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Re: Rust? (and a wordsmithing question)



On Mon 11 Dec 2017 at 08:34:41 (-0800), James H. H. Lampert wrote:
> On 12/11/17, 7:04 AM, Joe wrote:
> >The rigid platters of IBM cartridges and packs (the things you see in
> >computer rooms in films) did have brown oxide coatings. The surface of
> >each 12 inch platter side stored a magnificent 2.5MB, or at least the
> >version I used did. It was used in a system with an embedded DG Nova,
> >and a competitive product of the time used the modern 8 inch floppy
> >discs...
> 
> The student timeshare systems my high school used (running the
> McGill University MUSIC operating system) while I was a student
> there (an IBM 370/135 at the District Office) and shortly after I
> graduated (an on-site IBM 4341) used Merlin drives.

Or, even older, the IBM 1130 came with cartridges (like pizza boxes)
that held about 1 MB. The platter surface looked much like ¼”
reel-to-reel tape. One drive was built-in, and we had a 2310
floor-standing unit holding two more, all removable. (Photo 4 in the
reference has two of the latter.) The other peripherals we had were
paper tape reader/punch, a Calcomp 30” drum plotter and ½” tape of
some sort. Of the two systems we had, one was built inside a
container on air-mounts and travelled on the deck of ocean-going
research vessels.

Cheers,
David.


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