Are there any veterans of RapiData Timeshaing, Inc here?

[Al Dykes]

I worked for RapiData Timesharing for about a year circa 1969 and it
recently occured to me to google up what I could find. Almost all
record of them seems to have not made it to Usenet adn Google.

It was when all they had was GE 400 series machines. I was there when
Honeywell people came in and removed the GE signage for their own.

Rapidata Timesharing ran a home-grown clone of GE Mark-something
software.

[Peter Flass]

Post by Al Dykes
I worked for RapiData Timesharing for about a year circa 1969 and it
recently occured to me to google up what I could find. Almost all
record of them seems to have not made it to Usenet adn Google.
It was when all they had was GE 400 series machines. I was there when
Honeywell people came in and removed the GE signage for their own.
Rapidata Timesharing ran a home-grown clone of GE Mark-something
software.

The Computer Museum has some material on companies in various segments
of the industry, I'd suspect timesharing might be one, you might want to
see if they're interested in your recollections.

Another possibility is Wikipedia. I did a brief article on a
now-defunct software company. You might consider that.

Unfortunately, Usenet memory is very selective, and web even more so.
If it weren't for the efforts of individual "rememberers", we'd have
very little today.

[b***@gmail.com]

I worked there for almost 2 years 1977 to 1979. It had an absolutely tremendously talented staff and I did go on to AT&T and other parts of AT&T for a very successful career before I became disabled . When I look back and I think of it, it would've been amazing if rapid data had turned its attention to PCs and networking . The individuals were so amazing , I mean most of them of course - it could've been like a great Internet successful Silicon Valley startup. Rapid data was well ahead of its time in many aspects , and sometimes being ahead of your time is not always a good thing.Dennis Harrison; ***@gmail.com.

[g***@gmail.com]

Post by Al Dykes
I worked for RapiData Timesharing for about a year circa 1969 and it
recently occured to me to google up what I could find. Almost all
record of them seems to have not made it to Usenet adn Google.
It was when all they had was GE 400 series machines. I was there when
Honeywell people came in and removed the GE signage for their own.
Rapidata Timesharing ran a home-grown clone of GE Mark-something
software.
I worked for Rapidata from 1982 until NDC sold it to GM/EDS. I was in the Hardware Engineering group and we maintained the RCA/GE/Honeywell mainframes as well as the DECsystem 10's and DECsystem 20's. During that time from a company in Braintree, MA we bought systems including SA-10 units that allowed using IBM-compatible peripherals on the DECsystems. Some of us went for a look at EDS datacenter to see if we wanrted to work there but decided against.
--
Al Dykes
News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is advertising.
- Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail

[a***@gmail.com]

Post by Al Dykes
I worked for RapiData Timesharing for about a year circa 1969 and it
recently occured to me to google up what I could find. Almost all
record of them seems to have not made it to Usenet adn Google.
It was when all they had was GE 400 series machines. I was there when
Honeywell people came in and removed the GE signage for their own.
Rapidata Timesharing ran a home-grown clone of GE Mark-something
software.
I worked for Rapidata from 1982 until NDC sold it to GM/EDS. I was in the Hardware Engineering group and we maintained the RCA/GE/Honeywell mainframes as well as the DECsystem 10's and DECsystem 20's. During that time from a company in Braintree, MA we bought systems including SA-10 units that allowed using IBM-compatible peripherals on the DECsystems. Some of us went for a look at EDS datacenter to see if we wanrted to work there but decided against.
--
Al Dykes
News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is advertising.
- Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail

[o***@gmail.com]

I was a Rapidata user!

I'm a standup comic and former software engineer and I'm working on writing something about Rapidata and looking for any sources who might be out there.

Rapidata was my entry point for learning computer science around 1968 or 69. My eccentric father brought an ASR-33 teletype with a 300 baud acoustic coupler modem into our small Bronx apartment's living room. He got a Rapidata account, and with it came the orange-and-white manuals that would get me started learning Basic and Fortran.

On at least one occasion I visited the headquarters of Rapidata in the Empire State Building and saw the GE mainframe there. I thought I had found some bug in the rendering of a Fortran FORMAT statement I think. I must have been 14.

Today I still remember that the prompt after login was:

OLD OR NEW:

And I remember working with a sort of proto-grep called RITE, Rapidata Interactive Text Editor. I think :4 was the command that got you there.

In summary, I'm writing a piece about that experience and if anyone here -- if there is still anyone using these groups anywhere! -- has any information on Rapidata history or any old manuals or anything like that I would be very pleased to hear from you. You can find me at waynecotter.com.

Thanks,

Wayne Cotter

Post by Al Dykes
I worked for RapiData Timesharing for about a year circa 1969 and it
recently occured to me to google up what I could find. Almost all
record of them seems to have not made it to Usenet adn Google.
It was when all they had was GE 400 series machines. I was there when
Honeywell people came in and removed the GE signage for their own.
Rapidata Timesharing ran a home-grown clone of GE Mark-something
software.

[Dan Espen]

Post by o***@gmail.com
our small Bronx apartment's

Sorry, can't help with RapiData.

I started in 1964, a few years earlier. I was 18 at the time.
I lived first in Baychester, then Pelham Bay.
Always in a house though.

Parts of the Bronx are really nice.

[Rich Alderson]

Post by o***@gmail.com
I was a Rapidata user!
I'm a standup comic and former software engineer and I'm working on writing=
something about Rapidata and looking for any sources who might be out ther=
e.
Rapidata was my entry point for learning computer science around 1968 or 69=
. My eccentric father brought an ASR-33 teletype with a 300 baud acoustic =
coupler modem into our small Bronx apartment's living room. He got a Rapida=
ta account, and with it came the orange-and-white manuals that would get me=
started learning Basic and Fortran.
On at least one occasion I visited the headquarters of Rapidata in the Empi=
re State Building and saw the GE mainframe there. I thought I had found som=
e bug in the rendering of a Fortran FORMAT statement I think. I must have b=
een 14.=20
And I remember working with a sort of proto-grep called RITE, Rapidata Inte=
ractive Text Editor. I think :4 was the command that got you there.
In summary, I'm writing a piece about that experience and if anyone here --=
if there is still anyone using these groups anywhere! -- has any informati=
on on Rapidata history or any old manuals or anything like that I would be =
very pleased to hear from you. You can find me at waynecotter.com.
Thanks,
Wayne Cotter

Post by Al Dykes
I worked for RapiData Timesharing for about a year circa 1969 and it
recently occured to me to google up what I could find. Almost all
record of them seems to have not made it to Usenet adn Google.
=20
It was when all they had was GE 400 series machines. I was there when
Honeywell people came in and removed the GE signage for their own.
=20
Rapidata Timesharing ran a home-grown clone of GE Mark-something=20
software.=20

Did you notice that you were replying to a post that was 10.5 years old?

[Mike C]

Post by Rich Alderson

Post by o***@gmail.com
I was a Rapidata user!
I'm a standup comic and former software engineer and I'm working on writing=
something about Rapidata and looking for any sources who might be out ther=
e.
Rapidata was my entry point for learning computer science around 1968 or 69=
. My eccentric father brought an ASR-33 teletype with a 300 baud acoustic =
coupler modem into our small Bronx apartment's living room. He got a Rapida=
ta account, and with it came the orange-and-white manuals that would get me=
started learning Basic and Fortran.
On at least one occasion I visited the headquarters of Rapidata in the Empi=
re State Building and saw the GE mainframe there. I thought I had found som=
e bug in the rendering of a Fortran FORMAT statement I think. I must have b=
een 14.=20
And I remember working with a sort of proto-grep called RITE, Rapidata Inte=
ractive Text Editor. I think :4 was the command that got you there.
In summary, I'm writing a piece about that experience and if anyone here --=
if there is still anyone using these groups anywhere! -- has any informati=
on on Rapidata history or any old manuals or anything like that I would be =
very pleased to hear from you. You can find me at waynecotter.com.
Thanks,
Wayne Cotter

Post by Al Dykes
I worked for RapiData Timesharing for about a year circa 1969 and it
recently occured to me to google up what I could find. Almost all
record of them seems to have not made it to Usenet adn Google.
=20
It was when all they had was GE 400 series machines. I was there when
Honeywell people came in and removed the GE signage for their own.
=20
Rapidata Timesharing ran a home-grown clone of GE Mark-something=20
software.=20

Did you notice that you were replying to a post that was 10.5 years old?
--
Audendum est, et veritas investiganda; quam etiamsi non assequamur,
omnino tamen proprius, quam nunc sumus, ad eam perveniemus.
--Galen

I worked at Rapidata from sometime in 1969 to 1971. I worked with the original creators of the company. All of my memories are not good ones. I haven't seen names here of the people that started the company; people like Mike Lipp, Stu Gold, Vinnie Penisi, Bruce Phillips, Fred Breur (Brewer), Ari Rabinowitz, Jay Moskowitz, Eric West, Steve Axlerod, Bob, O'Brien, Gus Oaks, No one has written about the Dartmouth connection. You are talking about people who were computer people but whose business ethics and abilities were questionable. I wasn't a player there, I was a worker bee. If I can be of any help with the history, email me at ***@yahoo.com .......... Mike Carlin