On Wed, 2008-06-18 at 07:00 -0700, Michael Harpe wrote: > On Time Tunnel what you're actually seeing are components from Army > surplus computer hardware. Specifically pieces of a SAGE > (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) computer. In its day it was the > physically largest computer ever built. SAGE was an air defense > computer network that was the forerunner of today's air traffic > control system. > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi_Automatic_Ground_Environment Amusing detail from that page: Up to 150 operators could be supported from each center. Each SD operator console was equipped with an integral cigarette lighter and ashtray. The console with everything... I wonder if anybody made a system that included a real kitchen sink? ;-) > Irwin Allen bought the stuff for use on his sci-fi shows. You see the > same stuff on Lost In Space and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Neat. Just to double check that we're both thinking of the same consoles, I did a bit of hunting, and found some pictures [1] on this page [2] that referred to them by the same name. The *big* consoles right in the foreground. 1. http://www.angelfire.com/scifi/B205/images/TI_B205.jpg 2. http://www.angelfire.com/scifi/B205/onscreen.html They certainly did feature in a lot of things, I even saw them in one of the Austin Powers films. They certainly fitted the stereotypical view of *big* computing. Now out-stripped by a wrist watch. -- [tim@localhost ~]$ uname -r 2.6.25.6-55.fc9.i686 Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I read messages from the public lists. -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
