17 lines
2.8 KiB
HTML
17 lines
2.8 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<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> </td><th width="60%" align="center">G</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <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
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monitor, which when operated makes a zizzing noise and causes the computer
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to run faster. Usually one does not refer to a grind crank out loud, but
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merely makes the appropriate gesture and noise. See
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<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
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— the R1, a research machine built toward the end of the days of the
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great vacuum tube computers, in 1959. R1 (also known as ‘The Rice
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Institute Computer’ (TRIC) and later as ‘The Rice University
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Computer’ (TRUC)) had a single-step/free-run switch for use when
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debugging programs. Since single-stepping through a large program was
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rather tedious, there was also a crank with a cam and gear arrangement that
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repeatedly pushed the single-step button. This allowed one to
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‘crank’ through a lot of code, then slow down to single-step
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for a bit when you got near the code of interest, poke at some registers
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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> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../G.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="gritch.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">grind </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> gritch</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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