mainframes and other stuff

[Jon Elson]

On 11/23/2014 02:53 PM, John Foust wrote:
> At 09:28 PM 11/21/2014, William Donzelli wrote:
>> The NASA model 67 reportedly had 66 ounces of gold in the CPU. Even an
>> early model 30 could have 8 or 9.
> How could a CPU have four-and-a-half pounds of gold?
>
>
I'm VERY skeptical of this one!  First, I know IBM went to 
great lengths at some time in
the early 60's to figure out how to make reliable computers 
with a LOT less gold than
the traditional wisdom required.  As far as I know, all 
360's had a LOT less gold in
them than similar-sized machines from other makers at the 
same time.

On the other hand, a lot of gear from the mid-60's actually 
used gold as the etch
resist on the circuit boards.  I have some examples of 
that.  The traces of the
boards are totally plated with gold!

Jon