A few comments on supposedly 'ancient' AT&Tware

[Gunsul]

> 
> Ah, yes, the 3B20!  This machine was available in two configurations:
> Simplex and Duplex <hence the acronyms 3B20S and 3B20D>.  It started
> its life as the core of the AT&T ESS switch family, usually as a 3B20D.
> Some bright soul realized the potential, threw tty support and the
> full UNIX (it was already running a subset, I think) on board, and
> presto!  A multi-user UNIX system.  We've been running a 3B20S for 
> about 8 years now, and the monster, while slow (.95 mips), is remarkably
> bulletproof.  Its UPS consists of 4 large AC Delco vehicle batteries.
> We recently had a major power problem when the main campus step-down
> transformer blew.  Almost every computer system on campus was unavail-
> able for about a day and a half.  All, that is, except for the "ancient",
> "archaic", and "obsolete" 3B20S; it barely blinked as it switched to
> batteries.  I like a hardy machine!
> 
> -- 
>     | Wes Morgan, not speaking for | {any major site}!ukma!ukecc!morgan | 
>     | the University of Kentucky's |        morgan at engr.uky.edu         |
>     | Engineering Computing Center |   morgan%engr.uky.edu at UKCC.BITNET  | 
>      Lint is the compiler's only means of dampening the programmer's ego.

. . . and the 3B20S also had a Model 1 and 2!

Two months ago, failing to find ANYONE that wanted ol' mgweed and mgwess,
two 3B20S Model 1's (Serial numbers 0048 and 0089, respectively), rolled
into the trailer of a trash truck and were hauled off to AT&T Central Region
Junking...  Following close behind were the 14, 300Mb CDC 'washing-machines'.

No AT&T location and no local schools would even touch the ol' machines.
They were even offered as circuit packs only and still nobody wanted them.
Kind of a sad day...  We still have 3, 3B20S's (Model 2) with external
drives on them and two 3B20S's with the built-in Winchester drives
(Model 2?).

Weed and wess were replaced with a nice 3B2/1000 Model 80, a much more
efficient machine, but not nearly as impressive when you walk into
the computer room!

Phil Gunsul -  AT&T IS Montgomery IL.