Supercomputers, fishing for information

[Dave Wade]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Guy
> Sotomayor Jr
> Sent: 08 November 2016 20:10
> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
> <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> Subject: Re: Supercomputers, fishing for information
> 
> 
> > On Nov 8, 2016, at 11:51 AM, Dave Wade <dave.g4ugm at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Paul
> >> Koning
> >> Sent: 08 November 2016 17:22
> >> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
> >> <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> >> Subject: Re: Supercomputers, fishing for information
> >>
> >>
> >>> On Nov 8, 2016, at 12:08 PM, Guy Sotomayor Jr <ggs at shiresoft.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> On Nov 8, 2016, at 8:47 AM, Jon Elson <elson at pico-systems.com>
> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> On 11/07/2016 10:31 PM, Jon Elson wrote:
> >>>>> On 11/07/2016 07:59 PM, Mark Linimon wrote:
> >>>>>> On Mon, Nov 07, 2016 at 11:23:58AM -0800, Chuck Guzis wrote:
> >>>>>>> But if you're a suburban resident living on Mulberry Street,
> >>>>>>> anything but single-phase is pretty much out of the question.
> >>>>>> Oh, you can get it -- but be prepared for a large hassle.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> A former neighbor had a 440V 3-phase Italian lathe in his
> >>>>>> backyard shop, among other toys.  After he was laid off from his
> >>>>>> aerospace job doing machining it was how he made his living.  He
> >>>>>> was a very handy person to know :-)
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> mcl
> >>>>>>
> >>>>> I have two 3-phase machines in my shop (Bridgeport mill and
> >>>>> Sheldon
> >> lathe) and run them each off a properly-sized VFD. 2-phase in,
> >> 3-phase out, plus variable speed and dynamic braking.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Jon
> >>>>>
> >>>> And, of course, that is really SINGLE-PHASE power on 2 wires, just
> >>>> to save
> >> anybody the trouble of correcting my error.
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>> I’m looking to have to do something to get 3-phase for the IBM 4331
> >>> gear.  I
> >> haven’t quite added up the power requirements yet but I’m guessing
> >> its going to be in the 10-15kVA range.  Since the power to all of the
> >> gear is really split between 3 loads (string of 4 3340 drives, 3803
> >> control unit + 2 3420 tape drives and 2821 control uint + 1403
> >> printer + 2540 card reader/punch) I need to figure out if it’s best
> >> to have one big converter or 3 smaller ones.  It’s unlikely that I’d
> >> be running all of the peripherals at once.  The 4331 itself runs off of single
> phase 220v.
> >>
> >
> >
> > Not sure how familiar with the 4331 you are, but from what I remember,
> > the microcode checks devices at poweron and may get itself in a tizz
> > If peripherals are not powered on…
> >
> I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.  ;-)  With the exception of the 3340’s
> (which are directly attached to the 4331), I’m wondering how the microcode
> would know since the other peripherals are connected through control units
> which are on the bus-and-tag bus.  I would expect that an OS that was gen’d
> for all of the peripherals might get weird (or not) if it didn’t find the
> peripherals but I’ll happily deal with that when I get that far.


Having checked out the operators guide here:-

http://chiclassiccomp.org/docs/content/computing/IBM/Mainframe/Hardware/System/GA33-1525-1_4331ProcessorOperatingProceduresProblemDeterminationGuide.pdf

it looks like the 4331 does not have a full IO config, but later models like the 4381 have a definition of all the attached devices in the microcode so they can check everything is working before you IPL the machine.

The physical planning manual for 43xx machines is in the above folder so you can check the power needs of each device..

> 
> I still have to physically get the system here.  I poked around it this past
> weekend (where is currently stored).  I did get all of the docs, tapes, 3340
> packs, etc and that filled up my (large) pickup truck…it was a lot of stuff.

Take care with the Microcode disks. The CPU and many controllers 


> 
> TTFN - Guy