By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 03/07/2026CARDiac stands for "CARDboard Illustrative Aid to Computation," and it was created in 1968 at Bell Labs as a way to teach high schoolers how computers worked. I wasn't anywhere near high school age (I think I was in third grade?) but the CARDiac was revelatory. 3/ 1120
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 03/07/2026The year before, I'd had access to a teletype terminal and acoustic coupler that let me operate a PDP machine at the University of Toronto, and I'd been endlessly fascinated with the possibilities. 4/ 2110
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 03/07/2026I wrote simple BASIC programs, chatted with ELIZA, and messaged other system users, one keystroke at a time, all on paper. 5/ 1110
wiredog @wiredog.bsky.social · 03/07/2026The programming class I took at Langley High School in 1982 was a tty talking to the county computer. The classroom had 2 glass ttys and one 120 column one. Wish I’d gotten more pictures than just this one: flic.kr/p/6iczyaflic.krTerminal1982.jpgA computer terminal at LHS circa 1982 051