[Fwd: Re: [GreenKeys] Best laid plans..]

[H.E.Robert]

WOW Jack, small world indeed!

 I managed the datacenter that housed the "Switched Access Remote Test 
System" in Michigan!  By the time we got the system we were using the 
new and improved Dataspeed 4540's.
The cost of these terminals was outrageous.  I didn't include them in my 
previous diatribe, as I didn't see them as in the same "phylum", for 
lack of a better term, as the "mechanical" machines, as anything 40 and 
above are all solid state, and with the exception of the 43, all 
synchronous controller based SNA-SDLC devices for talking to mainframe 
front-end comm servers.  I guess the point, even with these systems, the 
capital to bankroll these systems, was borne by the BOC's as they 
essentially leased the devices to customers, and were able to amortize 
the asset over the standard 10 year interval.  And with the BOC's 
unplugged, I don't think Teletype was ready to sell and support those 
installations?

Another interesting quirk about the 40's is that they, unlike the IBM's, 
supported both ascii and ebcdic!

I remember the original 40's, a cabling nightmare, with all the Device 
Controllers, and the Device Cluster Controllers, that was scary!

Just Bob!

Jack wrote:

>When I joined "management" in 1978 (in NY Telephone),
>the company was trying to introduce the SARTS testing system
>in the NY metro area. The system used Model 40 terminals
>as the system "interface". My first job was to find out where I could
>get Model 40's without going through Western Electric. The
>specific model was the "replacement" for the IBM 3270
>syncrhonous terminals and Bell was selling them like
>hotcakes, thus leaving the internal company projects
>high and dry. Since I had been dabbling with TTY's since
>I was 13, I knew of some of the alternative commercial suppliers.
>I hooked up with a guy in Texas who had a warehouse of the 
>exact Model 40's I needed and we bought two trailer truck
>loads (I actually mailed him the check). He had bought them
>directly from Teletype as a broker. Then we ("I") had to hide
>the stuff from the WECO people and convince the union
>guys that this was legitimate stuff. It was one of those
>"...and the Division Manager will disavow any knowledge of this
>project"...situations. Anyway, I pullled it off and the first
>SARTS system was installed on the old test boards of the
>AT&T NY1 Teletypewriter test facility on 6th Avenue and
>Canal Street (what an irony). In fact, the terminals were placed
>in the spot where the 28KTR used to sit in the test board. I
>never did find out where all of those KTR's went (there must
>have been 20 of them, all with 3-speed shifts).
>
>73,
>
>Jack WA2HWJ
>
>NNNN
>
>
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