Re: Blast From Past - IBM 670 Mag Drum Computer

From	Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid>
Newsgroups	comp.os.linux.misc
Subject	Re: Blast From Past - IBM 670 Mag Drum Computer
Date	2025-07-06 00:20 +0000
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<104cfh8$1p2q2$3@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References	<KCCdnfVpqdbBZPj1nZ2dnZfqn_WdnZ2d@giganews.com> <slrn106csda.1c51.trepidation@vps.jonz.net> <mco1b2F2dvgU3@mid.individual.net> <vNWdnfCkkbY9X_X1nZ2dnZfqnPudnZ2d@giganews.com> <tN9aQ.36360$V4j4.27196@fx46.iad>

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On Sat, 05 Jul 2025 13:30:01 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

> The customer would shut down everything at the end of the day, and
> start things back up the next morning. The machine was quite flaky.
> When the CE came in to investigate, he pulled one of the main
> circuit boards and a VLSI chip fell off it. The thermal cycling had
> caused the chips to literally walk right out of their sockets.

I remember coming back to work after Christmas break at a former employer. 
All the laser printers in the various offices had been turned off over the 
break, and when they were switched on again, there was a spate of 
failures. One of our hardware technicians sent round a memo suggesting 
they be left on, so their automatic power-saving mode could do its thing.

The “big” computers were noticeably more vulnerable than little micros in 
one respect: sensitivity to power fluctuations. The least little brownout 
and our VAX machines would be down for about the 15 minutes it took to 
recheck and remount their filesystems and go through the rest of the boot 
process. Whereas the little machines on our desks wouldn’t even notice a 
thing.

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Thread

Blast From Past - IBM 670 Mag Drum Computer c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-07-02 23:30 -0400
  Re: Blast From Past - IBM 670 Mag Drum Computer Allodoxaphobia <trepidation@example.net> - 2025-07-03 12:03 +0000
    Re: Blast From Past - IBM 670 Mag Drum Computer rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-07-03 18:43 +0000
      Re: Blast From Past - IBM 670 Mag Drum Computer c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-07-05 02:14 -0400
        Re: Blast From Past - IBM 670 Mag Drum Computer Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2025-07-05 13:30 +0000
          Re: Blast From Past - IBM 670 Mag Drum Computer rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-07-05 18:05 +0000
          Re: Blast From Past - IBM 670 Mag Drum Computer Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> - 2025-07-05 13:25 -0700
          Re: Blast From Past - IBM 670 Mag Drum Computer Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-07-06 00:20 +0000
            Re: Blast From Past - IBM 670 Mag Drum Computer rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-07-06 03:38 +0000
          Re: Blast From Past - IBM 670 Mag Drum Computer John Ames <commodorejohn@gmail.com> - 2025-07-07 09:09 -0700
            Re: Blast From Past - IBM 670 Mag Drum Computer c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-07-07 17:52 -0400
              Re: Blast From Past - IBM 670 Mag Drum Computer rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-07-08 03:30 +0000
                Re: Blast From Past - IBM 670 Mag Drum Computer c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-07-08 01:55 -0400
                Re: Blast From Past - IBM 670 Mag Drum Computer c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-07-08 22:36 -0400

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