[cctalk] Re: Minicomputer front panel.

[Paul Koning via cctalk]

> On Sep 23, 2022, at 12:45 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> 
> wrote:
> 
> On 9/22/22 22:56, ben via cctalk wrote:
> 
>> Blinking lights tended to be for computers of the future.
>> World maps with lights where nuclear missiles could strike
>> seem to be movie props only.
> I thought it curious that many 1960s-1970s supercomputers lacked front
> panels and blinking lights altogether.    (e.g. Cray I, CDC
> Cyber/600/700, etc.)  Indeed, the Cray couldn't even spin a tape without
> help from another system doing the I/O.

Those are good examples, but is it "many" or just those two and maybe one or 
two more?  For example, Burroughs and IBM mainframes were both very much 
"lights and switches" control panel type machines.  For that matter, so were 
the other CDC products; the 6000 series was a bit of an outlier I think.

        paul