return to main 1401 Restoration Page - just under Web "Master" in the top box

Web Site Administration

Started early December 2023
as of January 12 2024

Samuel Wainwright e-mailed
"I'm very much still getting up to speed on things, but my understanding is that it's primarily a backup/redundancy concern (it sounds like the CHM-integrated front-end is being discussed on the CHM side, TBD)."

To help folks who wish to help, I offer the following topics

Table of Contents

Purpose of this document

"Brief" History

The acquisition and restoration of the historically and commercially important IBM 1401 computing system was considered and discussed by CHM employees and CHM volunteers in 2004.

I ( Ed Thelen ) was invited to early meetings and I wanted to create an internet website to record interesting/useful-facts/manuals/schematics/stories...

I had already started a large website which attempted the same things for Nike surface-to-air missile which I had been trained for by the US Army

Why use the HTML language?
In the 1990s I has started using some "simple" ?Microsoft? language - but it wouldn't do some of things I wanted to do. So, I looked at the language the "simple" language was compiled to, HTML. HTML is the language that all of the internet browsers used.

Then I wondered why I should depend on some vendor to maintain their language and keep it compatible and documented.

Using the well documented HTML language used by all the browsers seemed like the best/safest bet. For over 30 years I have never regretted the choice.

Why did/do I use GoDaddy as an internet host
GoDaddy is a survivor. In the late 1900s, many internet hosts came and went. Very inconvenient for me. One was "Blue Diamond" which was purchased/absorbed by Yahoo. Yahoo slowly made life less and less convenient for me. (I was a "legacy user" and they made it very inconvenient for me to become a regular user.)
A friend was using GoDaddy, I up loaded to there, and have used GoDaddy somewhat happily ever since.

"Backup/Redundancy" Ed Thelen as web site "master"/dictator Why CHM does not link to https://ibm-1401.info ???
My guess, CHM does not control https://ibm-1401.info and does not wish to possibly link to something that went crazy ???

https://ibm-1401.info as the "Winchester Mystery House"
and ?how to create order from chaos??
  • This web site started out as a "blank page", and has been added to as material became available. In about 2012, I attempted to bring some order out of chaos - The attempt was so stressful that I have not tried again. Fortunately, the Google Search on the main page works well and can help the viewer.
  • and ?how to create order from chaos??
    Someone else with lots of time, organization, patience
Limits of the (current) web site as a high-resolution repository
  • the goal of the web site was for quick viewing. High resolution/pictures/images were reduced from possibly available for books and documents to a nice resolution for web browsers.
  • maybe there should be a section for storage of archived high resolution images for outside printing ???

"HTML Energy" movement promoting HTML-built websites (MIT Tech) - January 12, 2024
- from Robert Garner
Speaking of our (HTML-based) 1401 website, I noticed in the new issue of MIT Technology Review an unexpected article about the (retro?) emergence of more personalized websites authored directly in HTML:

"Recapturing early-internet whimsy with HTML: Modern forms of coding make most websites feel like commercial transactions. The HTML Energy movement aims to bring back the joys of the early days."
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/12/21/1084525/internet-whimsy-html-energy/

"The HTML Energy movement calls on people to reexamine our relationship with technology. Crafting a site using HTML allows programmers to explore what a website can be. Unlike their corporate counterparts, people creating sites on their own don't answer to shareholders. They don't have the pressure to create profitable experiences, so their creations can take an endless variety of forms."

"The HTML Energy community advocates understanding HTML for what it quite literally is: a language. And it celebrates the way the rudimentary character of that language demands intention from the user. As an amalgamation of minuscule and intricate creative decisions, a site constructed using only HTML is a form of self-expression. Viewing a site's source code is as important as navigating its interface. There are often Easter eggs hidden in that code, such as cheeky messages or citations taken from other HTML sites. In many ways, an HTML site captures something of the creator's identity: What did that individual choose to build, and how?"

So, our trailing-edge 1401 site is now "in"/leading-edge? :)

Or perhaps, as you've noted, it reflects our struggling, less-than-well-ordered states of mind? :)))

Cheers,

-- Robert