From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_SIGNED,DKIM_VALID, DKIM_VALID_AU,FREEMAIL_FORGED_FROMDOMAIN,FREEMAIL_FROM, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,HTML_MESSAGE,MAILING_LIST_MULTI, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [45.79.103.53]) by inbox.vuxu.org (OpenSMTPD) with ESMTP id f78ce04b for ; Sun, 21 Apr 2019 05:53:27 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 07DF193D30; Sun, 21 Apr 2019 15:53:26 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2899993D25; Sun, 21 Apr 2019 15:52:31 +1000 (AEST) Authentication-Results: minnie.tuhs.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key; unprotected) header.d=gmail.com header.i=@gmail.com header.b="TH0gEnqY"; dkim-atps=neutral Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 820A393D23; Sun, 21 Apr 2019 15:52:27 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail-vk1-f182.google.com (mail-vk1-f182.google.com [209.85.221.182]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id E669C93D21 for ; Sun, 21 Apr 2019 15:52:25 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mail-vk1-f182.google.com with SMTP id d15so1825806vka.8 for ; Sat, 20 Apr 2019 22:52:25 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20161025; h=mime-version:references:in-reply-to:from:date:message-id:subject:to :cc; bh=I1AQEsPQ5FacV9WDkNJDSrjHgaFHskMJC8rTzjG5ovk=; b=TH0gEnqYKcJvon3DriBTT47Z6YvsfvK5glW3lP7C55MwZ+gPfoVLsJxBkFORURS9pr YdUN2z8YYxjQAluXZb9ytgKvPewIRk8hkpNmH2BLvixaoIDr5jABZG3Z6oc5+7m0fsX6 0528bvGtKydcybJe56mELnUA71BHTZ0mj1EWDzGpkuclTQmzUJZGWh4b9LMpSkN1Fndw cf3G4NQ7N2M3Okh3kygfPVWYnN/Oy2XHiN4Zuy3p+XBKxkz6LwR8VUbCjtiMMJ02Y81A bnIAc78CgtwOypJi66nYAcEW2KjuwdUgAqTeoqNuTp8tA5pt9WPGtfMVl8GIc/iampbd bsgQ== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:references:in-reply-to:from:date :message-id:subject:to:cc; bh=I1AQEsPQ5FacV9WDkNJDSrjHgaFHskMJC8rTzjG5ovk=; b=gQ5eOjq+fBlWZUBTLVgl1CWcx5qNd1yzggbetR6yHqlSKFSbFrUZrRj6BBuYPTRJtj l2qDo7paEpwHUqbUMvIcGENuetGC844h+gZwJAzGADHPDcL/v+Rk3FuZ2CwJw5cYFDMx U2u11VIZtdVsHkiBBPPw7MzZpCatiLy7zdUbIb5nq96TsQPZA3AX6e17GtYDvJKMxjRq 8trD4D09b/odORmQnsz7//wquyLK/8fmMhGOBr563OVBS1kGp70mNqrygGDIxheqHfIo x2b/UUZ4B9/cK6RDX+Hxat512df7+vdGzrM6jotERU2rQEHs07CEsjrQnuwMebZfxswE fZug== X-Gm-Message-State: APjAAAUsLV50xTVknNQlIxgAsisXSOk8M3RnzWNitQjlFXvESkOBVuY/ B+oV2lpLO98z2xF5fEUjpkyNhkvd9HwS5e3+x3lb8XQK X-Google-Smtp-Source: APXvYqyxWuL/qyMdiPyYHi1xL+tERZ5/4XWV4JEn8Abm+NkYoox9ZLIK6iz8s/OMfStEIRpviSntM9X4j2wGYsl9AxY= X-Received: by 2002:a1f:7d8e:: with SMTP id y136mr452775vkc.40.1555825944740; Sat, 20 Apr 2019 22:52:24 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <201904202257.x3KMvRQ1011077@darkstar.fourwinds.com> In-Reply-To: <201904202257.x3KMvRQ1011077@darkstar.fourwinds.com> From: Rob Pike Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2019 15:52:13 +1000 Message-ID: To: Jon Steinhart Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="000000000000c4c722058703f44c" Subject: Re: [TUHS] Joe Condon [ long, slightly off-topic post ] X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Cc: tuhs@tuhs.org Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" --000000000000c4c722058703f44c Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable The Unix on 516s sounds wrong to me. Perhaps it conflates GCOS remote job entry and Unix? But the PBX story is correct. To demonstrate how message passing was a good model for a switching system, in particular to make a point to the switching systems division of Bell Labs/AT&T, Ken and Joe bought a commercial PBX and swapped out its processor for a PDP-11/23 (I think), and programmed it up. It was just before I arrived there but I was given the impression it had the desired strategic influence on Indian Hill. The feature we all loved it for was that instead of ringing the phone in the Unix room when you got a call, it would announce your name through the voice synthesizer: "Phone call for Ken." "Phone call for Joe". One rapidly stopped even hearing the announcement if it didn't end with your name. -rob On Sun, Apr 21, 2019 at 8:58 AM Jon Steinhart wrote: > So as part of my attempt to remember the names of the folks with who I > worked > I just read Joe's wikipedia page which doesn't seem accurate to me. If > this > is too off topic let me know. > > The page says that Joe "was exposed to UNIX on the Honeywell 516 machines > in > the early 1970s." This seems wrong to me. We did have a 516, but it ran > an > experimental virtual memory system called 516-TSS. I lived on this syste= m > and still have some of the octal instruction opcodes burned into my > brain-ROM. > I seem to recall that the department got a PDP-11/40 that ran UNIX versio= n > 3 in > maybe the summer of 1972 which I used for writing up the documentation fo= r > my > project. > > The page also says that "Condon and Ken Thompson promoted the use of the = C > programming language for AT&T=E2=80=99s switching system control programs= . Condon > acquired a small AT&T PBX (telephone switch) that handled about 50 phones= ; > he made the necessary hardware changes and Thompson wrote the necessary > software > programs. The PBX code rewrite in C was a success and hastened the > adoption of > C for all switching system software within AT&T." This also doesn't matc= h > my > recollection. > > One of the big projects in the department was what I think was called SS1 > for > Slave Switch 1, which was an all-digital telephone exchange. It replaced > some > other monstrosity whose details I can't recall except that Joe and Dave > Weller > signed the appropriate paperwork allowing me to take a good portion of it > home > when it was decommissioned giving me a huge stock of Augat wirewrap board= s > and > 7400-series parts. The SS1 was originally going to use LSI-11s but the > stupid > way in which DEC implemented the DRAM refresh made that impossible. I > think > that the final thing used a couple of PDP-10s. As part of being > all-digital > it used the digital filter work by Jim Kaiser and Hal Alles. I do rememb= er > going into Carl Christensen's office to ask him a question and found him > staring > at a huge C listing; it turns out that a bug in the code had caused SS1 t= o > send > KP pulses without their corresponding ST pulses with the result that ever= y > single > keypulse sender in the Berkeley Heights telephone exchange was taken off > line and > needed to be manually reset to restore long distance service. They were > not happy. > > Anyway, unless there was something that happened later after I was gone, > I'm > thinking that the wikipedia page is incorrect and that this PBX was built= , > not > acquired. It was, as far as I know, the first use of C to control > machinery. > > It's actually because of this machine that I'm trying to track down the > name > of some folks from down at the end of the hall. I have strong memories o= f > the > Bell System exhibit at the '64 World's Fair, especially the booth where o= ne > could go and talk and they had bar graphs on a monitor showing the spectr= um > of your speech and could mess with it. Many years later, while waiting f= or > some deck of cards to finish loading, I poked my head into the lab down t= he > hall to see what they were doing in there, and noticed polaroid photos of > that > exhibit featuring the guys in the lab. Once they stopped telling stories > from > the World's Fair, they taught me a lesson about systems engineering that > opened > my eyes. They were developing a circuit that replaced the pound of iron > hybrid > transformers that were on every telephone line with a small toroid and an > op-amp. > Their circuit would sense when the iron was getting close to saturation > and run > current through an additional winding to keep it in the linear region. > While > that circuit cost a lot more than a hybrid transformer, it paid for itsel= f > by > reducing the amount of concrete needed to build telephone exchanges. > > Would love to know who these guys were which is why an org chart would > help. > And maybe someone out there like Ken can help me out with the accurate > history. > > Jon > --000000000000c4c722058703f44c Content-Type: text/html; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
The Unix on 516s sounds wrong to me. Perhaps it conflates = GCOS remote job entry and Unix?

But the PBX story is cor= rect. To demonstrate how message passing was a good model for a switching s= ystem, in particular to make a point to the switching systems division of B= ell Labs/AT&T, Ken and Joe bought a commercial PBX and swapped out its = processor for a PDP-11/23 (I think), and programmed it up. It was just befo= re I arrived there but I was given the impression it had the desired strate= gic influence on Indian Hill.

The feature we all loved i= t for was that instead of ringing the phone in the Unix room when you got a= call, it would announce your name through the voice synthesizer: "Pho= ne call for Ken." "Phone call for Joe". One rapidly stopped = even hearing the announcement if it didn't end with your name.

-rob


On Sun, Apr 21, 2019 at 8:5= 8 AM Jon Steinhart <jon@fourwinds.c= om> wrote: