From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from lists.gentoo.org (pigeon.gentoo.org [208.92.234.80]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256/256 bits) key-exchange X25519 server-signature RSA-PSS (4096 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by finch.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 12697158042 for ; Fri, 15 Nov 2024 09:52:08 +0000 (UTC) Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id D9963E09BF; Fri, 15 Nov 2024 09:52:02 +0000 (UTC) Received: from smtp.hosts.co.uk (smtp.hosts.co.uk [85.233.160.19]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256/256 bits) key-exchange X25519 server-signature RSA-PSS (4096 bits) server-digest SHA256) (No client certificate requested) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 922C7E098A for ; Fri, 15 Nov 2024 09:52:02 +0000 (UTC) Received: from host86-133-145-45.range86-133.btcentralplus.com ([86.133.145.45] helo=[192.168.1.99]) by smtp.hosts.co.uk with esmtpa (Exim) (envelope-from ) id 1tBszg-000000004rZ-6Vvv for gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org; Fri, 15 Nov 2024 09:52:00 +0000 Message-ID: Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2024 09:51:58 +0000 Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org X-Auto-Response-Suppress: DR, RN, NRN, OOF, AutoReply MIME-Version: 1.0 User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Subject: Re: [OT] Re: [gentoo-user] Seagate hard drives with dual actuators. To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org References: <2a0a3dca-67b8-47a6-9331-d6f2899267fb@youngman.org.uk> <90cde15f-5ed8-ca09-2f16-8782d129df9f@gmail.com> <3516398.QJadu78ljV@cube> Content-Language: en-GB From: Wols Lists In-Reply-To: <3516398.QJadu78ljV@cube> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Archives-Salt: 6ebf9257-f35c-40f9-86e9-f98b16131bab X-Archives-Hash: 3686be91476bde6842fe1cf23e6f05ac On 15/11/2024 00:18, Peter Humphrey wrote: > In the 70s and 80s the national grid control centre in this country used three > 2MB disks, any one or two of which could be online at any time. I can't tell > you the platter size, but they were mounted in cabinets about 5' long, 3'6" > tall and 2' wide. Each. Our training included servicing the air circulation > system and its filters. I still remember the aluminium-alloy casings. When I started in the early 80s, the company I worked for had those 19" platters. We had one drive cabinet with one fixed and one removable platter, 16MB each for a 32MB drive. And, iirc, an 80MB drive. When we got one of those 300MB drives with "19 platters" disk packs, wow! If anybody thinks those sizes don't quite make sense, I think the platters actually stored 16MB/side, but one side per pack was used for tracking data. So the 80BM drive had 3 physical platters (5 usable sides), and the the 300MB had 10 physical platters (19 usable sides). I got contracted out to an oil exploration company that had a Perkin Elmer mainframe and a room of those 300 MB drives ... And wrote a plotting program - in Fortran - that plotted rock cross-sections. My programs always forced explicit declaration, but stuck with the implicit conventions, so when I wanted variables "left" and "right" I was wondering what to call them. I settled on SINIST and DEXTER, and of course, when my boss at the client looked at my code he'd studied latin ... those were the days ... > Great things be could achieved with assembler and first-class people. > More efficient than just throwing money at a problem until it gives > in. The problem with that is that it forces everyone else to just throw money at it too ... We're using Oracle and BigQuery at work, and oh my god do I hanker for Pick. 32 users hammering a 1GB database, with a MIPS3000 processor in the database server (the same chip that powered the Playstation 1). Even when the hard disk was going 19 to the dozen, the users never complained that it was slow - they might have remarked, because it was noticeable, but not at the "go make a cup of tea" level... > Indeed, the best. Mind you, nostalgia isn't what it used to be... Of course... Cheers, Wol