Re: Re: Interesting idea

On 12 October 2010 21:25, jeffsavit <[email protected]> wrote:
> --- In [email protected], "idc3009i" <idc3009i@...> wrote:
>
>> The 3330s were the removable packs which the MSS emulated.  They actually worked off of a wide (5 or 6 inches) magnetic tape on a single reel.  This was presented to the system as a 3330V device type.  When accessed, the robot arm loaded the tape cartridge from its cell inside the unit to a reader and staged it to 3350 from where it was accessed.  De-staging was the reverse of the process.  Lovely to watch it in action... there was even a window in the side!
>
> For sins in a prior life I had to support one of these when I worked for an NJ insurance company.  It was quite a Rube Goldberg contraption, but not as bad as the infamous data cells.

There was a rumour that went around back then that an IBM CE had been
killed by a 3850 - stuck his head in to see what was happening, with
the door interlocks bypassed, and zip... No actual evidence that I
ever saw. Certainly ties (and long hair) in the 2741 or other
Selectric I/O printers did happen, and that rotating shaft was pretty
quick and despite appearances, turned only one way. Your face could be
down in the works in a couple of seconds. Of course CEs were trained
to tuck in the tie and when appropriate keep one hand in the pocket,
but Selectrics were out there in user land.

> There was an AUDITMSS command you could use to verify if a given honeycomb cell was occupied or empty consistent with what the Mass Storage Volume Inventory table said it should be (oh dear, how ancient jargons are still lodged in memory).  You would specify the X, Y and Z coordinates of the cell you wanted to check. A fun trick was to make it tap the window and startle bystanders.
>
> I still have a bunch of the tape cartridges - they make excellent paperweights, and nobody knows what the heck they are. :-)

I have one of those (so half a 3330), with unknown data on it.
Probably someone's payroll records from 1984 or something...

Tony H.