[timwilky]

I worked on PDP11 based systems for a highly accurate data logger integrated into a cab crush system in the early 80 that used a pair of 8 inch floppies to boot the DEC RT11 operating system, spent a lot of time playing Adventure.

But at the same time I was using a programmable function generator to give an input to Electro Hydraulic rams (Fancy wave forms, sine, sawtooth etc with various frequency/amplitude etc) that had to be bootstrapped from the front panel switches sufficient to IPL (Initial Program Load) from paper tape.

But for the old stuff, even I was surprised to be invited into the data centre of an adjacent business to discover a Ferranti Argus. Whilst the Dounray reactor was still live, that Argus would be kept running doing the reactor safety critical simulation!