Frank Letts writes:

>Also, under stupid computer tricks - the first 3000 I installed was
>an illegal configuration.  Advertised, ordered, but not approved by the
>lab.  It had 16kb memory, 5mb disc, and an 8-terminal mux.  The system
>got logrithmicly busier as 2, then 3, then four people logged on.
>Page faulting like crazy, etc,  then it would get quiet, just after it
>swapped out the disc driver.

I've heard this story applied to so many operating systems that I'm
convinced it's an urban legend. It's always told about the early days of
of the the raconteur's favorite operating system. But every OS design I
know of would preclude this from happening, if only because drivers are
generally integrated into the (non-swappable) OS kernel either when the
kernel is built or at initial system load. It's very difficult for an OS
designer to forget that code that runs at interrupt time must be
memory-resident. Far more likely in this specific case is that the heavy
I/O load exposed a timing or concurrency problem.

These stories have been popular since the early days of data processing.
Here's a selection from "The Programmer's ABCs", _Datamation_, March 1976:

   N is the Noon. Much more than dreary night
   The noontime hour sees rise the rotting dead,
   Who from their wooden cells go muttering forth.
   Then will you hear them speak of ancient wrongs,
   Of projects cancelled, systems vague and strange,
   Of intricate enhancements ill-designed,
   And long-lost deadlines. Then also do they chart
   Forgotten job-streams flowing in the night
   To since-discarded listings. Men they curse
   Who plucked Procrustean schedules from the air
   And then departed, called to high estate
   In distant companies long since forgot.
   Great deeds they now recall, and happier days
   And rusted hardware, powered once again
   By memory and misted rosy dream.
   Delay lines fill, and vacuum tubes warm up
   And heroes (greater than the men we know)
   Who never from their standards did depart
   Stand forth among them, calling them to war.
   Then should the Living shudder and know fear
   And tremble at the muttering of the Dead.
   But hoary Time, in envy lest these shades
   Usurp the little space of those who breathe
   Now moves the clock unto the hour of one
   And send them back to work 'til coffee-break.

        -- David H.H. Diamond


-- Bruce


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