15 Nov
2017
15 Nov
'17
5:09 p.m.
On Nov 15, 2017, at 8:06 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
On 11/15/2017 02:39 PM, Rick Bensene via cctalk wrote:
Then again, our college computer room (1973) was the place where the computer services
director was often see, chain smoking away. No mainframe there, but a large PDP-11 and an
IBM 1620.
Earlier, there was the SAGE computer (the air defense one, not the PC by the same name),
which had built-in ash trays at each operator station.
paul
Perhaps the glass-room meme isn't so much
bogus, as it is a sign of
the cultural times. In those days, the big machines were very
expensive, and required a lot of support -- that meant special
power, air conditioning, raised floors, and highly-trained people.
The "management" of these big machine installations had a lot at
stake...and as such, they were very protective of their machines,
which is most of the reason they were encased in glass (they needed
to be glass to be able to show them off without letting people
in...in the days, big computer installations were class icons).
Remember also, that this was long before the indoor "no smoking" rules.
Many folks smoked like chimneys and just about every installation that
I experienced back then prohibited smoking around the machines.