16 Apr
2012
16 Apr
'12
6:02 p.m.
Querying the Group Mind(TM):
We have been asked to find out if any Systems Engineering Laboratories
systems are still in existence. That's kind of vague, but that's the
question as it was posed to us, and I said I'd ask in the usual fora.
We're only looking for information on whether any of these systems are
known still to be in existence, whether in use or in storage.
I vaguely remember Gould SEL32 "superminis" in the late 70s/early 80s as
competitors to the DEC VAX and the IBM 43xx lines, but only through ads
in Computerworld and Datamation. Information on those would be appreciated.
We would also like to know about earlier systems, including the 24-bit
processors from the mid-60s.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Rich Alderson
Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer
Vulcan, Inc.
505 5th Avenue S, Suite 900
Seattle, WA 98104
mailto:RichA at vulcan.com
mailto:RichA at LivingComputerMuseum.org
(206) 342-2239
(206) 465-2916 cell
http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/
7:21 p.m.
On 04/16/2012 09:02 PM, Rich Alderson wrote:
Querying the Group Mind(TM):
We have been asked to find out if any Systems Engineering Laboratories
systems are still in existence. That's kind of vague, but that's the
question as it was posed to us, and I said I'd ask in the usual fora.
We're only looking for information on whether any of these systems are
known still to be in existence, whether in use or in storage.
I vaguely remember Gould SEL32 "superminis" in the late 70s/early 80s as
competitors to the DEC VAX and the IBM 43xx lines, but only through ads
in Computerworld and Datamation. Information on those would be appreciated.
We would also like to know about earlier systems, including the 24-bit
processors from the mid-60s.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Not only in existence but in operation too -see link - This site is
located at Vandenberg in the USAF Western Space and Missile Center. It
processes all the telemetry from any of the missile launches for any of
the vehicles, from the peacekeeper to the old shuttle. There's almost 2
dozen 32/75's and 2x CDC 840's in that data center - some of it can be
seen in the pics.
I maintain this small webpage about SEL/Gould for a few years now and
it's still a work in progress. There's other little tidbits on there,
plus a couple of stories. This was my first job in engineering and so I
still keep in contact with many of my colleagues that were there since
it's inception. And slowly but surely, I scan in many of the photos and
documents they've given me to put online. I missed several opportunities
then to bring a system home. BTW, the SEL 32/75 outperformed the
VAX11/780 :)
http://www.rogtronics.net/computers_mini_gallery_tips.html
Just as Al Kossow mentioned, and the last time I corresponded with John
Keys, they do have an SEL 810A at their museum.
=Dan
17 Apr
17 Apr
5:48 a.m.
On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 10:39 PM, William Donzelli <wdonzelli at gmail.com>wrote:
I just heard from my ol' friend who had contracted the support work there
in the past. The lastest news is that center is expected to be operational
until 2015. His firm lost out on the last contract last Sept, they do it
all in-house now - with many difficulties I might add. Nobody there knows
the equipment better as the former employees :)
=Dan
There's
almost 2 dozen 32/75's and 2x
CDC 840's in that data center -
Those are now Cyber 960s
10:37 a.m.
In article <CANij+dc-hTpye7NBuOHZXE391eCVQbgQP1SJgw0Mh8gt2UAeYw at mail.gmail.com>,
William Donzelli <wdonzelli at gmail.com> writes:
What are the big boxy terminals (I count 12) shown in
<http://www.rogtronics.net/pics/SEL/TIPS2.jpg>?
The keyboards have joysticks, which is unusual. The web page
<http://www.rogtronics.net/computers_mini_gallery_tips.html>
identifies them as plasma display terminals, so I'm guessing they are
some variant of the CDC PLATO terminals.
There are also 4 terminals mounted in the equipment racks in the upper
left, which the web page identifies as ADM-2.
In the center foreground I see one more typical looking terminal
sandwiched between what looks like a printer/chart recorder and a big
boxy terminal. It's difficult to identify from the rear, but I suspect
this is also an ADM-2, just not rackmounted.
<http://terminals.classiccmp.org/wiki/index.php/Lear_Siegler_ADM-2>
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 version available for download
<http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com/the-direct3d-graphics-pipeline/>
Legalize Adulthood! <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>
There's
almost 2 dozen 32/75's and 2x
CDC 840's in that data center -
Those are now Cyber 960s. 
16 Apr
16 Apr
7:40 p.m.
On Apr 16, 2012, at 9:21 PM, Dan Roganti <ragooman at gmail.com> wrote:
Not only in existence but in operation too -see link -
This site is located at Vandenberg in the USAF Western Space and Missile Center. It
processes all the telemetry from any of the missile launches for any of the vehicles, from
the peacekeeper to the old shuttle. There's almost 2 dozen 32/75's and 2x CDC
840's in that data center - some of it can be seen in the pics.
Wait, still in use today? Wow. And I was floored when I saw a fully loaded VAX 11/780
running in 2002. With a punch card reader.
17 Apr
17 Apr
4:44 a.m.
We have a complete working SEL810A system plus all the docs' and had to
pass on another complete system.
-----Original Message-----
From: Rich Alderson <RichA at vulcan.com>
To: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tue, Apr 17, 2012 1:16 am
Subject: Systems Engineering Laboratories => Gould etc. systems?
Querying the Group Mind(TM):
We have been asked to find out if any Systems Engineering Laboratories
systems are still in existence. That's kind of vague, but that's the
question as it was posed to us, and I said I'd ask in the usual fora.
We're only looking for information on whether any of these systems are
known still to be in existence, whether in use or in storage.
I vaguely remember Gould SEL32 "superminis" in the late 70s/early 80s as
competitors to the DEC VAX and the IBM 43xx lines, but only through ads
in Computerworld and Datamation. Information on those would be
appreciated.
We would also like to know about earlier systems, including the 24-bit
processors from the mid-60s.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Rich Alderson
Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer
Vulcan, Inc.
505 5th Avenue S, Suite 900
Seattle, WA 98104
mailto:RichA at vulcan.com
mailto:RichA at LivingComputerMuseum.org
(206) 342-2239
(206) 465-2916 cell
http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/
4632
days inactive
4632
days old
8 comments
7 participants
participants (7)
-
aek＠bitsavers.org -
jon＠jonworld.com -
jthecman＠netscape.net -
legalize＠xmission.com -
ragooman＠gmail.com -
RichA＠vulcan.com -
wdonzelli＠gmail.com