From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_INVALID,DKIM_SIGNED, HTML_FONT_LOW_CONTRAST,HTML_MESSAGE,MAILING_LIST_MULTI, T_SCC_BODY_TEXT_LINE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 27098 invoked from network); 8 May 2023 18:47:24 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (50.116.15.146) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 8 May 2023 18:47:24 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 82B5741465; Tue, 9 May 2023 04:47:17 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail-vk1-xa29.google.com (mail-vk1-xa29.google.com [IPv6:2607:f8b0:4864:20::a29]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id C237541462 for ; Tue, 9 May 2023 04:47:02 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mail-vk1-xa29.google.com with SMTP id 71dfb90a1353d-4501f454581so1902091e0c.3 for ; Mon, 08 May 2023 11:47:02 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=ccc.com; s=google; t=1683571621; x=1686163621; h=cc:to:subject:message-id:date:from:in-reply-to:references :mime-version:from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id:reply-to; bh=dFTEq9KVIAEMJsN61mY4mJHPNZbxk6xG2f9QEGf4Rac=; b=Uw2P+S1Y9WxyPnTSEx1QTkZsbIXr0Sx9d7zIcdZTVAyPjoc+hwKQt9hlDt/k3xApOa mjU7HYtODHxXwp6f8G+zXj1YwhQslCGjAhgyThkhnySNYH5rgthW+mbMdjb6vOuoBKZ5 zbKZ1hjJ/FLfKk9OyyVmvAamMgUaSTpguI3EI= X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20221208; t=1683571621; x=1686163621; h=cc:to:subject:message-id:date:from:in-reply-to:references :mime-version:x-gm-message-state:from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id :reply-to; bh=dFTEq9KVIAEMJsN61mY4mJHPNZbxk6xG2f9QEGf4Rac=; b=bbdKq36LaTVfRb5IX5f2DefTusyODkC8YG7iHrMlhm2/sHd2iJW4XIxsE5ryQfSeac O/IfkyNcOq9cqBH3nD5Y6NApmGnWDIqehysq4PEEy2JZ42awekrpSsXo4xYOAFTkqRrg 6R8H9xVsW//OkEyJsVwVcgLd/Dwk9+zz3+6LAWk9XpxKriRlAph7fCjLfFDQAopCTbPl 7smLBlbbUdZ8CAtZGbZ6lsxb6YoGHfCHrCkoNFM5FPFSLPeLoSQPIEI81g8ywa8TL8Wb 85t5nrrCDYfiuKFKuZL1mPLudPGv0Fff3AOCbz+fZZx9SiymgoTRaKkZ6vhrHHcq7iCd n3Sw== X-Gm-Message-State: AC+VfDznNDwsNxWqU9mzLp/nZYJ8BKl72MJgVA0pYL1e6hhwVAO8+22D GwulavtAYR7cXul5nwrk6vtIH3+QSccPHXeIw3KH5jHcCpku8RjWlAa+Hw== X-Google-Smtp-Source: ACHHUZ7bu8nhsAf2lgCfcly8acL8nz4bIWp8CDe/JHDSx3jVzTqvKZozuZmfvNVnog7772t8bwsUl/x/ESJit8fK7Lk= X-Received: by 2002:a1f:4684:0:b0:440:448c:27a0 with SMTP id t126-20020a1f4684000000b00440448c27a0mr3268466vka.8.1683571621408; Mon, 08 May 2023 11:47:01 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 References: In-Reply-To: From: Clem Cole Date: Mon, 8 May 2023 14:46:35 -0400 Message-ID: To: ron minnich Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="00000000000072c3a705fb3310ee" Message-ID-Hash: AC4YTRNI7NYDAEWQ3ZYQ3RSFD3V366KI X-Message-ID-Hash: AC4YTRNI7NYDAEWQ3ZYQ3RSFD3V366KI X-MailFrom: clemc@ccc.com X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header CC: Douglas McIlroy , TUHS main list X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [TUHS] Re: Corbato dead List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: --00000000000072c3a705fb3310ee Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Indeed -- and the sounds it made were distinct. Different from ASRxx or 2741's For the younger crew, this made the light and >>so much quieter<< TI Silent 700 of 10 years later such a marvel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_700 =E1=90=A7 On Mon, May 8, 2023 at 12:12=E2=80=AFPM ron minnich wr= ote: > ah, the flexowriter, for those who never saw it, was literally a > typewriter with solenoids at the bottom. I owned one, it was a miracle to > behold. > > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friden_Flexowriter#/media/File:Flexowriter_= 2201_Programatic.jpg > > On Mon, May 8, 2023 at 7:19=E2=80=AFAM Douglas McIlroy < > douglas.mcilroy@dartmouth.edu> wrote: > >> Although it dates from four years ago, MIT's obituary for Corbat=C3=B3 w= as >> still interesting to reread. It couldn't bring itself to mention >> Unix--only the latecomer Linux. It also peddled some mythology about >> Whirlwind from the decade before timesharing. >> >> "Whirlwind was ... a rather clunky machine. Researchers often had >> trouble getting much work done on it, since they had to take turns >> using it for half-hour chunks of time. (Corbat=C3=B3 said that it had a >> habit of crashing every 20 minutes or so.)" >> >> "Clunky" perhaps refers to Whirlwind's physical size. It occupied two >> stories of the Barta Building, not counting the rotating AC/DC >> motor-generators in the basement. But it was not ponderous; its clean >> architecture prefigured "RISC" by two decades. >> >> Only a few favored people got "chunks" of (night) time on Whirlwind >> for interactive use. In normal business hours it was run by dedicated >> operators, who fed it user-submitted code on punched paper tape. >> Turnaround time was often as short as an hour--including the >> development of microfilm, the main output medium. Hardware crashes >> were rare--much rarer than experience with vacuum-tube radios would >> lead one to expect--thanks to "marginal testing", in which voltages >> were ramped up and down once a day to smoke out failing tubes before >> they could affect real computing. My recollection is that crashes >> happened on a time scale of days, not minutes. >> >> "Clunky" would better describe the interface of the IBM 704, which >> displaced Whirlwind in about 1956. How backward the 60-year-old >> uppercase-only Hollerith card technology seemed, after the humane full >> Flexowriter font we had enjoyed on Whirlwind. But the 704 had the >> enormous advantages of native floating-point (almost all computing was >> floating-point in those days) and FORTRAN. (Damn those capital >> letters!) >> >> Doug >> > --00000000000072c3a705fb3310ee Content-Type: text/html; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Indeed -- and the sounds it made were distinct.=C2=A0 = =C2=A0Different from=C2=A0ASRxx or 2741's

For the= younger crew, this made the light and >>so much quieter<< TI S= ilent 700 of 10 years later such a marvel:=C2=A0https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_700
3D"==E1=90=A7

On Mon, May 8, 2023 at 12:12=E2=80=AFPM ron minni= ch <rminnich@gmail.com> wro= te:
ah, the flexowriter, for those who never saw it, was literally a typew= riter=C2=A0with solenoids at the bottom. I owned one, it was a miracle to b= ehold.


On Mon, May 8, 2023 at 7:19=E2=80=AFAM Doug= las McIlroy <douglas.mcilroy@dartmouth.edu> wrote:
Although it dates from four years ago,= MIT's obituary for Corbat=C3=B3 was
still interesting to reread. It couldn't bring itself to mention
Unix--only the latecomer Linux. It also peddled some mythology about
Whirlwind from the decade before timesharing.

"Whirlwind was ... a rather clunky machine. Researchers often had
trouble getting much work done on it, since they had to take turns
using it for half-hour chunks of time. (Corbat=C3=B3 said that it had a
habit of crashing every 20 minutes or so.)"

"Clunky" perhaps refers to Whirlwind's physical size. It occu= pied two
stories of the Barta Building, not counting the rotating AC/DC
motor-generators in the basement. But it was not ponderous; its clean
architecture prefigured "RISC" by two decades.

Only a few favored people got "chunks" of (night) time on Whirlwi= nd
for interactive use. In normal business hours it was run by dedicated
operators, who fed it user-submitted code on punched paper tape.
Turnaround time was often as short as an hour--including the
development of microfilm, the main output medium. Hardware crashes
were rare--much rarer than experience with vacuum-tube radios would
lead one to expect--thanks to "marginal testing", in which voltag= es
were ramped up and down once a day to smoke out failing tubes before
they could affect real computing. My recollection is that crashes
happened on a time scale of days, not minutes.

"Clunky" would better describe the interface of the IBM 704, whic= h
displaced Whirlwind in about 1956. How backward the 60-year-old
uppercase-only Hollerith card technology seemed, after the humane full
Flexowriter font we had enjoyed on Whirlwind. But the 704 had the
enormous advantages of native floating-point (almost all computing was
floating-point in those days) and FORTRAN. (Damn those capital
letters!)

Doug
--00000000000072c3a705fb3310ee--