Ya. Thanks for the mention but it was before my time. I was in 8th grade when I first met Lincoln. That was 1976. We did tune clocks on a CY203 a few times but it wasn’t until ETA that I started doing real work ;-)
All cool stuff though and the stories were endless and awesome. cje -- Chris Elmquist > On Sep 23, 2022, at 1:31 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk <[email protected]> > wrote: > > On 9/23/22 10:52, ben via cctalk wrote: > >> Just how do the supercomputer do i/o for all that floating numbers. >> Weather maps I can see for output, but what about all that Top Secret >> number crunching. > > Well, consider the 1969 STAR-100; although not well documented, had a > 512-bit wide, error-checked I/O channel that ran at memory speed. Neil > had various schemes for it, including a 100K RPM head-per-track drum > that ran in vacuo. I recall him mentioning that the prototype lasted > around a minute before the observation window was covered with the > remnants of the drum surface. > > Or consider the STAR SCROLL--a very wide tape that ran over a > head-per-track drum. I don't recall seeing that prototype; maybe it > existed only in the mind. But we had to mention both in our responses > to RFQs. > > This may be before Chris Elmquist's time, but he might also remember. > Too bad that Neil's no longer with us; I suspect that he had lots of > amazing stories. > > --Chuck
