23 Apr
2012
23 Apr
'12
9:35 p.m.
On 23 Apr 2012, at 7:25 PM, steve shumaker wrote:
[snip]
The really strange thing about all this excursion into govt surplus is the stuff they
apparently still carry as critical weapons technology... an HP 2100 minicomp? that's
like the recent discussion about the missile guidance computers... our govmnt at work!
Actually, it's probably not critical weapons technology as in "it is part of a
weapons system"'; a large number of 2100 series machines wound up in inspection,
test and repair systems that were used to *support* weapons systems. A lot of these
things are staring to spill out onto the surplus market because they're being replaced
by software emulators backed up by hardware that allows existing custom hardware to be
used with the PC-based emulator. I've personally seen hardware that supports HP
cards, DG Nova bus cards and ones that implement ROLM's version of the Nova bus in
remanufactured ground support and test equipment.
--
Dr. Christian Kennedy
chris at mainecoon.com AF6AP
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