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Max the Magnificent
I know what you mean -- the graphics we have today is something we could never ...
How It Was: PDP and VAX computers
Clive Maxfield
1/24/2012 5:42 PM EST
Editor’s Note: This “How it Was” story, as told by Benny Attar, really takes me back in time. When I started with Cirrus Designs back in 1981, we had a single PDP 11/23 computer that we all shared (we each had a VT100 terminal and a keyboard on our desks). The single hard disk supported 1 megabyte and there was only one directory / folder. I can remember when we got a VAX running the VMS operating system where we each had our own directory trees… it all seemed so revolutionary back then (grin). If anyone else has remembrances in this arena, please email me and I’ll post them as a “How it was” article…
After completing my studies in a technical college in 1984, I joined the Services – never mind what service, that’s classified – and was put in charge of the computer room. In those days, all the computers were in a central location, with restricted access, climate control, raised floors, and servants to look after them. Ordinary mortals had computer terminals and printers connected to the computer room through RS232 lines at 9600 baud (the longer lines wouldn’t work beyond 4800 baud – for some lines we even had current loop converters).
Almost all our equipment came from DEC – we had a couple of PDP11/70’s ( I remember being told they cost $120,000 each), a PDP11/44, and a VAX 730. The VAX 750’s came later, then the 8300 and 8500 series, then things got smaller with the micro-VAX 3500, 3200 and 3100 computers in the early 90’s.
The end users were given VT100 and VT102 monochrome monitors, and mighty heavy to carry around they were. The VT100 had a bug in the firmware, if you hit a certain sequence in setup – esc-shift-3 then q, I think it was – you would get a screech from the keyboard speaker. One of our programmers wrote a program that mimicked the terminals’ setup screen. Run the program, and apparently you would be locked for eternity in setup.
Data storage was on a bank of 6 removable disk drives, each the size of a washing machine and holding 67 megabytes. Of course, we had the mandatory reel-to-reel tapes and 8 inch floppies. I was in charge of a small team of “computer operators” – there did exist such a job description once – who ran the daily backups, changed printer ribbons (the ribbons were packed as mobius loops so they’d be used on both sides), distributed printer paper (fanfold with sprocket holes) and taught new personnel how to operate a terminal (“Press setup-0 to reset the terminal...). One of my young operators went on to complete 2 engineering degrees and a doctorate in computer science, and is now a senior research scientist in the field.
We also had some Evans and Sutherland graphics computers for one of the projects involving tactical map displays. The controllers were housed in their own cabinets, with backplanes full of PCB’s – mostly TTL standard logic and some 2901 bit-slice processors. We had just 2 color displays, giant table sized cabinets with 21 inch displays and huge temperamental power supplies. They needed constant adjustment to keep the red, green and blue beams aligned, they needed degaussing with an external degauss ring, and they kept blowing transistors in the deflection amplifiers. The black and white monitors never gave any trouble, though. Of course in those days all this hardware came with shelves of ring binders full of schematics, maintenance instructions, and software descriptions. Other peripherals included XY magnetic tablets (before the days of computer mice) and pen-plotters for printing maps.
When the PDP11/70’s were retired, I took a screwdriver and dismantled the front panel of one of them, with all the address/data entry keys and register lights. A colleague took the panel from the second one. I still have it, nearly 25 years after the last program ran.
When the PC revolution came and computing was no longer centralized, the job wasn’t interesting anymore, so I transferred to a job working with automatic test equipment, and found myself with a Teradyne L210 tester and a few VAX stations. When I retired from the job, I think I was one of last people in the organization who still worked with the VAX/VMS operating system.
Click Here to see other articles in this "How it was..." series...
Editor's Note: It would be great if you took the time to write down short stories of your own. I can help in the copy editing department, so you don’t need to worry about being “word perfect”. All you have to do is to email your offering to me at max@CliveMaxfield.com with “How it was” in the subject line.
I can post your article as “anonymous” if you wish. On the other hand, what would be really cool would be if you wanted to add a few words about yourself – and maybe even provide a couple of “Then and Now” pictures showing yourself as a young engineer ("Then") and as the hero you've grown into ("Now").
If you found this article to be of interest, visit EDA Designline where – in addition to blogs on all sorts of "stuff" – you will find the latest and greatest design, technology, product, and news articles with regard to all aspects of Electronic Design Automation (EDA).
Also, you can obtain a highlights update delivered directly to your inbox by signing up for the EDA Designline weekly newsletter – just Click Here to request this newsletter using the Manage Newsletters tab (if you aren't already a member you'll be asked to register, but it's free and painless so don't let that stop you [grin]).
After completing my studies in a technical college in 1984, I joined the Services – never mind what service, that’s classified – and was put in charge of the computer room. In those days, all the computers were in a central location, with restricted access, climate control, raised floors, and servants to look after them. Ordinary mortals had computer terminals and printers connected to the computer room through RS232 lines at 9600 baud (the longer lines wouldn’t work beyond 4800 baud – for some lines we even had current loop converters).
Almost all our equipment came from DEC – we had a couple of PDP11/70’s ( I remember being told they cost $120,000 each), a PDP11/44, and a VAX 730. The VAX 750’s came later, then the 8300 and 8500 series, then things got smaller with the micro-VAX 3500, 3200 and 3100 computers in the early 90’s.
The end users were given VT100 and VT102 monochrome monitors, and mighty heavy to carry around they were. The VT100 had a bug in the firmware, if you hit a certain sequence in setup – esc-shift-3 then q, I think it was – you would get a screech from the keyboard speaker. One of our programmers wrote a program that mimicked the terminals’ setup screen. Run the program, and apparently you would be locked for eternity in setup.
Data storage was on a bank of 6 removable disk drives, each the size of a washing machine and holding 67 megabytes. Of course, we had the mandatory reel-to-reel tapes and 8 inch floppies. I was in charge of a small team of “computer operators” – there did exist such a job description once – who ran the daily backups, changed printer ribbons (the ribbons were packed as mobius loops so they’d be used on both sides), distributed printer paper (fanfold with sprocket holes) and taught new personnel how to operate a terminal (“Press setup-0 to reset the terminal...). One of my young operators went on to complete 2 engineering degrees and a doctorate in computer science, and is now a senior research scientist in the field.
We also had some Evans and Sutherland graphics computers for one of the projects involving tactical map displays. The controllers were housed in their own cabinets, with backplanes full of PCB’s – mostly TTL standard logic and some 2901 bit-slice processors. We had just 2 color displays, giant table sized cabinets with 21 inch displays and huge temperamental power supplies. They needed constant adjustment to keep the red, green and blue beams aligned, they needed degaussing with an external degauss ring, and they kept blowing transistors in the deflection amplifiers. The black and white monitors never gave any trouble, though. Of course in those days all this hardware came with shelves of ring binders full of schematics, maintenance instructions, and software descriptions. Other peripherals included XY magnetic tablets (before the days of computer mice) and pen-plotters for printing maps.
When the PDP11/70’s were retired, I took a screwdriver and dismantled the front panel of one of them, with all the address/data entry keys and register lights. A colleague took the panel from the second one. I still have it, nearly 25 years after the last program ran.
When the PC revolution came and computing was no longer centralized, the job wasn’t interesting anymore, so I transferred to a job working with automatic test equipment, and found myself with a Teradyne L210 tester and a few VAX stations. When I retired from the job, I think I was one of last people in the organization who still worked with the VAX/VMS operating system.
Click Here to see other articles in this "How it was..." series...
Editor's Note: It would be great if you took the time to write down short stories of your own. I can help in the copy editing department, so you don’t need to worry about being “word perfect”. All you have to do is to email your offering to me at max@CliveMaxfield.com with “How it was” in the subject line.
I can post your article as “anonymous” if you wish. On the other hand, what would be really cool would be if you wanted to add a few words about yourself – and maybe even provide a couple of “Then and Now” pictures showing yourself as a young engineer ("Then") and as the hero you've grown into ("Now").
If you found this article to be of interest, visit EDA Designline where – in addition to blogs on all sorts of "stuff" – you will find the latest and greatest design, technology, product, and news articles with regard to all aspects of Electronic Design Automation (EDA).
Also, you can obtain a highlights update delivered directly to your inbox by signing up for the EDA Designline weekly newsletter – just Click Here to request this newsletter using the Manage Newsletters tab (if you aren't already a member you'll be asked to register, but it's free and painless so don't let that stop you [grin]).
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prabhakar_deosthali
1/24/2012 11:49 PM EST
This article gives a good nostalgia for all of us old timers who worked on PDP-11 series computers with RSX-11M operating system, The LSI-11 processors with RT-11 operating system and the Vax-VMS combination.
I took the fasciantion of the RSx-11M OS so much that I created an RTOS for 8086 based micro processor system using the data structure set of RSx-11 M
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Max the Magnificent
1/25/2012 10:14 AM EST
I keep on telling myself that it wasn't all that long ago ... but it has been 30 years since I worked on a PDP ... where did the time go (and was I having fun :-)?
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ArtFart
1/25/2012 1:04 PM EST
Hey, Max...you might find it of interest that the company I work for now occupies
the same office space in Bellevue, WA that was once DECWest. The same place where
Dave Cutler and his crew developed VMS about thirty years ago, before he went on to
punching holes in walls over at Microsoft. We even have one developer working for
us who was part of that crew back then, and who's pointed out where his desk was
located.
As for VMS, it's still around, kept alive by a few banks running financial
applications and a lot of health care organizations still using MUMPS. We still
support it with our company's products, and I've had to re-learn how to administer
it on three systems used by Development: an Itanium box, an Alpha emulator running
on a Windows server, and the ancient bona fide Alpha workstation that that second
instance is going to replace I obtained the Alpha via Craigslist from a guy who had
a house full of computers (including literally tons of SGI stuff) and unfortunately
a lot of cats as well. The hostname I've given that system is "rusty", owing to the
condition of the cabinet which at least one of the cats was using as a urinal.
No Vaxes, though. There was one in storage when I first started there, but I never
saw it powered up and it got hauled off by a recycler a while back. A somewhat ignominious end, but I remember worse from when I worked with you at Intergraph. Along the highway near headquarters in Huntsville there was a "skunk patch"--a vacant lot where people parked old clunker cars with "For Sale" signs. One day a VAX 11/780 showed up there. It disappeared after a couple days. Who knows whether it ended up living on in someone's basement, hauled away for scrap or converted into a chicken coop!
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Max the Magnificent
1/25/2012 1:23 PM EST
Hi Art -- it's great to hear from you -- it's hard to believe we first met 22 years ago... I'm still "holding the fort" here in Huntsville AL ... are you actually based in your company's Bellevue, WA office?
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Robotics Developer
1/25/2012 7:30 PM EST
Ah the good old days :) I remember using the punched tape on a VT100 (I think) to save and run programs with. My first job we used Nova3s with removable disk drive platters (I think a whopping 5MB) with the operating system and all file storage. We were doing PCB layout laying mylar on full sized layouts for the PCB artwork..
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hm
1/25/2012 8:50 PM EST
At home I loved Sinclair Spectrum. It was wonderful experience. And just a decade back, it was dial-up modem for internet connection with so low speed.
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Kopernikus
1/26/2012 7:54 AM EST
The VAX: extremely slow with terminals, but massively faster with punched card input.
Funded by the multi-university E.I.S. Projekt, the German contribution to the Mead-&-Conway revolution, my group at Kaiserslautern had a VAX 11/750.
A bizarr situation I found in 1981 when attending a NATO summer school in Urbino, Italy: at SOGESTA where they also had a VAX 11/750 with a lot of terminals. In the afternoon we had VLSI design exercises on an early Routing and Placement program. The terminals for code input have been extremely slow. Each user had to wait extremely long for the curser to reach the next character position.
I found out, that in the basement there was a punched card input machine connected to this VAX. I keyed my design project into punched cards.
With this museum type equipment I was orders of magnitude faster than the rest of the attendees, stil frustrated by gazing into the terminal sceen. I got already the plot of my design when all other colleagues have been far from completing the design code input.
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Manfredv
1/26/2012 8:47 AM EST
I have the good old Soviet union to thank for some of my best learning experiences on a VAX. My Engineering Faculty in South Africa had ordered two VAX11-782's but in a very interesting case of international espionage they were sent to the Soviet Union (but were intercepted in Sweden and Germany respectively). The upshot was that we got a 750 dropped at the faculty on a temporary basis. We (three undergrad students) soon figured out how to get an administrator password by crashing the system and did all kinds of clever things to our classmates' and the professor's accounts. In order not to get caught we had to learn a lot and fast! When we confessed to the professor at the end of the semester he thought it was hilarious and restored his faith in the VAX that had been acting very strange!
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antedeluvian
1/26/2012 11:55 AM EST
Digital had a self imposed embargo on selling to apartheid South Africa, but I am surprised that they would have sold to the USSR. Still stranger things have happened.
Redirecting embargoed goods was not unusual in those days. I am told the tiny island of Mauritius in the middle of the Indian Ocean was the largest consumer of Rolls Royce diesel engines in the 1980s.
Having lived in several embargoed countries, it seems to me the purpose of economic sanctions is not to prevent goods getting to the pariah state, but to make it so expensive that it eventually bankrupts the said state.
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Manfredv
1/26/2012 5:32 PM EST
To the best of my knowledge Digital had no fault in the matter. The version that I got from a Senior South African official (and is corroborated by Richard Starr in his book: Foreign policies of the Soviet Union) is that an East German spy got the University to sign the end-user certificates and he then diverted the computers to a Swedish company that he owned for shipment to the Soviet Union. I do agree that the with you on the purpose of economic sanctions, however, the purpose of sanctioning the sale of military or high-tech equipment is to reduce the military capability of the target country. Yes, this often does not mean that the components or syatems are not available but it significantly increases the cost or means that the sanctioned country needs to pursue a different strategy which can involve developing its own capability as South Africa did with eg mine resistant vehicles and the Rooivalk Attack helicopter.
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EREBUS
1/27/2012 5:47 PM EST
I started with a then new PDP 11/20 with 16K words of magnetic core memory and a super 64K word hard disk and a fast paper tape reader with a Decwriter terminal and a 7 track tape unit. Costed about $150,000. I think my digital watch has more computing power, but we did a lot of good scientific research with it. I was even doing image analysis with it forty years ago.
I am just amazed at the computing capability setting idle every day verses what we could do with it if we just harnessed the time wasted in texting and email.
Who knew?
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ReneCardenas
1/28/2012 12:56 PM EST
Max,
I still remember my experiments with the green CRT XY plotter for some cool early vector graphics.
Those were fun days, and it is remarkable has been the graphics evolution.
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Max the Magnificent
1/29/2012 4:47 PM EST
I know what you mean -- the graphics we have today is something we could never have even dreamed of say 30 years ago...
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dzieda
1/31/2012 9:46 AM EST
Max,
For me it wasn't that long ago working with a PDP11. I'm only 33 now and my experience came from a hardware design course at RPI back in 1999. They were still using old PDP11s on a couple labs - one where we put together a big wire-wrap card full of discrete logic to create a floppy drive interface for it. Another lab was to add a couple commands to the micro-kernel.
It was interesting to work through the old design issues, but we were happy to get started working on the brand new Xilinx boards with a 5010 FPGA to implement a custom processor.
Those were good times! Now I enjoy my days designing FPGA logic and various PCBs. I have to say that I was prepared after that education, even though certain technology was so old.
Thanks,
Adam
http://www.MityDSP.com
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