Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!mgweed!prg From: prg@mgweed.UUCP (Gunsul) Newsgroups: comp.sys.att Subject: Re: A few comments on supposedly 'ancient' AT&Tware Summary: Model 1 and 2's ! ! Message-ID: <6434@mgweed.UUCP> Date: 20 Nov 90 23:58:02 GMT References: <11246@milton.u.washington.edu> <16403@s.ms.uky.edu> Organization: AT&T Montgomery Works, Montgomery, IL Lines: 40 > > Ah, yes, the 3B20! This machine was available in two configurations: > Simplex and Duplex . It started > its life as the core of the AT&T ESS switch family, usually as a 3B20D. > Some bright soul realized the potential, threw tty support and the > full UNIX (it was already running a subset, I think) on board, and > presto! A multi-user UNIX system. We've been running a 3B20S for > about 8 years now, and the monster, while slow (.95 mips), is remarkably > bulletproof. Its UPS consists of 4 large AC Delco vehicle batteries. > We recently had a major power problem when the main campus step-down > transformer blew. Almost every computer system on campus was unavail- > able for about a day and a half. All, that is, except for the "ancient", > "archaic", and "obsolete" 3B20S; it barely blinked as it switched to > batteries. I like a hardy machine! > > -- > | Wes Morgan, not speaking for | {any major site}!ukma!ukecc!morgan | > | the University of Kentucky's | morgan@engr.uky.edu | > | Engineering Computing Center | morgan%engr.uky.edu@UKCC.BITNET | > Lint is the compiler's only means of dampening the programmer's ego. . . . and the 3B20S also had a Model 1 and 2! Two months ago, failing to find ANYONE that wanted ol' mgweed and mgwess, two 3B20S Model 1's (Serial numbers 0048 and 0089, respectively), rolled into the trailer of a trash truck and were hauled off to AT&T Central Region Junking... Following close behind were the 14, 300Mb CDC 'washing-machines'. No AT&T location and no local schools would even touch the ol' machines. They were even offered as circuit packs only and still nobody wanted them. Kind of a sad day... We still have 3, 3B20S's (Model 2) with external drives on them and two 3B20S's with the built-in Winchester drives (Model 2?). Weed and wess were replaced with a nice 3B2/1000 Model 80, a much more efficient machine, but not nearly as impressive when you walk into the computer room! Phil Gunsul - AT&T IS Montgomery IL.