Hiya Stuart,
Yes, I also remember the tunes that you could play using the line printers. I was with NatWest from 1970 to 1993, and my introduction to the hardware was initially IBM 1401 and 7010. Of course by the time I left they were using IBM 3090, but I should think that things have moved on since then.
Heh.
The branch (not NatWest) which I started at used to have a Burroughs B80, but some of the smaller branches used to have TC500's or TC3500s ? which had a type of ticker tape with punched holes. The idea for an experienced 'machinist' was too see how far ahead they could process transactions.. then sit back, watch and wait whilst it caught up. That golf ball would clatter like crazy all day.
We then went over to Philips Systems where each member of staff (ie cashiers/lenders etc) had their own terminal with a B&W monitor which must have been all about 7" wide. After about a year, just about all of those screens had something like **** SELECT TRANSACTION ***** burnt in them.
The advantage of the Phillips system was being able to process other branch transactions 'real time' and get up to date information on other branch accounts.
Sometime in the very late 90's Olivetti's were introduced, with decent sized monitors and wow colour!
I was also issued with a laptop in the 90's - I cant recall the brand but DIGITAL seems to ring a bell... and I had a lil Cannon BJ-30? portable printer that ate paper for fun. That however was my first introduction to Windows (& minesweeper)
