> The computer operators (!) loaded them with special "green band" paper stock that came in boxes about the size of a 12-ream box of printer paper you'd buy at

> The computer operators (!) loaded them with special "green band" paper stock that came in boxes about the size of a 12-ream box of printer paper you'd buy at OfficeDepot today, but it was all one big continuous z-fold piece, with sprocket holes down each side for the printer to grab and power it through the paper path. Loading paper onto those printers wasn't an easy or fun task; there were typically two tractor mechanisms, one below the printing area (usually inside the sound deadening enclosure), and one above it (still inside, but under the "lid" of the enclosure). You had to get things lined up just right, and then snap the feeds closed on the bottom (while kneeling and looking - sometimes with a flashlight - at an awkward angle under the printer, inside the enclosure, with a large box of paper in your way), then advance the paper past the print area, and align it properly with the second set of tractors, then close those - then run a test job. If all went well (which it usually did), you had things loaded and could continue with your other tasks. Oh - and the cleaning of those printers - so much paper dust, plus the "chads" from the holes (not all were cleared on a run of paper, so the tractors would pop them out and they would get lost all over and inside the machine). > Jobs were printed with special "separator pages" to help to operators find where to split the perforated printouts and deliver them to the right users' collection bins. Fun times to find your "job" and split it off to take back to your cubicle; also fun to find someone else's job and deliver it to them on the way back. Sometimes they'd be thankful or surprised, but it was also fun to do it when they had gotten up to go to the printer - they'd get there, couldn't find their job (but could find the ones "around" it), go back to their desk in a huff, then sit down and find the printout on their desk...hehe. I kinda miss those days (but I don't miss having to build and format reports - talk about a nightmare and thankless task).