23 Aug
2024
23 Aug
'24
6:23 a.m.
On Aug 17, 2024, at 7:17 PM, John Herron via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
I still remember how amazing it was to watch the Linc-8 at VCF (west) 10
being troubleshot by previous developers. I swear I stood there (trying to
be out of the way) longer than most exhibits just in amazement how they
were looking at map size schematics and running test programs that still
felt like futuristic science fiction.
That reminds me of the PDP-11 20th anniversary event at DECUS (in New Orleans, I think)
where we (RSTS team) brought in an 11/05 and tried to get it to run RSTS-11 V4A. The
machine was having trouble, including a DECtape that was acting very strangely indeed.
At one point Tom Stockebrand walked by and glanced at the system. Then he looked more
closely, inspecting the indicator lights on the DECtape drive. Then he commented
"wait... that should not be possible!" I think he spent a while helping debug
the machine. In the end I think we had it running a "blinkenlights" loop since
it couldn't boot a full OS. But it was neat to have the white-haired inventor of
DECtape help us with that machine.
paul