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No Damned Computer Is Going to Tell Me What to Do

2 points by jki275 6y ago

jki275 6y ago
Noticed yesterday the NEETS modules were posted, and it seems there are a few of us old Navy techs on the board. This is the story of the beginnings of Navy computing -- it's also indirectly a history of the Data Systems Technician and the Data Processing rates, those of us who worked on Navy computers from the 1970s on. As DS techs in the Navy, our main job was to keep operational the computers and display systems that processed radar data and track data, presented that picture to the people who had to make firing decisions, and passed their commands to the weapon systems. This link is to a paper written by Captain David L. Boslaugh, it's been around for a number of years. I've linked each chapter below as the article is a bit hard to navigate through if you start reading with chapter 1. https://ethw.org/First-Hand:The_Navy_Codebreakers_and_Their_Digital_Computers_-_Chapter_2_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System https://ethw.org/First-Hand:The_Navy_Codebreakers_and_Their_... https://ethw.org/First-Hand:McNally%27s_Challenge,_Conceptualizing_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System_-_Chapter_3_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System https://ethw.org/First-Hand:McNally%27s_Challenge,_Conceptua... https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Building_the_U.S._Navy%27s_First_Seagoing_Digital_System_-_Chapter_4_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Building_the_U.S._Navy%27s_First... https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Testing_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System_-_Chapter_5_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Testing_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_... https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Moving_the_Firing_Key_to_NTDS_-_Chapter_6_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Moving_the_Firing_Key_to_NTDS_-_... https://ethw.org/First-Hand:The_Naval_Tactical_Data_System_in_Combat_-_Chapter_7_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System https://ethw.org/First-Hand:The_Naval_Tactical_Data_System_i... https://ethw.org/First-Hand:The_Marine_Tactical_Data_System_and_the_Airborne_Tactical_Data_System_-_Chapter_8_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System https://ethw.org/First-Hand:The_Marine_Tactical_Data_System_... https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Legacy_of_NTDS_-_Chapter_9_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Legacy_of_NTDS_-_Chapter_9_of_th...

2 points by jki275 6y ago

Noticed yesterday the NEETS modules were posted, and it seems there are a few of us old Navy techs on the board. This is the story of the beginnings of Navy computing -- it's also indirectly a history of the Data Systems Technician and the Data Processing rates, those of us who worked on Navy computers from the 1970s on. As DS techs in the Navy, our main job was to keep operational the computers and display systems that processed radar data and track data, presented that picture to the people who had to make firing decisions, and passed their commands to the weapon systems. This link is to a paper written by Captain David L. Boslaugh, it's been around for a number of years. I've linked each chapter below as the article is a bit hard to navigate through if you start reading with chapter 1. https://ethw.org/First-Hand:The_Navy_Codebreakers_and_Their_Digital_Computers_-_Chapter_2_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System https://ethw.org/First-Hand:The_Navy_Codebreakers_and_Their_... https://ethw.org/First-Hand:McNally%27s_Challenge,_Conceptualizing_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System_-_Chapter_3_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System https://ethw.org/First-Hand:McNally%27s_Challenge,_Conceptua... https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Building_the_U.S._Navy%27s_First_Seagoing_Digital_System_-_Chapter_4_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Building_the_U.S._Navy%27s_First... https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Testing_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System_-_Chapter_5_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Testing_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_... https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Moving_the_Firing_Key_to_NTDS_-_Chapter_6_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Moving_the_Firing_Key_to_NTDS_-_... https://ethw.org/First-Hand:The_Naval_Tactical_Data_System_in_Combat_-_Chapter_7_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System https://ethw.org/First-Hand:The_Naval_Tactical_Data_System_i... https://ethw.org/First-Hand:The_Marine_Tactical_Data_System_and_the_Airborne_Tactical_Data_System_-_Chapter_8_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System https://ethw.org/First-Hand:The_Marine_Tactical_Data_System_... https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Legacy_of_NTDS_-_Chapter_9_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Legacy_of_NTDS_-_Chapter_9_of_th...