[rescue] Resurrecting an IBM RS/6000 model 590

[Francisco Javier Mesa-Martinez]

On Tue, 17 Feb 2004, Jonathan C. Patschke wrote:

>
> On Tue, 17 Feb 2004, Dave McGuire wrote:
>
> > > A CRAY T3D may be available, but I dunno if I get anywhere near it I
> > > will let you know.
> >
> >    I'll be there with bells on...and if you're lucky, pants!
>
> Oh, the humanity!
>
> You need to stop hoarding those things.  I'm sure Teresa and I could put
> one to good use.

I doubt this machine can be of much use, the front end is pretty much
unobtanium, the OS too, and I think it may be water cooled. At least when
I saw it last year they told me it needed a special generator stuff, I
doubt this could be used at home, even with extensive electrical
modifications. It is however a pretty neat looking machine.

My advisor still has an original CRAY-1 manual, and the actual evaluation
from an IBM "spy" sent to a presentation by Cray. It is an interesting
read that I need to get my behind to scan (I dunno if there may be some
NDA stuff, but this is dated 1976 I think so...).

Thankfully I still keep in touch with some of my mentors, I love spending
time with old school computer architects. Most American kids are too
interested in making the quick bucks and are not willing to hear the
lessons some of these magnificent American engineers have to share. I also
get great goodies so I do not complain. I have a comlpete TERA GaAs
chipset sitting on my desk :-).