cvs commit: src/usr.sbin/fdcontrol fdcontrol.8

[Wilko Bulte]

On Wed, Feb 25, 2004 at 03:28:04PM -0800, Kevin Oberman wrote:
> > Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 20:28:38 +0100
> > From: Wilko Bulte <wkb at freebie.xs4all.nl>
> > Sender: owner-cvs-all at freebsd.org
> > 
> > On Wed, Feb 25, 2004 at 07:34:26PM +0100, Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:
> > > In message <20040225181946.GA18703 at freebie.xs4all.nl>, Wilko Bulte writes:
> > > 
> > > >> PS: If anybody has a manual for the Y-E data YD174 8" drive I'd
> > > >> love to get a scan or copy.
> > > >
> > > >Too modern.. 8" 128KB (IIRC)  DEC RX01 are the way forward :-P
> > > 
> > > Well, the objective is to read all sorts of formats, not to demostrate
> > > the second law of thermodynamics.
> > 
> > But it sure could rotate disks full of sand using its 115V AC motor. :)
> > 
> > It needed to, as the PDP that used it was the control CPU for a
> > concrete mixing factory. I just vacumed out all of the sand and cement
> > dust, stuck new media in and it ran. Now *that* is NonStop hardware
> > (pun intended).
> 
> Time to put on my old fart hat on.
> 
> If you want an old portable media system that is REALLY "NonStop" (and
> makes an RX01 look really fast), take a look at DECtape (nee LINCtape)
> developed by MIT's Lincoln Lab. I spent a lot of time doing nightly
> re-links of our main mapping tool for an atmospheric flow analysis
> project on a GT-42 running RT-11 on DECtape. Started the build at about
> 17:00 and it usually finished up at about 08:00 the following
> morning. (And, if you thought Windows 98 was slow to boot...)
> 
> The tape could be spun into a trash can, stomped down with a boot,
> covered with dirt, re-wound onto the reels, and be read without
> error. It was random access and all data was recorded redundantly with

Ah ja.. in case of need you could even run the tape reels by hand,
say if a reel motor broke. Overengineered in the xtreme. A friend of
mine still has some running in his little museum. 

-- 
Wilko Bulte				wilko at FreeBSD.org