I'm guessing that a large part of the expense is finding someone that can write in COBOL or RPG. It's time for a move to a hosted solution, and at those prices, you should be able to save a great deal of money very quickly.
Our little optical shop had a custom data base built back in 1992 similar to this, although not as deep as this. About 10 years ago they began exploring other options and trying to find a way to export the data to a new system. At the time they were unwilling to pay someone several thousand dollars to "try" to do it. Due to the dysfunction of this small family business, they let it crash and abandoned it. After a couple of attempts to find a system that would meet our needs and was affordable, we have the system we use today which works rather well, for around $ 2 k per month.
Yep, those were the days - we also had a lot of Data General minicomputers like Eclipse S200/S120, NOVA 800 etc that were primarily used to control automated semiconductor and IC production and test equipment. The stand alones ran RDOS and the networked ones ran AOS. The oldest computer we had for the longest time was a ranch house CDC 1700 built around '65. All germanium transistors. It had these plug in modules called "Cordwood" modules that were 2 pc cards sandwiched together and about 3" square. Each one was ONE gate so it would take 4 of these to equal something like a slow MC7400 etc. It used a DEC PDP8 running PIP as its console. The Dataproducts line printer was larger and heavier than a VW. The hard drives were the size of washing machines and were 10 platter and all of 20 mb's. It was built before logic symbols were standardized and most companies had their own system. CDC used "Biondi" bubbles. We had to keep it around and keep it running as some Gov installation somewhere still used them and we fixed the parts from them using this setup. A CDC had gone under we were the only parts source and only place with someone that could still work (or was willing to) on it. That was me. They called its computer room and me "Geriatric Park"
Location: No longer in a hovel in effluent Damnville, VA Gender:
Posted:
Feb 20, 2011 - 8:34am
beamends wrote:
My first computer job was with DEC, using VMS on VAX's and MicroVAX's. It's a real shame DEC never got their act together with a GUI for VMS, it was (well, still is - most banks still use VAX's apparently) a superb OS - sort of Unix with a meaningful command line! It was really nice being able to write functions in the most appropriate language, C, Fortran, BASIC, Ada etc and just compile the whole lot. This was in the days when IBM were struggling to get their own machines to talk to each other, yet I was doing RPC's to an IBM mainframe in Denmark (that's where DEC kept their one for development) using code compiled on a machine in Australia (just for the fun of it), all done with SET HOST MACHINENAME USERNAME PASSWORD using DecNet - (puts wheat straw on mouth) "Arr, them wus the days"
Yep, those were the days - we also had a lot of Data General minicomputers like Eclipse S200/S120, NOVA 800 etc that were primarily used to control automated semiconductor and IC production and test equipment. The stand alones ran RDOS and the networked ones ran AOS. The oldest computer we had for the longest time was a ranch house sized CDC 1700 built around '65. All germanium transistors. It had these plug in modules called "Cordwood" modules that were 2 pc cards sandwiched together and about 3" square. Each one was ONE gate so it would take 4 of these to equal something like a slow MC7400 etc. It used a DEC PDP8 running PIP as its console. The Dataproducts line printer was larger and heavier than a VW. The hard drives were the size of washing machines and were 10 platter and all of 20 mb's. It was built before logic symbols were standardized and most companies had their own system. CDC used "Biondi" bubbles. We had to keep it around and keep it running as some Gov installation somewhere still used them and we fixed the parts from them using this setup. A CDC had gone under we were the only parts source and only place with someone that could still work (or was willing to) on it. That was me. They called its computer room and me "Geriatric Park"
I entered the field back in the days of mainframe computers when every company had their own OS and everything was Fortran and later C. I ended up liking UNIX best and got started with that when it was still 1.* on DEC 11/70 stuff.I worked in the Computer Services Group at Motorola for 29 years and was interesting going from mainframes to pc stuff. Towards the end of my career there even though a lot of people used PC or MACs the most dominant computer there was SUN Micro stuff running UNIX/Solaris. And of course the current MAC OS runs on top of a customized UNIX. I still play around with LINUX on and off. I only keep the music server on a PC because there is no real equivalent of Foobar2000 or EAC for the MAC yet and I hate iTunes.
My first computer job was with DEC, using VMS on VAX's and MicroVAX's. It's a real shame DEC never got their act together with a GUI for VMS, it was (well, still is - most banks still use VAX's apparently) a superb OS - sort of Unix with a meaningful command line! It was really nice being able to write functions in the most appropriate language, C, Fortran, BASIC, Ada etc and just compile the whole lot. This was in the days when IBM were struggling to get their own machines to talk to each other, yet I was doing RPC's to an IBM mainframe in Denmark (that's where DEC kept their one for development) using code compiled on a machine in Australia (just for the fun of it), all done with SET HOST MACHINENAME USERNAME PASSWORD using DecNet - (puts wheat straw on mouth) "Arr, them wus the days"
Location: No longer in a hovel in effluent Damnville, VA Gender:
Posted:
Feb 20, 2011 - 8:02am
beamends wrote:
It all depends........... I was introduced to the Mac when at university, but Risc-OS (ok, so no one's ever heard of it!) was a far better true WIMP environment. Sadly Risc-OS has now become an 'enthusiast' platform and without up to date business software I had to go Linux. I did look at Mac again, but Apple's insistence on proprietary standards (which is getting worse and worse lately - will it be their downfall?) means it's a non starter. Now not being in business my main requirement is music creation and studio type stuff - Ubuntu Studio wins hands down there.
I entered the field back in the days of mainframe computers when every company had their own OS and everything was Fortran and later C. I ended up liking UNIX best and got started with that when it was still 1.* on DEC 11/70 stuff.I worked in the Computer Services Group at Motorola for 29 years and was interesting going from mainframes to pc stuff. Towards the end of my career there even though a lot of people used PC or MACs the most dominant computer there was SUN Micro stuff running UNIX/Solaris. And of course the current MAC OS runs on top of a customized UNIX. I still play around with LINUX on and off. I only keep the music server on a PC because there is no real equivalent of Foobar2000 or EAC for the MAC yet and I hate iTunes. I even kept a Sparc 10 at home for years after I "retired" to keep up with it for a while but eventually sold it.
Thats true I love my Mac even though its not an official one. I only use a pc as a music server and even that will change soon .
It all depends........... I was introduced to the Mac when at university, but Risc-OS (ok, so no one's ever heard of it!) was a far better true WIMP environment. Sadly Risc-OS has now become an 'enthusiast' platform and without up to date business software I had to go Linux. I did look at Mac again, but Apple's insistence on proprietary standards (which is getting worse and worse lately - will it be their downfall?) means it's a non starter. Now not being in business my main requirement is music creation and studio type stuff - Ubuntu Studio wins hands down there.
No Joy Stick for You!
come to think of it, I have one of those I should have used...