Tandem Minicomputers

[Chuck Guzis]

On 9/30/19 8:57 AM, Jon Elson via cctalk wrote:
> On 09/29/2019 11:46 PM, Jason T via cctalk wrote:
>> Well I said no more computers I can't lift, but exotic systems keep
>> finding me.  So today we pulled a Tandem CLX out of a basement, along
>> with a few boxes of docs, 9-track tapes and random odd and ends:
>>
>> https://photos.app.goo.gl/m2N7RKN3JXcmVTUC8
>>
>> There's such as thing as "so obscure that no one knows/cares about
>> it".  I've had those before.  Do I have another?  It sure is heavy.
>>
>> -j
>>
> Tandem was hot stuff back in the 1980's.  These appear to be the last
> gasp of their technology.
> Once you had fast networking between processors, the whole Tandem
> concept became pretty easy to do on a few ordinary processors, without
> special hardware.  So, their whole reason for being became moot.

Jimmy Treybig was a master marketeer.  I recall that when his offerings
debuted, he equip a guest with a pair of diagonal cutters and instruct
them to pick a wire, any wire and cut it.

The system would just keep running.

The old OnSale auction site that featured some really good deals back in
the 1990s was powered by Tandem.

https://web.archive.org/web/19980212000633/http://www.onsale.com:80/

--Chuck