14 Dec
2004
14 Dec
'04
5:35 p.m.
There's an IBM 1401 restoration project at the
Computer History Museum.
They have a German 1401, so they need to convert the line frequency from
60 Hz to 50 Hz to run it. I was surprised to learn that rotary
converters (i.e., motor-generators) have much higher MTBF that static
inverters (all-electronic).
A decent MG set, under proper maintenance (which isn't much) will easily
outlive the guys that installed it.
William Donzelli
aw288(a)osfn.org