6 Feb
2021
6 Feb
'21
10:55 a.m.
On Fri, Feb 5, 2021 at 3:50 PM Dave Horsfall <dave(a)horsfall.org> wrote:
Ah, the RK05 - evil incarnate. I mean, a disk drive
exposed to the air?
Out There Somewhere [tm] is a picture of a human hair compared with the
head clearance; yikes!
IIRC, the picture showed that even a smoke particle or a fingerprint is
bigger than the gap, never mind the hair.
Once I had to take a PDP-11 accounting application from $EMPLOYER's NJ
office to a customer in KC. It fit on a single RK, so I took two identical
disks just in case. This was in the late 70s. They were already X-raying
carry-on luggage then, and I had a Bad Feeling about what might happen, so
I said no.
"No problem. Does it open up?"
"Well, yes, but dust will ruin it."
"Well, what should we do?"
"Trust me?"
"Well -- okay. Go ahead."
Of course when I got there both RKs were scrambled completely, so I took
the next plane home. The next weekend, a colleague took the application on
the same flight. On floppies. Floppy floppies. Lots and lots of them.
It installed fine. Of course it took him all day and much of the following
day.
John Cowan http://vrici.lojban.org/~cowan cowan(a)ccil.org
You cannot enter here. Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back!
Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go! --Gandalf