OB_3-phase anecdote:
Shortly before I started teaching at the college (so I got all of the
details secondhand), . . .
They had a PDP (I don't even know what model) that they used for the
prograamming classes. But, they had constant problems with the
[after-market?] disk drive, so it was down a lot. Not good when students
need it for their homework. One semester, it was down almost all
semester.
So, they decided to replace it with microcomputers. They sold it to a
local school district, and bought a room full of 5150s. Plus an
unreliable network ("can support up to 128 simultaaneous users"; "oh,
we've never connected more than 8 at a time", and a single user could
bring the network to its knees).
The school district was thrilled to get the PDP. Then they had PG&E set
up the power for it. Some PG&E technicians did not know the difference
between "Delta" and "Wye"/"Y" three phase! Seriously dsmaged the
machine.
PG&E bought a replacement machine for the school district, on the
condition that all involved go along with a false story that it had been a
lighning strike!
I started teaching at the college. Fortran, "Micorcomputer Disk Operating
Systems", and later BASIC, PC Assembly language, C, and even COBOL.
We had a room full of 5150s, and used the IBM Microsoft Fortran and COBOL.
There are some problems with the first version of the IBM/Microsoft PC
Fortran, but it was OK for teaching beginning programming.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred [email protected]
