30 Jun
2016
30 Jun
'16
12:41 p.m.
AFAIK the later ESS switches include a 3B machine but
it only handles
some administrative functions, with most of the the actual call
processing being performed in dedicated hardware.
That is correct. The 3B2 was an administrative appendage.
Though Unix itself didn't get into switches, Unix people did
have a significant influence on the OS architecture for
ESS 5. Bob Morris, having observed some of the tribulations of
that project, suggested that CS Research build a demonstration
switch. Lee McMahon, Ken Thompson, and Joe Condon spearheaded
the effort and enlisted Gerard Holzmann's help in verification
(ironically, the only application of Gerhard's methods to
software made in his own department). They called the system,
which was very different from Unix, TPC--The Phone Company. It
actually controlled many of our phones for some years. The
cleanliness of McMahon's architecture, which ran on a PDP-11,
caught the attention of Indian Hill and spurred a major
reworking of the ESS design.
Doug
30 Jun
30 Jun
12:53 p.m.
New subject: A Talk on Early Unix
Ah yes, the 3B’s. Running the state university computer department (in NJ) we got a lot
of 3B’s (3B2, 3B5, 3B20).
The 3B20 was definitely a piece of telephone equipment. They way you powered it down was
to turn a knob to off and then hold a button down for three seconds until it went twang
and turned off. Anybody remember the original bell 303 modems? That’s how you’d put
them into loopback. Used to have to do this from time to time on our old ARPANET modems
at the request of the NOC.
The 3B5 was an interesting machine. We found out how rugged it was when a drain pipe
broke over the top of it (the Rutgers main computer center was underground under a court
yard between the twin towers of the Hill Center). The thing survived a deluge of water
being dumped into it.
1:02 p.m.
New subject: A Talk on Early Unix
On Thu, Jun 30, 2016 at 8:41 AM, Doug McIlroy <doug(a)cs.dartmouth.edu> wrote:
[snip]
Though Unix itself didn't get into switches, Unix people did
have a significant influence on the OS architecture for
ESS 5. Bob Morris, having observed some of the tribulations of
that project, suggested that CS Research build a demonstration
switch. Lee McMahon, Ken Thompson, and Joe Condon spearheaded
the effort and enlisted Gerard Holzmann's help in verification
(ironically, the only application of Gerhard's methods to
software made in his own department). They called the system,
which was very different from Unix, TPC--The Phone Company. It
actually controlled many of our phones for some years. The
cleanliness of McMahon's architecture, which ran on a PDP-11,
caught the attention of Indian Hill and spurred a major
reworking of the ESS design.
I'm curious if the name "TPC" was an allusion to the apocryphal telephone
company of the same name in the 1967 movie, "The President's Analyst"?
- Dan C.
1 Jul
1 Jul
3:48 a.m.
New subject: A Talk on Early Unix
On Jun 30, 2016, at 5:53 AM, Ronald Natalie
<ron(a)ronnatalie.com> wrote:
Ah yes, the 3B’s. Running the state university computer department (in NJ) we got a lot
of 3B’s (3B2, 3B5, 3B20).
We had the misfortune of being donated a 3B4000.
The 3B20 was definitely a piece of telephone
equipment.
The 3B4000 had a 3B20 inside that acted as the bootstrap controller (ala the micro-pdp
inside the larger Vaxen doing similar duty). Most impressively, said 3B20, with the CPU
and IO power of a match stick, was also the Ethernet portal for the entire 3B4000. It
couldn't even come close to keeping up with its 10 mbit/s NIC.
AT&T flogged this abomination to us as the core of our "distributed network
environment." Actually, they flogged it to us as a "1 million dollar donation
in kind" because they knew nobody would buy that piece of shit, but this way they got
the tax write off, and our beloved University president got to grin madly at a press
conference.
When they replaced it with a half-dozen 3B2-xxx servers (about a year later) we at least
got a marginal improvement in network throughput. But they cancelled that out with RFS.
Basically, the 3B2s (and the 3B4K by extension) were designed to hang off the side of the
4ESS and collect toll call records for billing purposes. Anyone remember Tuxedo?
The 3B5 was an interesting machine. We found out how
rugged it was when a drain pipe broke over the top of it (the Rutgers main computer center
was underground under a court yard between the twin towers of the Hill Center). The
thing survived a deluge of water being dumped into it.
I don't think we ever landed one of those in the shop. It seemed like an intriguing
bit of gear back when I looked at it. Decades ago, now.
--lyndon
2 Jul
2 Jul
1:57 a.m.
New subject: A Talk on Early Unix
Tuxedo, yes.
I thought, still think it is kinda cool.
I used it at telecom nz, we where trying to userp the hegemony of CICS,
and from what I heard later - failed.
this would have been 1997, it was still going, owned by BEA.
-Steve
On 1 Jul 2016, at 04:48, Lyndon Nerenberg
<lyndon(a)orthanc.ca> wrote:
On Jun 30, 2016, at 5:53 AM, Ronald Natalie
<ron(a)ronnatalie.com> wrote:
Ah yes, the 3B’s. Running the state university computer department (in NJ) we got a lot
of 3B’s (3B2, 3B5, 3B20).
We had the misfortune of being donated a 3B4000.
The 3B20 was definitely a piece of telephone
equipment.
The 3B4000 had a 3B20 inside that acted as the bootstrap controller (ala the micro-pdp
inside the larger Vaxen doing similar duty). Most impressively, said 3B20, with the CPU
and IO power of a match stick, was also the Ethernet portal for the entire 3B4000. It
couldn't even come close to keeping up with its 10 mbit/s NIC.
AT&T flogged this abomination to us as the core of our "distributed network
environment." Actually, they flogged it to us as a "1 million dollar donation
in kind" because they knew nobody would buy that piece of shit, but this way they got
the tax write off, and our beloved University president got to grin madly at a press
conference.
When they replaced it with a half-dozen 3B2-xxx servers (about a year later) we at least
got a marginal improvement in network throughput. But they cancelled that out with RFS.
Basically, the 3B2s (and the 3B4K by extension) were designed to hang off the side of the
4ESS and collect toll call records for billing purposes. Anyone remember Tuxedo?
The 3B5 was an interesting machine. We found
out how rugged it was when a drain pipe broke over the top of it (the Rutgers main
computer center was underground under a court yard between the twin towers of the Hill
Center). The thing survived a deluge of water being dumped into it.
I don't think we ever landed one of those in the shop. It seemed like an intriguing
bit of gear back when I looked at it. Decades ago, now.
--lyndon 
3 Jul
3 Jul
1:17 a.m.
New subject: A Talk on Early Unix
Lyndon Nerenberg <lyndon(a)orthanc.ca> writes:
[snip]
Basically, the 3B2s (and the 3B4K by extension) were
designed to hang off the side of the 4ESS and collect toll call records for billing
purposes. Anyone remember Tuxedo?
[snip]
--lyndon
Tuxedo, the database?? FML buffers, etc.. That Tuxedo???
If so, Ya, the system I worked on when I was at AT&T / Lucent in the
mid-90's to early 2000s used it. The product was a traffic management
system called NTMOS or NetMinder/NTM. We had the source code to the
version of Tuxedo used by the product, and ran it on the Vax initially
and then ported it to the Mips based Star servers [Tandems], i386 based
NCR systems, probably the Sun Sparc at some point, and lastly the HPs.
--
Brad Spencer - brad(a)anduin.eldar.org - KC8VKS
http://anduin.eldar.org - & - http://anduin.ipv6.eldar.org [IPv6 only]
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days inactive
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5 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
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Brad Spencer -
Dan Cross -
Doug McIlroy -
Lyndon Nerenberg -
Ronald Natalie -
Steve Simon