On 5/5/2021 7:18 PM, Jules Richardson via cctalk wrote:
On 5/5/21 6:09 AM, Mark Linimon via cctalk wrote:
On Tue, May 04, 2021 at 10:07:28PM -0700, Chuck Guzis via cctech wrote:
"Power for the basic computer consists of one 250 kva, 400 Hz motor
generator set. The motor-generator set has the capability of providing
power for the CPU, MCS, I/O and the MCU. The optional memory requires
the addition of an 80 kva motor-generator set."
I'm looking at this RISC-V board sitting here on my desk (with its
"massive" 2-inch-long heat sink) and shaking my head at how far we have
come.
I seem to recall an anecdote about Acorn hooking up the first prototype
ARM-1 processor and it working, despite showing no current draw on the
connected ammeter - it then transpired that the power supply was still
switched off, but it was so efficient that it was able to run via
leakage current on the connected I/O lines.
Jules
While I was in grad school at U.W. (the one in Wisconsin) we had
obtained via surplus an IBM 7094 II from military surplus - I seem to
recall WSMR (White Sands Missle Range). Of course, it had an MG. We
got it put together and with a replaced transistor here and there (one
of which was modern silicon) we got it running. We had NO peripherals,
but my friend Paul came up with the idea to use a sense switch to talk
RS-232 at 9600bps, and using that he got the Purdue University Fast
FORTRAN Translator (PUFFT)loaded and up and running, and I wrote some
support code on a Datacraft 6024 to send it card images and receive
print lines.
One evening after supper I convinced my wife to let me head down to the
CS building and play. I stepped into the CS building and man, there was
a lot of smokey smell and obvious evidence of smoke - but no alarms. It
got worse as I headed down towards the basement where we had the gear
set up. It turned out one of the bearings in the MG had welded itself
to the shaft (and not for lack of proper lubrication). Thing was about
5" in diameter. That put us out of commission for a while, until many
months later the UW Machine shop fixed it up.
Not too long after that machine, and an IBM 1410 that had been donated
by Oscar Mayer were sold off to a place in Ohio where they actually were
still using that second hand gear in 1977 - and it was that very same
outfit that we visited decades later and recovered the IBM 1410 PR155
operating system tape and diagnostics, a copy of OS/360, and other
interesting stuff.
JRJ
