I used to be one of those computer operators... During the time I was there (around 1990), the place I worked got a brand-new laser printer, one of IBM's first models (many parts were actually made by Kodak).
It had many problems at first. We nicknamed it "Moammar" afterLIbyan diffident Quaddafi because it was so unreliable and unfriendly... It was down for repair much more often than it was actually working. After a year or two, the IBM techs finally worked out the kinks and had it running like a top... A real workhorse!
We still kept the impact printers around as backups and for special jobs/needs, though.
Posted by Duff at 3:27 am (PDT) on Wed September 7, 2011
Mainframe computer operators had to pay careful attention to the high-speed line printer's output hopper. Paper could move through the printer so quickly (especially when the program had it printing only a few lines per page) that the stacking mechanism could easily get overwhelmed and you'd have miles of paper to refold.
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It had many problems at first. We nicknamed it "Moammar" afterLIbyan diffident Quaddafi because it was so unreliable and unfriendly... It was down for repair much more often than it was actually working. After a year or two, the IBM techs finally worked out the kinks and had it running like a top... A real workhorse!
We still kept the impact printers around as backups and for special jobs/needs, though.
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