KL-10B in DEC-20 [was RE: Who's rewired their house for this hobby?]

[Rich Alderson]

From: Eric Smith
Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2014 6:55 PM

On Wed, Nov 26, 2014 at 6:27 PM, Rich Alderson
<RichA at livingcomputermuseum.org> wrote:

>> All KL10-based systems have RH20s.  The front end 11/40 has an RH11,
>> and one disk (at least) has to be dual-ported between the front end
>> and the -10.

> All KL10s have RH20 internal channels except the KL10-A of the
> DECsystem-1080. The 1080 was intended as a drop-in replacement for a
> KA10 or KI10, so the system would already have external standalone
> RH10 channels.

OK, I wasn't sure about that.  Thanks for keeping me honest!

> Similarly all KL10s have cache memory except the DECSYSTEM-2040. Cache
> modules could be added to the -2040 turning it into a -2050.

Funny story, told me by my former manager at Stanford, who had previously
worked as a consultant for CitiCorp (CitiBank???) in NYC.

They were running a 2040 to provide some timesharing services.  They
decided to upgrade to a 2050, and talked about it to in the presence of
an operator who like to show off for customers how with it he was by
handing out gossip from the systems folks.

They announced a weekend down time for the upgrade, along with a revised
pricing schedule for services (the more capable 2050 allowing them to
charge more).  A customer asked, on a public bulletin board, what was the
difference between the current 2040 and the coming 2050.

The operator knew the difference from overhearing things around the data
center.  His answer?

"Cash."

                                                                Rich


Rich Alderson
Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer
Living Computer Museum
2245 1st Avenue S
Seattle, WA 98134

mailto:RichA at LivingComputerMuseum.org

http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/