golden adj.
[prob. from folklore's `golden egg'] When used to describe a
magnetic medium (e.g., `golden disk', `golden tape'), describes
one containing a tested, up-to-spec, ready-to-ship software
version. Compare platinum-iridium.
Node:golf-ball printer, Next:gonk, Previous:golden, Up:=
G =
golf-ball printer n. obs.
The IBM 2741, a slow but letter-quality printing device and
terminal based on the IBM Selectric typewriter. The `golf ball'
was a little spherical frob bearing reversed embossed images of
88 different characters arranged on four parallels of latitude;
one could change the font by swapping in a different golf ball.
The print element spun and jerked alarmingly in action and when
in motion was sometimes described as an `infuriated golf ball'.
This was the technology that enabled APL to use a non-EBCDIC,
non-ASCII, and in fact completely non-standard character set.
This put it 10 years ahead of its time -- where it stayed, firmly
rooted, for the next 20, until character displays gave way to
programmable bit-mapped devices with the flexibility to support
other character sets.