Re: [9fans] Newbie: life without rio

[kim kubik <chaotrope@jps.net>]

rminnich@lanl.gov (ron minnich) wrote in message 
> On Fri, 3 Oct 2003, Dan Cross wrote:
> 
 > > I don't know about you, but if *I* saw a solid gold heat sink, I'd
 > > buy it, take it home, melt it down, and sell it at a bank, and then
 > > replace it with something made out of some other metal.

> I worked at HP as in intern in the good old (gold) days when many HP divs 
> made their own boards. There was a room in it with lotsa gold bars for the 
> boards. 

Alright, I checked best I could, it seems to have been a large chunk of
copper (no wonder I don't have any money: "Wow, you'll give me ALL those
pennies for this little handful of gold coins?").  

But I still remember the badges reading, "The Joy of SUN",  part of the 
company's nascant marketing effort. Too bad they can't do anything now.
----------------------------------------------
First some info on the original HP 9000 series and cpu:

www.gaby.de/e9ktxt.htm
www.openpa.net/history.html

and two postings from people with functioning brain cells:
===============================
A little bit of HP 9000 history:
The 500 series, announced 12/1982:
  Deep down inside they ran an OS called SunOS, before Sun Microsystems
existed. On top of that they ran either HP-UX or HP Basic. These were based on
HP's own 32bit 1.um NMOS CPU, it was the first 32bit microprocessor. 1.um might
not sound that much, but the company I worked for at the time had just got
there 5.um technology out of the labs and sent it to production, and we weren't
that far behind the big boys.
  The HP9000 model 520 was a workstation, before the name existed. It had so
many fans in it that if you put one on a trolly it would move around the lab.
  Heat was such a problem on these chips, that the whole of the MB was a
large copper heat sink.
==========================================
Newsgroups: net.works
Date: 1982-12-12
                 HP's SuperDesktop System, the HP9000
Today  in Palo Alto, Hewlett Packard presented a seminar highlighting
Computer  Aided   Engineering  applications  of  its  small  computer
products.   
  The  HP9000  is  obviously  HP's  new  pride and  joy. One  of  the
presentations  had  been  a  glossy  video taped  presentation  which
recounted   some   of   the   history  of  the  9000.  HP's   primary
representative, Mike Radisich of HP Ft. Collins CO (the  home  of the
9000), introduced the video tape.
  The  9000  is described by HP as a real technological breakthrough.   
              The HP processor chips  are  not mounted in ceramic or
plastic casings to be attached  to boards.  Rather, the little (1/4")
chips themselves are mounted  directly  on  the  teflon coated copper
boards.  Using this  technique,  the 9000 boards pack a great deal of
power into a small area.   For  example,  the  memory  boards support
256KB of  memory  in  an  area of approximately 30 square inches.  In
that  area  are mounted, 16  memory  chips  as  well  as  some  other
interface and integrity support chips.  The  copper substratum of the
boards is required to help dissipate heat.