[Beowulf] A press release

[Tony Travis]

Gerry Creager wrote:
> Robert G. Brown wrote:
>> [...]
>> OK, in a minute you'll have me reminiscing about booting from paper tape
>> and havin' to drill me own 'oles wit' me teeth...
>>
>> ;-)
> 
> Glad you smiled with that.  Seems I find myself teaching an OS class all 
> of a sudden this summer.  I recounted my experience with an old HP 
> system where the boot-loader was toggled in on front panel switches and 
> the OS was loaded with paper tape.  The kids (whose language experience 
> ranges from Java to PHP, with C# thrown in for good measure) looked at 
> me like I was reciting either fiction or lore.

Hello, Gerry.

I have fond memories of doing something similar with a hex keypad on a 
pdp11/34, to boot Unix version 7 from mag tape. When I left that job, 
they gave me the pdp11/34 as a 'joke' leaving present, and I took it!

I wouldn't be surprised if other people on this list have had pdp's or 
older kit running in their living rooms: I upgraded mine to a pdp11/23 
when the University scrapped one. I used it to run the UK MUGNET mail 
and news 'backbone' site for a while, dialling up Cistron Electronics in 
the Netherlands in the middle of the night to get feeds at 1200 baud.

I was good fun, but the weight of all the 'spare' rl02's and rk05's in 
my loft were a bit of a worry ;-)

	Tony.
-- 
Dr. A.J.Travis,                     |  mailto:ajt at rri.sari.ac.uk
Rowett Research Institute,          |    http://www.rri.sari.ac.uk/~ajt
Greenburn Road, Bucksburn,          |   phone:+44 (0)1224 712751
Aberdeen AB21 9SB, Scotland, UK.    |     fax:+44 (0)1224 716687