5 Feb
2006
5 Feb
'06
2:39 p.m.
In 1978 I was told that Ma Bell telephones would
survive a drop from a
3-story building. I was in disbelief. I was made a believer by
throwing a phone out a window and collecting it from the ground below.
The plastic has some scuffs and scrapes on it, but everything worked
and nothing was broken.
My first PDP-8/e was thrown out a telco building into a dumpster, probably
from the 2nd floor. Not Ma Bell, but Centel.
Also, there is a company in Armonk NY (that is not IBM!) that make very
ruggedized computers, and yes, they do throw them off the building every
so often to test them.
William Donzelli
aw288 at osfn.org