Quote from: jamie lee on December 07, 2009, 06:51:35 PM
Ok so here's another easy one what was VTAM and what was it used for ? and what was used before VTAM ?
Jamie

Virtual Telecommunications Access Method.  It was used to communicate between the mainframe and the terminals (running mostly CICS and TSO) originally, then it was enhanced and expanded to allow peer-to-peer communication between mainframes.

Before VTAM was TCAM, used primarily to run TSO.  There was another time share program (not from IBM) called WYLBUR which was pretty much just a file editor, job submitter, print retriever.  TSO was more versatile, but like most IBM programs, was very expensive in resources to run.

I was both a TCAM and VTAM sysprog.  I was working in the basement of MVS for quite a while.  I think I could still code an ACB if I needed to (I feel the grey beard hairs starting to grow out of my face!)

Ok, let's go into folklore.  Why did Gene Amdahl start AMDAHL, and what could an AMDAHL computer do that IBM series computers couldn't do?  Hint: It had to do with another company that was not located in the US.  (I worked for AMDAHL too.)

-Sandy

Why did Gene Amdahl start AMDAHL,


Disgruntled with IBM?

Hint: It had to do with another company that was not located in the US. Hitachi? (googled that part)

Quote from: LordKAT on December 08, 2009, 01:46:46 AM
Why did Gene Amdahl start AMDAHL,
Disgruntled with IBM?
Hint: It had to do with another company that was not located in the US. Hitachi? (googled that part)

Well, yes he was.  But I was looking for a little bit more information.  Dr. Gene Amdahl while working for IBM had been given Fellowship status by IBM.  He was responsible for the design of many 360/370 machines. An IBM fellowship is only given to those whose achievements are truly stellar.  Quite a feat for a company that, at the time, had more technology patents than any other company.

During that fellowship, he designed a machine that would take advantage of then current technology, be faster, cheaper to build and have a smaller heating footprint.  The powers at IBM declined to produce the new design as they felt that it would compete with the equipment already being sold.

That is what caused the split between IBM and Dr. Gene.  He went on to found AMDAHL and market the first truly "plug compatible" 370 architecture series of machines called the 470 V6/V7/V8.

AMDAHL partnered with Fujitsu, not Hitachi, to produce the chips for the 470, which used ECL logic which was incredibly fast technology when compared to IBM's TTL based SLT technology.

Additionally, nervous datacenter managers wanted assurances that their million dollar investments in a company with no track record, competing against a corporation that was larger than most governments on the planet would be preserved in case AMDAHL was pummeled out of existence.  Fujitsu pledged to support the equipment in that case and the 470 machines could be converted to run Fujitsu code if that need ever arose.  So the 470 was built with two different architectures.

Alright, I will step aside for a bit and let some one else pose the next question.

-Sandy

Ok people I can see that no one else is going to ask a question so:

Digital Equipment Corp are famous for two ranges of ground breaking equipment, the PDP range and the VAX range (although the latter was actually a perfection of an idea frist introduced by Data General in it's NOVA range of machine.

But what do PDP and VAX stand for and what do they mean?

Quote from: rejennyrated on December 09, 2009, 12:05:00 PM
Ok people I can see that no one else is going to ask a question so:

Digital Equipment Corp are famous for two ranges of ground breaking equipment, the PDP range and the VAX range (although the latter was actually a perfection of an idea frist introduced by Data General in it's NOVA range of machine.

But what do PDP and VAX stand for and what do they mean?

PDP was Program Data Processor, I think it was Digital first Mini to compete with the main frame, and I believe VAX was Virtual address extension and was a 32 bit replacement for the PDP ? 
I remember my company looking at that technology but I don't know what for, we ended up getting a 4341 mainframe to replace our system 3.

Spot On Jamie Lee

Vax was the first (well actually second because Data general had a primitive form of it used in the NOVA series) computer to use the form of virtual memory extension which is used to this day in all PC's and Apple macs.

Now how about a question from you? I'm sure you have a few that could streach us.

I never had any experience with the any of the DEC series, though I did think they were interesting.

Tracy Kidder's book "The Soul of a New Machine" was fascinating.  I got a real feel for all the things that go into creating new machine and all the personalities that make the process work.

-Sandy

Ok - while Jamie lee is warming up here is a temporary question.

What is the connection between the BBC Micro (an early british personal computer made by Acorn) and the modern chip manufacturer and networking expert Broadcom?

Hint there is a thematic connection to this whole forum. (So for extra points why might I say that?)

Quote from: rejennyrated on December 10, 2009, 03:57:09 PM
Ok - while Jamie lee is warming up here is a temporary question.

What is the connection between the BBC Micro (an early british personal computer made by Acorn) and the modern chip manufacturer and networking expert Broadcom?

Hint there is a thematic connection to this whole forum. (So for extra points why might I say that?)

I think you got me on this one I never heard of Acorn,I'm just guessing  that it all has to do with the pc's we use today.  Is the BBC the same British broadcasting Company ? did they make computers?

I'll have a new question after I see your answer sometime tomorrow. (Usually don't get on the laptop until the grandkids go to bed)
Jamie

Just shooting from the hip and not typing anything that refers to the mathematical quantity of one followed by one hundred zeros.

The BBC Acorn was originally designed to go along with the series that the BBC did to introduce the populace to personal computing.  I seem to recall it was a kind of hands on training.  The Acorn got some acceptable reviews as I recall.  That is about all I really remember from on this side of the pond.  Though I kind of wish I had a chance to play with one at the time.

The only way I think I could draw any sort of corollary, is that I seem to recall that the acorn was built around an ARM chipset.  The ARM chipset is a RISC architecture and as such could easily emulate any other architecture system.  So it could "transition" to another type of chip architecture??

I believe that the ARM is used in Broadcom's backplane in it's line of switches and routers.

And all of this has nothing to do with Sir Clive Sinclair's ZX81 which he licensed to Timex as the Timex-Sinclair 1000 or the TS1000.  Which BTW my son in law gave me as a gift for Christmas last year.  He found one in the attic of a friend still in the original box!  It still makes me smile.  It doesn't work after all these years, but I just love looking at it.

Alright, give me the answer, Jenny, this is driving me nuts!

-Sandy

Ok the connection is a person.

If you google Sophie Wilson - who currently chief technology officer (Director) of Broadcom you will find that she was once Roger Wilson, one the main designers of the original BBC Micro and indeed as you so rightly identified the chief architect of the ARM chip. She is openly Trans too, so I'm not outing her.

As an aside, I know that in the states that you have the likes of Lynn Conway, but it always seems to me, listening in on the forum from the UK, that despite the fact that the UK legal system was so hostile until the 2004 Gender recognition Act, over here, being Trans has never been such a big deal as it seems to be on your side of the pond.

We genuinely seem to have so many more Transpeople in high places, and I do mean really high! Captains of industry, Academics, politicians both local and national, senior governement officials even a couple of serving military officers and one Judge.

And of course one little known side effect of the 2004 act, besides the ability to alter our birth records, was that it actually technically became a criminal offence for anyone to "out" us without our written consent! (I had a small input to the act's drafting process so I know it pretty well.)

Anyway - end of aside - I'm looking forward to being driven equally nuts by Jamie Lee's question later on.

Sorry ladies I forgot that this was a weekend we were going to visit some friends in Wisconsin !

Anyway I was racking my brain for a question and I couldn't come up with much.
I think too much wine this weekend.

So how about something easy again.
When I was a lonely operator/programmer in the early 80's we had something called RAIDWhat does RAID stand for, how did it help to keep downtime to a minimum ?

Jamie Lee

PS Jenny nice new Avatar    !

I think that would be

Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks

a system which transformed the lives of IT managers and video editors alike (both of which jobs I have in the past done).

Ok here's a new challenge. Hopefully this one is fairly easy. What is CRC and how is it used? Oh and for extra points how is CRC connected to Reed-Soloman codes and how are they used?

"Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks"

Yay!! i feel a  slight bit not so dumb. I thought it had something to  do with an array.


Yes, I'm showing my ignorance but you folks are making learning interesting.

JBOD is another term for raid arrays.  Just a Bunch Of Disks.  RAID's have been transformed now into SAN's.  Storage Array Networks.

CRC would be cyclic redundancy check which is used to check the validity of data from just about everything from DASD, tape, and telecom.

As far as they are connected to Reed-Solomon, I am stumped.

I will pass on asking the next question, because, while I have a whole alphabet soup of acronyms, how about one regarding history of computers.  Perhaps something Hollerith-ish or arcane?

-Sandy

reed-soloman codes extended CRC from error checking into data recovery. They are widely used in DVD's CD's and indeed digital video tape as they not only reveal that there has been an error, but where the error is small can usually recover the missing data as well.

Ok one from the archives: ( and this one is going right back to the dawn of computing)

Who is widely acknowledged to have been the world's first computer progammer and for extra points what is the connection with Lord Byron?

Quote from: rejennyrated on December 14, 2009, 05:59:16 PM
reed-soloman codes extended CRC from error checking into data recovery. They are widely used in DVD's CD's and indeed digital video tape as they not only reveal that there has been an error, but where the error is small can usually recover the missing data as well.

Ok one from the archives: ( and this one is going right back to the dawn of computing)

Who is widely acknowledged to have been the world's first computer progammer and for extra points what is the connection with Lord Byron?

That would be Lady Ada, Lord Byrons niece, I believe.

She "wrote" programs to be utilized on Babbage's Analytical Engine.  Unfortunately the Analytical Engine was never built during Babbage's lifetime due to the weak metal used at the time.  However his Difference Engine, a glorified comptomoter, and precursor to the AE was very successful.

I believe that Lady Ada's intension was to write programs that would calculate odds for horse races as the three of them were avid gamblers.

Ada was later glorified with her own compiled language called ADA.

I also seem to recall that the British Science Museum eventually made a functional version of the AE, but my memory is vague on that point.

-Sandy

Full marks Sandy - and yes the Science museum did indeed build just such a machine. It work's too, and they ran one of Ada's programs.

Now... is there anyone else lurking out there who would like to set us a question? I'm starting to dry up.

We could perhaps expand the topic slightly to cover vintage technology in general - rather than just computers if that would encourage anyone else to have a go...

Quote from: rejennyrated on December 15, 2009, 09:43:14 AM
We could perhaps expand the topic slightly to cover vintage technology in general - rather than just computers if that would encourage anyone else to have a go...

Ok, I'll take the point with the vintage tech question:

Before OLED,
before plasma,
before LCD,
before Trinitron, and
before RGB

What was the first method of televising color (or colour, Jenny) images?  And how did it play a role in the space race?

-Sandy

YUV?

No idea what it means. something about lithium and chrome or something like that