19 Jul
2001
19 Jul
'01
4:41 p.m.
On July 19, William Donzelli wrote:
I've seen references to "3030" in many books over the years...I'm
nowhere near old enough to have been there though.
-Dave McGuire
There are
two reasons...First, it was developed in Winchester,
England, and stored 30MB on each of two platter surfaces. Second, the
model number, 3030, made people think of the Winchester model 3030
rifle.
The model is 3340, not 3030. 3340s (and 3344s) are odd things - the
platters are lubricated with silicone based oil, and the removable disk
packs (3348s) _include_ the heads. When the disk pack is mounted (which
can be done by hand, for maintenance), a rather complicated series of
events connects the heads' wires, the air supply is sealed, and the whole
head assembly is aligned so it floats on a cushion of air. 
19 Jul
19 Jul
4:52 p.m.
I've seen references to "3030" in many
books over the years...I'm
nowhere near old enough to have been there though.
It is a common urban-legendy mistake. A 3030 is a thing that is used with
a 3820 printer (basically a printer buffer).
William Donzelli
aw288(a)osfn.org
20 Jul
20 Jul
8:17 a.m.
On Thu, Jul 19, 2001 at 09:41:59PM -0400, Dave McGuire wrote:
I've seen references to "3030" in many
books over the years...I'm
nowhere near old enough to have been there though.
-Dave McGuire
Same here, in the "IBM's Early Computers" and "IBM's 360 and Early
370 Systems"
books, which are as close to canon as I can find on the subject...
Bill
--
Bill Bradford
mrbill(a)mrbill.net
Austin, TX
21 Jul
21 Jul
1:59 p.m.
New subject: "30-30" (was Re: Winchester Technology)
On Fri, Jul 20, 2001 at 05:56:50PM -0400, William Donzelli wrote:
Not in my copy of the latter. What edition do you
have?
I beleive its the first edition. Copyright 1991 MIT,
ISBN 0-262-16123-0.
I read it again today, and might have been slightly mistaken as to the
"3030" definition, although there was a "3330". Here's what the
book says:
- Page 495, chapter 9.2, "New Challenges in Storage":
"The IBM 3330 Disk Storage (Figure 9.3) christened Merlin during its
development, was announced in June 1970.."
- page 507, chapter "New Challenges in Storage", second paragraph:
"Specifications were negotiated with engineers responsible for small
systems in the company's Boca Raton laborator. By August it was agreed
that the storage unit should contain two spindles, each with a disk
capacity of 30 megabytes. The engineers called it a "30-30". Recognizing
this as the common name of a popular rifle manufactured by the Winchester
Company, Haughton said, "If it's a 30-30, then it must be a Winchester."
In this manner, the first Winchester file and its many descendants were
christened." (footnote 32)
- Page 508, second paragraph:
"The Winchester disk file, announced in March 1973 and first shipped
that November as the IBM 3340 Disk Storage Unit..."
- Footnote 32:
32. K.E. Haughton, 18 September 1969: to file, "History of Winchester File",
undated: "Education and Employment Information." The three engineers who
joined Haughton and Harker in "dreaming up" disk storage configurations
were Dwight Brede, George Santana, and James Sweet. The new manager for
Storage Products was Marty Kelly
All in all, its a DAMN good book, and one of my favorite reads. I
found the earlier book to be not as "interesting", but at least I got
a copy of it ("IBM's Early Computers") off eBay after 3 years of looking..
Bill
--
Bill Bradford
mrbill(a)mrbill.net
Austin, TX
23 Jul
23 Jul
5:06 p.m.
New subject: "30-30" (was Re: Winchester Technology)
I read it again today, and might have been slightly
mistaken as to the
"3030" definition, although there was a "3330". Here's what the
book says:
OK, no problem.
During the late 1960s and 1970s, IBM had a numbering system they *mostly*
used - 23xx series were disks and drums in the whole 2xxx series of S/360
equipment*, and the 33xx series were the same, just "bumped up" 1000 when
the S/370s came out. For some reason, the 33xx series remained valid
until the 1990s (many 3390s are still in service, even some 3380s).
*For example, 20xx and 21xx are Processors, 22xx are terminals, 23xx are
disks, 24xx are tapes, 25xx are card machines, 26xx are paper tape
machines (few used), 27xx are communications things, 28xx are control
units, and 29xx are RPQs (custom units). For some reason, printers did
not generally follow this rule.
All in all, its a DAMN good book, and one of my
favorite reads. I
found the earlier book to be not as "interesting", but at least I got
a copy of it ("IBM's Early Computers") off eBay after 3 years of looking..
I paid a good buck for mine new, so you can guess how I feel about the
book. Anyway, it can be had cheaper with some looking on bookfinder.
William Donzelli
aw288(a)osfn.org
8402
days inactive
8406
days old
5 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
-
aw288＠osfn.org -
mcguire＠neurotica.com -
mrbill＠mrbill.net