JargonFile/original/html/G/grind-crank.html

17 lines
2.8 KiB
HTML
Raw Normal View History

2014-03-27 14:54:56 -04:00
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>grind crank</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../G.html" title="G"/><link rel="previous" href="grind.html" title="grind"/><link rel="next" href="gritch.html" title="gritch"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">grind crank</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="grind.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><th width="60%" align="center">G</th><td width="20%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="gritch.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="grind-crank"/><dt xmlns="" id="grind-crank"><b>grind crank</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span>, <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="pronunciation">//</span></dt></dt><dd><p> A mythical accessory to a terminal. A crank on the side of a
monitor, which when operated makes a zizzing noise and causes the computer
to run faster. Usually one does not refer to a grind crank out loud, but
merely makes the appropriate gesture and noise. See
<a href="grind.html"><i class="glossterm">grind</i></a>.</p></dd><dd><p>Historical note: At least one real machine actually had a grind crank
&#8212; the R1, a research machine built toward the end of the days of the
great vacuum tube computers, in 1959. R1 (also known as &#8216;The Rice
Institute Computer&#8217; (TRIC) and later as &#8216;The Rice University
Computer&#8217; (TRUC)) had a single-step/free-run switch for use when
debugging programs. Since single-stepping through a large program was
rather tedious, there was also a crank with a cam and gear arrangement that
repeatedly pushed the single-step button. This allowed one to
&#8216;crank&#8217; through a lot of code, then slow down to single-step
for a bit when you got near the code of interest, poke at some registers
using the console typewriter, and then keep on cranking. See <a href="http://www.cs.rice.edu/History/R1/" target="_top">http://www.cs.rice.edu/History/R1/</a>.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="grind.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../G.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="gritch.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">grind<EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"><EFBFBD>gritch</td></tr></table></div></body></html>