Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2003 18:28:30 -0500
Subject: Re: One That Got Away (was: Woohoo! Another DEC score!)
>>...There. That's my True Confession(tm).
I've got a couple of those... a Connection Machine CM-200, and a pdp-12 :-(
The CM-200: In the early 1990s, I was in Edinburgh, trying to track down
some pdps. I ended up at the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC),
where I found a pdp-11/45, just decommisioned, which had been running as a
communications front end. I also found the most impressive computer I had
(and have) ever seen: a Connection Machine CM-200, flashing all its lights
at me in a very beguiling fashion! I determined there and then that I would
try, in a few years when such machines were being retired, to secure one for
the Corestore.
I let around five years go by, not realising just how long a period that is
in high-performance computing, before I spoke to the people in Edinburgh
again: 'oh I'm sorry, we finished with that machine six months ago - it was
carted off for scrap. We kept a few of the boards as souvenirs...'!!!
The pdp-12: In 1993 I collected a pdp-12 from a medical research place. At
the time I removed it, there were still two other pdp-12s on site there, one
complete and in use, the other dismantled for spares. One machine remained
in intermittant use until at least 2001! I had been promised the remaining
equipment when it was finally surplus to requirements, and telephoned the
place every few months, always getting the reply ' it will be a few more
months at least'... then came the fatefull day in early 2002 when I called
and heard 'oh sorry we forgot about you - we got rid of it all a couple of
months ago, it all went to an old computer enthusiast who asked us for it!'
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
At least the -12 *did* get saved...
Mike
http://www.corestore.org
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Eric Paulos, a researcher at Intel's Berkley Lab, owns a CM2. There's a page
on his website that talks a little about it:
http://www.paulos.net/other/cm2.html
Ken
At 11:02 AM 12/1/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>I helped build the CM-1.
>
>Does anyone know what happened to the few CM-1's that were made?
>
>William Donzelli wrote:
>
>>>I've got a couple of those... a Connection Machine CM-200, and a pdp-12 :-(
>>
>>The "one" that got away from me were *most* of the Connection Machines.
>>CM-5s and a few CM-2s.
>>
>>William Donzelli
>>aw288(a)osfn.org
We are in the process of revamping our website - and we've added our
collection of vintage computers. We intend to add pictures, links, etc. over
time - but, hey, this is a first cut...
Be sure to click the "Systems 2" button at the bottom of the "Systems 1" page
http://bickleywest.com/system1.html
Lyle
--
Lyle Bickley
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
Mountain View, CA 94040
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
