15 Sep
2024
15 Sep
'24
3:01 p.m.
I loved the machine room in the LCM. It was my favorite place in the museum.
I had been a student operator of the machine room at my university in the late 80s. When
I first walked into the LCM machine room I was instantly transported back. The sound, the
all-surrounding light level from the bright fluorescent lights reflected off the raised
floor tiles, and most surreally - the smell. All the ozone coming off the machines gave
the air a distinct, slightly sour but not unpleasant aroma that I have only experienced in
a proper machine room. It was a collection of sensations I had all but forgotten.
Also, the machine room was where I encountered my first AT&T 5620 terminal outside my
own and a couple that some friends picked up from our university surplus. I was
absolutely giddy about that - demonstrating to largely disinterested friends show COOL
that terminal was, that it was that it had multiple terminals windows...multiplexed
through a single 9600 baud serial port! Friends who had grown up on windows and macs
didn't see how incredible and groundbreaking that particular device was when it was
released. Well...maybe I my excitement I conveyed a little bit of that... 😊
It's a shame there really aren't any places like that. Seeing a CDC6500 powered
off and behind a velvet rope just isn't the same as seeing it on and operating, in its
natural environment, surrounded by a collection of its equally impressive peers and tended
by volunteers happy to answer questions.
-mike
-----Original Message-----
From: David C. Jenner via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2024 10:23 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Cc: David C. Jenner <djenner(a)earthlink.net>
Subject: [cctalk] Re: auction starting in 50 minutes
Yes, LCM had just the console. I left UCLA and moved to CDC land at UW-Seattle in
'78. I don't know what happened to, or replaced, the 360/91.
The main machine room at LCM was impressive. At one time I had used all the (types of)
machines in it.
Dave
On 9/13/24 8:21 PM, Mark Huffstutter via cctalk wrote:
I think David meant He saw them working on
refurbishing the panel
itself. LCM Staff designed and Built the circuitry to generate the
pseudo blinkenlights effect, along with converting to LEDs. As I
recall, the Panel was the only thing left of the original 360/91. I do
remember Paul Allen had spent a lot of time looking For a restorable
360, ending up with mostly bad tips. Flew a Guy to a storage building in Australia, only
to Discover in person....nope. An article mentioned that, since 360s were pretty much
leased machines, they Returned to IBM for summary execution.....
The LCM was working on rebuilding a 360/30 they did locate, a considerably smaller entry
level 360.
When I last saw it they had considerable power supply rebuilding to accomplish.
Mark
-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Cisin via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Friday, September 13, 2024 7:43 PM
To: David C. Jenner <classiccmp(a)earthlink.net>
Cc: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>rg>; Fred Cisin <cisin(a)xenosoft.com>
Subject: [cctalk] Re: auction starting in 50 minutes
>> And perhaps craziest of all, $189k for a
360/91 console display.
>> Just the lights panel, nothing more.
> Well, that might be all thatthe interior decorators wanted, for
> hanging on the wall
On Fri, 13 Sep 2024, David C. Jenner wrote:
This was from the 360/91 at UCLA when I was there
in the 1970s. I
recall seeing them working on refurbishing it when I was last at the
LCM a few years ago.
If the machine was being refurbished, why was the console display separated from the
machine?