vintage computers in active use

[Swift Griggs]

On Thu, 26 May 2016, Dave Wade wrote:
> Assembler on a Series/1 is a problem as it's a closed system. Can't be 
> run under emulation. No modern replacements available.

You make some excellent points about the hardware and the difficulty of 
emulation et al. When it comes to firing nuclear weapons, personally I'd 
like to see computers *removed* from the equation as much as is practical. 
The protocols for firing should be as embedded as much as possible in 
human chain of command and the Missileers, not the computers. The controls 
are currently physically isolated and require simultainous key-turns by 
two individuals etc.. I have much more faith in something like that than 
in software or computer hardware. Anatoli Bugorski can tell you all about 
the effectiveness of "safety software".

If they putting Windows boxes in missile silos, well... Prepare for WWIII. 
It's a bit like the last time I was in an ER and they couldn't accept 
patients because their Windows machines kept blue-screening due to a 
virus. Windows in an ER? Yep. This insanity is now the norm.

-Swift