Roy Irons, one of Ilford Ltd LEO 2/9 computer operator:
The British Oxygen LEO 2/8 was in Edmonton, North London where they had a factory,
distribution and offices. There was also a LEO 2 in the Slough area, I remember going over
there once, at night!
Another thought occurred to me, modern day ‘computer experts’ would not realise that
in the ‘old days’ the programmes were kept on punched cards, not preloaded as now.
Each time you ran a programme you fed the programme in front of the data. As the
programmes were regularly updated, sometimes daily for new programmes, it was the
operator’s worst fear that a card jam would happen while feeding the programme in.
You always hoped that the programmer had updated the spare programme pack! I and
my shift colleague spent many a time reconstituting ripped punch cards after piecing
the bits of the jigsaw together. Problems always occurred at night, rarely when the
programmer was about with his or her notes! Computer operators had to know how to
take the various bits of equipment apart to retrieve ripped cards, etc. The knowledge of
card readers, punches and sorters became a vital part of our job. We also had to help
the engineers locate faults on the main frame. It was a tough life, it was another world!
See http://www.glias.org.uk/news/256news.html
Bill Jack