[Milsurplus] Computers Leaking Oil, etc.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 11:37 PM, Michael D. Harmon <mharmon at att.net> wrote:

> My first paid computer job was in 1970 at the University of Missouri EE
> Department.  They had an IBM mainframe computer system with 2314 disk
> drives.  These drives used removable disk packs with the phenomenal
> capacity of 29 MEGAbytes per pack.  The drives were built in a cabinet
> containing 9 spindles.  The head assemblies (combs) were hydraulically
> driven.  I suppose the oil was under pretty high pressure, because it
> didn't take much of a leak to spew out quite a bit of oil.  I could always
> tell that we had an oil leak because I'd start seeing data checks on the
> disk drives showing up on the system console long before I'd see the
> puddle.  When I'd start seeing error messages, I'd climb back behind the
> drives and open the back doors of the cabinets.  Sure enough, the telltale
> evidence would be there on the floor.   Time to call the IBM CE.
>

Was a few years later for me (1990s) but they still had an unused mainframe
sitting there that used a chiller, and the DASD were all the big blue
refrigerators - 3380s I think? Anytime we took a power hit, the IBM tech
had to come in to make sure the room full of blue boxes all spooled back up
properly. No oil leaks, though. But the impact printers sure made a mess
(ink mainly) and a lot of noise.

Then one day we upgraded to EMC Symmetrix - *one* box replaced a floor full
of DASD, and was so much faster. I was stunned. 8 hours-plus worth of batch
work was done in under 2. Those poor operators didn't know what to do with
themselves.

We also had some of the old 3420 round tape drives that were just the
coolest things to watch. Not at all like a reel-to-reel tape player!
Occasionally it was a bit tricky getting them to pull a vacuum on the tape.
I recall chuckling when the IBM tech referred to the clear plastic tubing
as 'vacuum tubes'.

Wasn't life great back in the "good old days"???
>

It was certainly cool not only experiencing the technology, but being there
through some big changes. The biggest drawback was being gov't: the waste,
politics, and overall stupidity became too much to bear.

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ/4