15 Dec
2017
15 Dec
'17
11:19 p.m.
On Fri, 15 Dec 2017, Paul Winalski wrote:
After the 11/730 came out, Dick Hustvedt (lead VMS
architect and
engineer) and Stan Rabinowitz put together an elaborate April fool's
hack. On April 1, the 11/730 in the VMS group's machine room had next
to it a pedestal with a sundial on it and a ribbon cable leading into
the 11/730, with sales brochures placed next to it. The sales
brochures announced the SD730 Fixed Head Solar Horologue, a sundial
with a photocell for detecting noon that could be used to
automatically set the 11/730's time-of-day clock. The thing actually
worked--it was connected via a UNIBUS real-time device controller, and
Hustvedt had written a VMS device driver for it.
Cripes; I remember that story! Wasn't there a GIF of the brochure somewhere?
Ah, here's a reference:
https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=76256&cid=6805264
along with the dreaded microfortnights...
(Sad what happened to Dick.)
--
Dave Horsfall DTM (VK2KFU) "Those who don't understand security will
suffer."