Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!steinmetz!davidsen
From: davidsen@steinmetz.steinmetz.ge.com (William E. Davidsen Jr)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Computer noises (was Re: Cray architecture)
Message-ID: <10259@steinmetz.steinmetz.ge.com>
Date: 5 Apr 88 19:52:44 GMT
References: <7762@alice.UUCP> <5029@nsc.nsc.com> <850@gethen.UUCP> <26576@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>
Reply-To: davidsen@crdos1.UUCP (bill davidsen)
Followup-To: comp.misc
Distribution: na
Organization: General Electric CRD, Schenectady, NY
Lines: 35


My first attempt to make music on a printer was not very sucessful,
although I did find out that (a) if I fired all of the hammers on the
line at once it made a GREAT noise, (b) that if I did it three times
quickly the capacitors on the P/S would discharge blowing the P/S fuse
try to recharge, and (c) the fuse is in a BITCH of a position.

Also from the mid 60's:

  We had Potter "mil spec" tape drives, so called because they could be
serviced from the front and set flush on a wall. These had weak door
latches and bad mub mounting systems. If a full length tape was rewound,
and the hub brakes were tight, the door and the hub would both release.

  One of our operators noticed this about to happen while visitors were
in the computer room, and stood by the drive, caught the tape as it flew
off, pulled the ring, put on the strap, and walked away. This was before
self loading (much unloading) tapes. Another time it happened with a
lesser operator on duty, and the reel hit the floor at many rpm and
rolled the length of the room. Fortunately the tape is being wound on
and didn't get spilled.

  Our GE 4020 (industrial control system) has an optical paper tape
reader. It was very fast, and the operators had a great deal of trouble
with the tapes breaking. They got into the habit of stringing the tape
in a 30 foot "fan fold" on the floor before starting the reader. The
tape landed about 8-10 feet away on the other side.

  Some people wanted to use mylar tape, but the operators were very
careful when this was done. A mylar ribbon at ten feet/sec is a very
good meat saw.
-- 
	bill davidsen		(wedu@ge-crd.arpa)
  {uunet | philabs | seismo}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen
"Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me