinn's from time to time, especially the Imsai and Altair, which were sold in kit form. The only thing I made up completely was the temperature controller in verse three. The only one I actually used was the 7090 (or rather its successor, the 7094, but that wouldn't have scanned).
Uncle Ernie's Lyrics Copyright 1985 Stephen Savitzky. CC by-nc-sa/4.0 To the tune of ``Finnegan's Wake'' (traditional). When Babbage's Birthday rolls around We hold our annual Shopping Spree With every C-P-U you buy Get a floppy disk completely free! We've acres of used computers here The biggest selection in the land At prices from just fifty cents To seven hundred and fifty grand! It's Uncle Ernie's Used Computer Babbage's Birthday bargain bash Once-in-a-lifetime discount deals All sales are final and strictly cash! We've Altairs, Imsais, Apple Threes And PC Juniors by the score And if you fancy something big A mainframe's only slightly more! Take that 7090 there, Such magtape drives did y'ever see? And whether it runs with tape or cards Get a floppy disk completely free! If energy bills are out of sight Don't sit and shiver in the cold To help you beat the cost of heat We're offering real-time control. Straight from the nuclear industry Here's a real hot number just for you It glows in the dark a little so It makes a dandy night-light too! Now in the robot section here We've Heathkit Heros by the score And a couple of custom models that Were only used in one star war! Robbie here is a great machine Did you ever see such a friendly face? The price is very low because We found him drifting lost in space! Online: http://Steve.Savitzky.net/Songs/uncle/lyrics.txt
[Crossposted from mdlbear.dreamwidth.org, where it has
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