Please deposit one quarter

© Mark Ollig



Do you remember playing Pong on a television set during the mid-1970s?

For my younger readers, Pong is a table tennis video game designed in 1972, by Allan Alcorn, an engineer who worked for Atari Inc.

The first commercial cabinet version of Alcorn’s arcade video game was installed in September 1972 at Andy Capp’s Tavern in Sunnyvale, CA.

This installation was a test to see how the public would respond to playing the game.

“Deposit quarter. [tennis] Ball will serve automatically. Avoid missing ball for high score,” read the printed instructions.

Pong became extremely popular among the local patrons at Andy Capp’s Tavern.

However, two weeks after its installation, the video arcade machine began having problems.

A phone call from the tavern manager was made to Atari, saying the Pong game stopped operating.

Allen Alcorn came out to investigate.

When he opened the arcade cabinet, he discovered Pong was not working because quarters were backed up and jammed into the machine’s mechanical mechanism.

The metal coin box overflowed due to a large number of quarters filling it up faster than it could be emptied.

This story took me back to the days when part of my job was repairing public payphones.

Sometimes, a payphone would become “out of order” due to quarters, dimes, or nickels becoming lodged inside the coin chute assembly.

Other times, the payphone was not working due to someone becoming frustrated during a conversation and pulling the handset cord from the payphone’s cabinet housing – but that is a topic for a future column.

However, I digress.

The Christmas season of 1975, Sears sold Home Pong (using a game console) for $98.95.

Pong’s game console connected to any TV, though the game looked better when played on a color set.

In 1966, Ralph H. Baer wrote a four-page outline for a game control box that could connect to any standard TV. Two people could use individual controllers to play a variety of electronic games, including ping-pong, tennis, handball, volleyball, and others.

Electronics- and TV-maker, Magnavox bought Baer’s technical design and the two-player controllers and box. They named it the Magnavox Odyssey video game console.

In November 1972, Magnavox began home distribution of the Magnavox Odyssey game console. More than 130,000 game consoles sold the first year.

However, there was an identification problem with the Magnavox video game console.

A growing number of people believed the Magnavox Odyssey console would only work on a Magnavox television set.

Atari picked up on this and attempted to use it to their advantage.

They began printing the following on all their Home Pong advertising, packaging, and game boxes: “Works on any television set, black-and-white, or color.”

Magnavox quickly adjusted their advertising, informing the video-game-buying consumer that their game console worked on any manufacturer’s television set.

In 1961, a video game called Spacewar! was created by four Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) students.

The video game operated over MIT’s DEC PDP-1 (Digital Equipment Company Programmed Data Processor) computer.

Steve Russell completed the final software code programming for Spacewar!, while Dan Edwards, Peter Samson, and Martin Graetz are credited with adding additional features.

The PDP-1 emulator for playing the video game is at http://spacewar.oversigma.com.

In 1958, William Higinbotham worked as the instrumentation division head at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, NY.

To entertain visitors to the laboratory, he created a video game, called Tennis for Two, using an electronic oscilloscope connected to an analog computer.

In 1952, the first digital graphical tic-tac-toe game was called OXO. A person played against a computer in a tic-tac-toe game on a British-made Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC) computer, initially constructed in 1948.

The human player uses a rotary phone dial as the OXO game controller.

I can hear it now: “What’s a rotary phone dial, grandpa?”

A player dials a digit from 1 to 9 to represent the location of where to place an X or O on the tic-tac-toe board displayed on the computer’s cathode ray tube (CRT) screen.

Alexander S. Douglas wrote the programming code for OXO at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

To view a screenshot of an EDSAC simulator running the OXO game, go to https://bit.ly/2QLbrh8.

The inspiration for screen-based video games may have originated during World War II, with electronic radar display images.

US Patent 2,455,992 “Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device” was filed Jan. 25, 1947, by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann.

“One or more targets, such as pictures of airplanes, are placed upon the face of the [CRT] tube. Controls are available to the player so [they] can manipulate the trace or position of the beam, which is automatically caused to move across the face of the tube,” read text from the patent.

The tracing of the electron light beam on the display screen has been compared to how the Etch A Sketch drawing toy (released in 1960) operates.

US Patent 2,455,992 can be seen at https://bit.ly/2XPiiaW.

Anybody have a quarter I can borrow to play an arcade video game? Oh, wait. I have an app for Pong on my smartphone. 

Magnavox Odyssey with game controllers and console

Magnavox Odyssey

Spacewar! 

 OXO was first digital graphical tic-tac-toe game (EDSAC simulator running the OXO game)

“Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device” 

Pilgrims begin a new world with some help

© Mark Ollig


In September 1620, one-hundred-two Separatist English Protestants and a crew of 30 left England on a 66-day journey to cross the Atlantic Ocean aboard the 100-foot-long ship named the Mayflower.

In command of the Mayflower was Captain Christopher Jones.

The adventurous pilgrims aboard the four-deck, 180-ton ship, sailed with a vision of establishing a settlement in the Colony of Virginia and starting a new life for themselves.

The Mayflower ended up near the eastern tip of Cape Cod in modern-day Massachusetts, where they explored and then sailed west to what is present-day Plymouth, MA, and named after Plymouth England, where the Mayflower’s voyage originated.

Upon their arrival, the seasonally cold wintery weather forced the travelers to stay sheltered on the ship.

Sadly, nearly one-half of the people on board the Mayflower died from malnutrition and sickness.

By spring 1621, the weather changed to moderate temperatures, allowing the people to leave the Mayflower to establish their settlement on the new land.

Members of an indigenous Native American tribe assisted the pilgrims. One of the natives spoke English, which, no doubt, surprised the new settlers.

Tisquantum (known as Squanto) was a Pawtuxet and member of the Native American band of the Wampanoag tribe living near where the pilgrims had settled.

Years before the Mayflower landed, he was taken to England by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who was exploring the coast where Squanto lived. While in England, he learned to speak English.

Squanto returned to his native land in 1614.

A short time later, Thomas Hunt, a British explorer, took Squanto to Spain and sold him into slavery.

He was able to escape and lived with monks for a time before returning to his homeland in 1619.

Squanto helped the Pilgrims by serving as a territorial guide, assisting them with fishing and planting crops, and acting as an interpreter with Wampanoag Chief Massasoit.

In 1621, the pilgrims saw their first successful corn harvest of some 20 acres, in addition to six acres of barley and peas. The Pilgrim’s leader, Governor William Bradford, celebrated this milestone by having a great feast.

Bradford invited members from the local Native American tribes to celebrate with the Pilgrims.

Edward Winslow was one of the Separatist leaders who traveled on the Mayflower and was at this celebration.

In a letter dated Dec. 11, 1621, Winslow wrote about the celebration.

Winslow’s references to the first Thanksgiving include, “. . . our governor [William Bradford] sent four men on fowling that so we might, after a more special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors.”

He also remarked: “there was [a] great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison.”

Winslow wrote about the Native Americans attending the feast, “. . . many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest [is] their greatest King Massasoit [leader of the Wampanoag tribe], with some 90 men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted.”

“We have found the Indians very faithful in their covenant of peace with us,” Winslow added.

The following year, Squanto reportedly helped the Pilgrims find a lost boy.

In November 1622, while acting as a guide for Governor Bradford, Squanto died in Chatham, MA of a fever. He was 42 years old.

Captain Christopher Jones died at age 52 March 5, 1622.

Governor William Bradford passed away May 9, 1657, aged 67.

Edward Winslow was 59 years old when he died, May 8, 1655.

The 1,580-word letter Winslow wrote Dec. 11, 1621, can be read at https://bit.ly/2QwJ31Z.

This Thanksgiving Day, we can be grateful for our blessings, family, friends, and life’s good harvest.

Let us also remember the story of the indigenous Native Americans who helped the Pilgrims upon their arrival into their new world.

Model of Mayflower ship at Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, Mass, circa 1905

Squanto, also known as Tisquantum

The first Thanksgiving 

Future technology will be magical

© Mark Ollig


In 2007, my late aunt asked me what I thought future technology would be like in 50 years.

Back then, I was more worried about the future in terms of remembering if three months or 3,000 miles had passed until I needed to change my car’s motor oil.

My aunt’s question became the subject of a Feb. 19, 2007 article, which I refer to in this week’s column.

When considering the future of computing technology in the year 2057, I think it makes sense to see what technology looked like in the past.

Looking back 50 years gives us a perspective on how far we have progressed.

One prediction about the future of computer data processing from 1957, was from the editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall.

“I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won’t last out the year,” the editor said.

Well, we know how inaccurate this prediction turned out.

There were a large number of technological breakthroughs from 1957.

In January 1957, IBM announced an electronic computer data processing system called the Type 709.

This mainframe computing system included a lot of blinking indicator lights and switches on its front panel, along with metal cabinet bays containing magnetic tape drives and processing circuitry.

The IBM 709 was used to answer business, scientific, and engineering problems. The mainframe computer could solve 42,000 additions or subtractions, or 5,000 division or multiplication calculations per second.

Its memory consisted of a magnetic-core, storing up to 32,768 10-digit-length words.

The 709 could locate an individual unit of stored information within 12 millionths of a second – which is not too bad for 1957 computing technology.

The software programming language, FORTRAN (Formula Translation), was released in 1957, and used in the IBM 709.

“A new phase in the evolution of the electronic computer and its application in business and industry” is how IBM’s L.H. LaMotte accurately described the 709.

The first digital hard drive, the IBM 350-1, began shipping in late 1956, and early 1957.

The 350-1 housed (50) 24-inch disks resembling a 5-foot stack of 45 rpm records. The hard drive had an access time of 600 milliseconds, with a storage capacity of 3.75 megabytes.

In December 1957, the first commercial calculator, using all-solid-state transistor circuitry, became available to the public.

The first electronic calculator I used was in 1977. It was called the TI-30 made by Texas Instruments.

Those mainframe computers from 1957 were enormous, dissipated a lot of heat, used a lot of copper wiring, and took up a good deal of floor space.

The Soviet Union caught the attention (and fear) of the world Oct. 4, 1957, when they successfully launched the Sputnik I satellite atop an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile.

Sputnik 1 became the world’s first artificial satellite. It was about the size of a basketball, weighed 183 pounds, made a beeping sound, and took 98 minutes to orbit the Earth.

I found some 2057 predictions by Isaac Asimov, who published a 1950 book called “I-Robot,” about the society he envisioned in 2057.

Asimov foresees our society dominated by robots, which by 2057 might come to pass given the current advances in artificial intelligence and autonomous robotic technology.

A few more predictions for 2057:

• Nano-tube ribbon-like technology will be used to build a permanently-tethered space-elevator to lift payloads into Earth orbit without using rockets.

• We will be wearing micro-encapsulation clothing capable of sending updated medical information to our health provider.

• Quantum computers equipped with qubit processors will have replaced the supercomputers of today.

• And, by 2057, if current trends continue, 9G wireless communications will be used.

Granted, we really won’t know what 2057 will bring until we get there.

For now, we can only speculate about future technologies the world will have 50 years from today.

I do hope our grandchildren and their children will have access to technology that allows them to live a fulfilling quality of life.

Advanced technology in 2057 will provide future generations with a variety of ways to succeed in their chosen careers.

As Arthur C. Clarke said in his 1961 book, “Profiles of The Future,” “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

If we could transport ourselves 50 years into the future, the advances made in technology would appear to be magical, which is what I told my aunt.

Image right-to-use paid by me!

My hometown’s first city website

© Mark Ollig

While serving on the Winsted City Council, Nov. 4, 1997, I presented to Mayor Don Guggemos and city council members the final proposal for a City of Winsted website.

Council Member Gary Lenz motioned to proceed with establishing the website, and Council Member Bob Kegler seconded. The motion was unanimously carried.

In this week’s column, I include parts of the “City of Winsted on the World Wide Web” article I wrote Nov. 10, 1997, which begins as follows:

At last! The city of Winsted is a part of cyberspace!

Winsted is now officially on the Internet for the entire world to see.

Bookmark this URL address into your Netscape 3.0 or compatible web browser: http://www.winsted.mn.us.

Visitors are welcomed to the new website with a recognizable view of the city taken from the east side of Winsted Lake.

The city website contains many webpages of information and services Winsted offers to its citizens, and is an excellent resource for others wanting to know more about the city.

The webpages are well-organized and easy to navigate using hyperlinks for opening reference sources with the click of a mouse.

The city website includes official city notices, meeting agendas and times, community information, and many color photographs.

City services and policies, along with aerial maps and directions, complement this website.

Use your computer mouse to click the What’s Happening webpage to see a list of current city projects, such as 157 housing units to be built for the ‘Winsted on the Lake’ project.

Local community pictures of interest are on the website’s Photo Gallery webpage.

The Parks and Recreation webpage includes information on Mill Reserve Park, Southview Park, Westgate Park, Hainlin Park, Northgate Park, the Luce Line Trail, and city athletic facilities. A map showing their locations is on the webpage.

A picture of Winsted taken from the air presents how the city looked when viewed looking north, where it appears similar to the shape of Minnesota. Winsted Lake borders the town on the northeast side, comparable to how Lake Superior borders our state.

Another photo shows the historic Winsted City Hall building, which is currently unoccupied due to its present physical condition. The Lake Mary brick building served the community well over the years and still visually retains its rich history.

Other photos include picturesque sunrise and sunsets over Winsted Lake.

The new city website lists city meeting schedules, notices, and special announcements.

A Who’s Who webpage lists the names, telephone numbers, and addresses of the federal, state, county, and locally-elected officials serving on various commissions, committees, departments, councils, associations, and other organizations.

The Services and Policies webpage contains a wealth of information. From building permit requirements, dog licenses, utilities serving the city, local regulations, and more – you will find them all here.

The Community Info webpage provides a hyperlink to the Winsted Guidebook, which contains a list of local businesses and industries.

Data about the Winsted Airport is accessible using its hyperlink from the home page of the city website.

The Maps & Directions webpage provides an interactive Minnesota map with driving directions and street information for the city.

Out-of-town visitors can check the city website for driving directions from the north, south, east, and west.

The City of Winsted website is an online informational resource that will continue to grow and expand in its offerings and services via input from local citizens and city officials.

Having established a city website on the Internet is another first for our hometown.

I have no doubt; we will soon see many local organizations and businesses creating Internet websites.

City residents can now use a local telephone number for accessing the Internet via dial-up. I encourage folks to install a modem on their computer, get online, and explore this new and exciting virtual community.

Be sure your Internet web browser travels include a visit to Winsted’s new website. Don’t forget to leave an email message with your comments and suggestions.

When sending emails over the Internet, you can promote your hometown by including the link to your city website.

The 1997 article ended with: “Winsted; welcome to the World Wide Web of the Internet.”

I hope you enjoyed the “City of Winsted on the World Wide Web” article brought out from the Bits & Bytes column vault. Note, I did exercise a few “author liberties” in making minor additions and corrections.

The Internet Archive’s “Wayback Machine” is a continuously growing digital library. It currently stores many of the images and webpages from the Winsted city website as it appeared Dec. 1, 1998. Use this shortened link to view it: https://bit.ly/2NH5Bdv.

If you are into research, visit the Wayback Machine’s website at https://web.archive.org, where you will find a historical treasure trove of information contained on more than 387 billion website pages it has so far collected.

The Winsted City Council minutes from Nov. 4, 1997, is located at https://bit.ly/32o1DM0.

City of Winsted's first website from 1997