Jeff/Tony,

Thank you for an enjoyable ride through the past (one, I might say, that parallels in one aspect or another that of many of your readers)!

And thank you for providing the means for all of us to exchange information and bits of humor.

There is a bittersweet feeling each time one of the gang leaves; sorrow at seeing them go and the ending of a story, but a happiness that they're off to some new adventure (or just kicking back and watching their toenails grow).

You will be missed.

Jack Connor

-----Original Message-----
From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jeff Kell
Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 11:10 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] The last chapter...

On 8/13/2013 10:43 PM, Tony B. Shepherd wrote:
> On 8/13/2013 7:09 PM, Jeff Kell wrote:
>> On 8/13/2013 5:13 PM, Tony B. Shepherd wrote:
>>> Hey there!
>>>
>>> On 8/13/2013 2:20 PM, Jeff Kell wrote:
>>>> Just wrote this up for our campus newsletter.  What a ride!
>> I have to open this response to the list...
> //blush mode on   :)
>
>> Tony has been lurking for some time on the list :)  He was my
>> original mentor at UTC, designed the student database (IMAGE) from
>> scratch, and formulated the original SPL-supplied COBOL interface we
>> incorporated for terminal input and database calls.  They later
>> evolved, at least the COBOL database bits, into macro supported
>> expansions of straightforward database calls.
> Desperation can be a powerful motivator :)
>
> I had transferred over from UT Knoxville, and they had done some
> pioneering work there. I had the benefit of a lot of exposure to
> formal teams doing it the right way the third time :) UTK was trying
> to put in something using 4 CRTs with 12 lines of 40 characters,
> programmed in 360 Assembly language on a 360/40 under DOS. I escaped
> just in time to UTC ;)
>
> UTC had an onerous lease on an IBM 360/30, and we were able to wiggle
> our way into a new machine - we thought an HP 3000 CX. By the time the
> dust settled, a HP 3000 Series II was actually delivered.
>
> We had some extremely talented people, backed by a wonderful set of
> administrators and departments. And we were often just plain lucky.
> For instance, lots of our cables were pulled by the National Guard as
> a weekend drill, and purchased at about a dime on the dollar from Federal surplus.
>
>> Tony was miles ahead... very forward thinking.  It was a design that . . .
> Tony was at the right place at the right time with the right people.
> For example, I happened to see a newspaper article (remember those?)
> about a 106 year old woman (in Florida?) who was being harassed by the
> state - for not being in school yet. Something about 2 digit years :)
> So we made our dates 8 digit binary, S9(8) comp in Cobol, against all
> advice from the experts. I hear Y2K was pretty easy at UTC.
>
>> I threw in a few bits here and there (assembler optimization of much . . .
> Jeff is being very modest. He knew that box far better than I. We had
> arranged a spare pack in case a hard drive needed one - they were hard
> to get then - and Jeff could come in and use it - standalone - off hours.
>
> One day we left it up for the CE to perform maintenance. He was
> shocked to see the messages come up in Olde English - Jeff had patched
> the binaries of MPE! "Hark! Yon scribe hath depleted the supply of
> parchment on LDEV 6" was one of them I believe. All of us enjoyed the
> joke :)
>
> I got the idea for the interface layers from watching re-writes of a
> lot of assembly language code at UTK. UTC's initial implementation was
> in Cobol - copy modules and performs. Then Jeff started doing his SPL
> magic and turned them into high performance modules rather than defensive mechanisms.
>
>> But I digress.  I can't take the limelight of our 3000 history
>> without bringing in my mentor :) Jeff
> Thank you Jeff, but it took all of us.
>
> I'd also like to mention Dr. John True. John became the director of the
> Computer Center when I became the assistant director. John passed away in
> 1998, and at the time Jeff wrote:
>> John was on the Interex Board of Directors during his tenure here at UTC
>> and was very active in the HP user's group community at the time.  I
>> can't begin to express a proper tribute to him as I would not be where I
>> am now without his support and encouragement.  He was a great man and a
>> wonderful manager.  He will be sorely missed.  His contributions to the
>> 3000 community were significant, but pre-dated the electronic age where
>> anything of significance could be found here on HP3000-L.
> I replied:
>> John was a good egg.  He and I took some huge risks career-wise and came
>> out ahead.  He was good to work with ( I hope he could say the same :).  I
>> can claim credit for some of the gory details, but it was John who sold it
>> to the powers that be.  It couldn't have come to pass without him.  He made
>> some very large differences at UTC.
> //blush mode off   :)
>
> Back to the shadows. Peace.

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