🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <11212.484...@mts.rpi.edu> Greg_d...@mts.rpi.edu (Commander Krugannal) writes:
>   hear various names for computers. Here at RPI, we have had
>   several computers. The first, (sorry not sure what it was)
>   was actually 4 hung together. This of course was known as
>   "Bob&? and Ted&Alice" ( I believe, I am much to young to have

	A 360 of some sort.

>   (I believe, I may have left one out), was a large behometh known
>   as "Fat Albert". This I believe was a IBM 3033. The heat it

	Fat Albert was a 370/?168?.  It was the last to live in the bottom
floor of the Math building.  The 3033 was called Myron, and ran from ~1979
until ~1984.  (memory is fuzzy)  Myron once ran for "meanest man on campus";
a contest held every other year in the spring.  It's high priest (Tamar
Wexler) sacrificed an HP calculator (or TI) in front of the Chapel entrance.
Myron was also a registered member of the Society for Creative Anachronism
(SCA), under the name "Myron Van Rensselaer".

>   produced was used to heat the building in which it was housed.

	True.

>     Also, how many places have computer center in a converted chapel,
>   complete with stained glass windows?

	Quite a pretty place, also quite ironic.

-- 
Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering.
{uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, je...@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com  BIX: rjesup  
Common phrase heard at Amiga Devcon '89: "It's in there!"

In article <11212.484...@mts.rpi.edu> Greg_d...@mts.rpi.edu (Commander Krugannal) writes:
>
>      Speaking of folklore, I think it might be interesting to 
>   hear various names for computers. Here at RPI, we have had
>   several computers. The first, (sorry not sure what it was)
>   was actually 4 hung together. This of course was known as
>   "Bob&? and Ted&Alice" ( I believe, I am much to young to have
>   ever seen the show it was named after. ) The next computer
>   (I believe, I may have left one out), was a large behometh known
>   as "Fat Albert". This I believe was a IBM 3033. The heat it
>   produced was used to heat the building in which it was housed.

Actually, after Fat Albert there was Godot, as in "Waiting For."
After that, there was Myron.  *Then* RPI had Sybil.

>   After this computer, we had a IBM 3081D with dual processers.
>   And of course, being split brained, it was known as Sybil. This
>   was replaced a year ago to a newer and faster computer, a 3090-200S
>   But the projections show that it will be outdated in less than 2 
>   years. So the (not so) obvious name: "Maginot" after the french line
>   of defense that was obsolete before it was finished. When we get
>   our next computer, I'll let you all know what we name it.
>     Also, how many places have computer center in a converted chapel,
>   complete with stained glass windows?

RPI is very proud of that computer center now.  When I was there,
around 1980-1981, the school wanted to tear down the chapel and build
a brick shoebox for a computer center.  Students protested.
Vehemently.  So the school converted the chapel into a computer
center.  (Essentially it's a building built within the chapel shell.)
Now, of course, it's famous and RPI shows it off without ever
mentioning the student role.  Sigh.





>     (oh, btw, the 3090 no longer provides enough heat to heat the
>   building, but no problem, the phone system does that now!)

Greg_d...@mts.rpi.edu (Commander Krugannal) wrote:

> Also, how many places have computer center in a converted chapel,
> complete with stained glass windows?

Another one is ICL's training centre at Beaumont, near Heathrow Airport.
It's a converted Catholic boys' school; the computers are in the chapel
with statues of Jesus and the BVM, bigger than lifesize, keeping an eye on
the operators.

-- 
Jack Campin  *  Computing Science Department, Glasgow University, 17 Lilybank
Gardens, Glasgow G12 8QQ, SCOTLAND.    041 339 8855 x6044 wk  041 556 1878 ho
INTERNET: jack%cs.gl...@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk  USENET: jack@glasgow.uucp
JANET: jack@uk.ac.glasgow.cs     PLINGnet: ...mcvax!ukc!cs.glasgow.ac.uk!jack

>From article <11212.484...@mts.rpi.edu>, by Greg_d...@mts.rpi.edu (Commander Krugannal):
>    And of course, being split brained, it was known as Sybil.

We've got an Integraph engineer's workstation with two graphics
`heads'.  Naturally its name is `zaphod'.

In article <11212.484...@mts.rpi.edu> Greg_d...@mts.rpi.edu (Commander Krugannal) writes:
>                  ... The first [computer at RPI], (sorry not sure what it was)
>   was actually 4 hung together. This of course was known as
>   "Bob&? and Ted&Alice" ( I believe, I am much to young to have
>   ever seen the show it was named after. ) ...

Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice.

Oh, my, I guess I am getting to be an old f*rt.

							spl (the p stands for
							please pass the prune
							juice)


-- 
Steve Lamont, sciViGuy			EMail:	s...@ncsc.org
NCSC, Box 12732, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
"Reality involves a square root"
			Thomas Palmer

In article <90...@cbmvax.commodore.com>, jesup@cbmvax (Randell Jesup) writes:
>In article <11212.484...@mts.rpi.edu> Greg_d...@mts.rpi.edu (Commander Krugannal) writes:
>>   hear various names for computers. Here at RPI, we have had
>>   several computers. The first, (sorry not sure what it was)
>>   was actually 4 hung together. This of course was known as
>>   "Bob&? and Ted&Alice" ( I believe, I am much to young to have
>
>	A 360 of some sort.
>
>>   (I believe, I may have left one out), was a large behometh known
>>   as "Fat Albert". This I believe was a IBM 3033. The heat it

>	Fat Albert was a 370/?168?.  It was the last to live in the bottom
>floor of the Math building.  The 3033 was called Myron, and ran from ~1979
>until ~1984.

Fat Albert was a 360/50 in use at RPI from ~1964 (when it was the
ultra high end of university computing) until ~1975 (when it wasn't).
Now you could view it as all the computing power of an Amiga (well,
not as much memory), but split between 5000 users.  I had short
fortran batch jobs literally take 2 weeks to perculate through the
queue.

Between Fat Albert and Myron was Godot (waiting for), a 360/67 purchased
as an interim machine.

> (memory is fuzzy)  Myron once ran for "meanest man on campus";

Myrons name itself is the stuff of scandals.  The name was chosen by a 
"penny a vote" election (proceeds to benifit the campus ACM or something like 
that).  The people pushing the Myron name were also in on administering
the contest, and knew the running tally (which wasn't really public knowledge).
They made a last minute buyout of the election, knowing exactly how much
it would take.

-don perley


per...@trub.crd.ge.com