Re: VMS SIG discovers what Billy really relies on

In article <00A8194B.C011BFCF@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
VAXman- @SendSpamHere.ORG writes:
In article <6me0agFfv20iU2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, billg999@xxxxxxxxxxx (Bill Gunshannon) writes:
In article <aImdncwZ0JL7cp3UnZ2dnUVZ_tPinZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Richard B. Gilbert" <rgilbert88@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
VAXman- @SendSpamHere.ORG wrote:
In article <4900b9c3$0$1556$c3e8da3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
Bill Gunshannon wrote:

Actually, I expect it is an old piece of clipart that MS had floating
around when they needed a picture of a computer. I doubt the person
who put it ont he web page even had a clue what it was actually a picture
of.
Correct. Microsoft weenies weren't born when RA drives were still being
produced.

But it is still interesting to see those weenies not have a clue on what
a modern data centre looks like. They probably think those RA drives are
some sort of blade enclosure :-) :-)

I cut my hands many times pulling RAs out on their rails, so I wouldn't
be so sure they're not blade enclosures. ;)


If only they knew that those were likely 400 or 600 meg drives, drawing
15 amps of power with 1/3 HP motor that was outside the HDA :-) :-) :-)

...and just what's wrong with belt-driven mass storage? :P


ISTR seeing some IBM hardware in a McGraw-Hill data center. There was a
double width cabinet, dimensions 6'x6'x3' which contained a 3HP electric
motor and a belt driven HDA whose storage was measured in megabytes. I
could and did, fit more storage in my jacket pocket in the form of an
RZ26/28/29! To be fair, I think they were scrapping it out. . . .

My first experience with a head-crash was an IBM disk on a 4331 at
Ft. Ben in Indianapolis. I found it interesting that the first tool
brought in by the CE was a large shop vac that he used to collect all
that was left of the disks guts. Amazing how much damage those 3HP
motors can do. We actually heard it from the terminal lab down the
hall. The noise accompanied the system crash and a lot of moaning about
lost work. :-)

Messy! I remember a head crash on an RM-05 while I was in the computer
room. It really set the thing off balance. It was "dancing" about the
floor making noises like a washing machine does when a load is off-bal-
ance. That pack was complete history as was the RM-05. It wasn't worth
fixing and I really don't even know why it was maintained on contract at
that time as we had newer quality technology like RA-81/82s! :rolleyes:

There are people still using them, apparently. When I got my last batch
of RA disks I took them from a shop that had just reited them in favor
of SCSI. That was on PDP-11's. U sed them on PDP-11's and VAXen until
I was able to replace them with, you guessed it, SCSI. Someone came and
took them off my hands and I assume most of them survived the trip and
are still running today. They may be old, small and power hungry, but
they were also very well built. (I still use a number of RL disks, even
now!!)

bill

--
Bill Gunshannon | de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n. Three wolves
billg999@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton |
Scranton, Pennsylvania | #include <std.disclaimer.h>
.

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