From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 7/3/25 2:43 PM, rbowman wrote:

On 3 Jul 2025 12:03:55 GMT, Allodoxaphobia wrote:

Plus 2000 pounds of airconditioning.

Don't knock it. The shrine to the IBM 360/30 was the only building on
campus with A/C.

HA HA ... probably so !!! :-)

I remember those old 'data centers' - COLD COLD !
Everyone wore jackets and fuzzy (wool, not synth)
socks.

The original transistor CPUs were NOT designed for
efficient heat dissipation ... so you needed a large
flow of very cold air.

Remember the zillion "IC-looking" modules that made
up the 360 CPU ? Pry them open and there was usually
a discrete transistor, maybe a couple resistors and
perhaps a diode crushed into each. They got hot.

Synth ... plastic builds-up static charge .....
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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 2025-07-05, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:

I remember those old 'data centers' - COLD COLD !
Everyone wore jackets and fuzzy (wool, not synth)
socks.

There was a belief that computer rooms had to be ice-cold
for computers to operate properly. Most people took this
to extremes, hence the need for heavy sweaters even on hot
summer days.

In actual fact, it was usually possible to find a happy medium
where both the people and the computers were comfortable - but
a lot of people couldn't handle the concept. I remember getting
into "thermostat wars" when visiting customer sites. I would
sneak the thermostat up into the comfortable zone, and when
the customer staff walked in they'd crank it right back down.

Within a certain range, it was not the partitular temperature
that caused problems, but variations in temperature. I once
worked in a small room where the air conditioner was as big
as the computer. You couldn't leave papers lying around
because the fans in the air conditioner would blow them
all over the place. The customer would shut down everything
at the end of the day, and start things back up the next
morning. The machine was quite flaky. When the CE came
in to investigate, he pulled one of the main circuit boards
and a VLSI chip fell off it. The thermal cycling had caused
the chips to literally walk right out of their sockets.
Once the customer left everything on 24/7, the problems
went away.
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey
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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Sat, 05 Jul 2025 13:30:01 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

In actual fact, it was usually possible to find a happy medium where
both the people and the computers were comfortable - but a lot of people couldn't handle the concept. I remember getting into "thermostat wars"
when visiting customer sites. I would sneak the thermostat up into the comfortable zone, and when the customer staff walked in they'd crank it
right back down.

The company I work for is housed in an old factory. While that lends a
certain charm like the Boston area tech companies in old mill buildings it also is a HVAC nightmare. I think every HVAC company in town took a shot
at it with mixed success. To avoid roasting the second floor occupants the programming area usually was a refrigerator with DIY cardboard deflectors covering the vents. Flannel in August was de rigeur.

otoh in the winter we were toasty while other parts of the building were trying to type in mittens.

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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc



On 7/5/25 06:30, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

On 2025-07-05, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:

I remember those old 'data centers' - COLD COLD !
Everyone wore jackets and fuzzy (wool, not synth)
socks.

There was a belief that computer rooms had to be ice-cold
for computers to operate properly. Most people took this
to extremes, hence the need for heavy sweaters even on hot
summer days.

In actual fact, it was usually possible to find a happy medium
where both the people and the computers were comfortable - but
a lot of people couldn't handle the concept. I remember getting
into "thermostat wars" when visiting customer sites. I would
sneak the thermostat up into the comfortable zone, and when
the customer staff walked in they'd crank it right back down.

Within a certain range, it was not the partitular temperature
that caused problems, but variations in temperature. I once
worked in a small room where the air conditioner was as big
as the computer. You couldn't leave papers lying around
because the fans in the air conditioner would blow them
all over the place. The customer would shut down everything
at the end of the day, and start things back up the next
morning. The machine was quite flaky. When the CE came
in to investigate, he pulled one of the main circuit boards
and a VLSI chip fell off it. The thermal cycling had caused
the chips to literally walk right out of their sockets.
Once the customer left everything on 24/7, the problems
went away.

Curiousle enought the change in temperature persisted into
the Personal Computer era when we had to be sure that the chips
were all seated and that was in a cool running Amiga 68000 machine.

bliss- Dell Precision 7730- PCLOS 2025.07- Linux 6.12.35- Plasma 5.27.11
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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Sat, 05 Jul 2025 13:30:01 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

The customer would shut down everything at the end of the day, and
start things back up the next morning. The machine was quite flaky.
When the CE came in to investigate, he pulled one of the main
circuit boards and a VLSI chip fell off it. The thermal cycling had
caused the chips to literally walk right out of their sockets.

I remember coming back to work after Christmas break at a former employer.
All the laser printers in the various offices had been turned off over the break, and when they were switched on again, there was a spate of
failures. One of our hardware technicians sent round a memo suggesting
they be left on, so their automatic power-saving mode could do its thing.

The “big” computers were noticeably more vulnerable than little micros in one respect: sensitivity to power fluctuations. The least little brownout
and our VAX machines would be down for about the 15 minutes it took to
recheck and remount their filesystems and go through the rest of the boot process. Whereas the little machines on our desks wouldn’t even notice a thing.
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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Sun, 6 Jul 2025 00:20:56 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

The “big” computers were noticeably more vulnerable than little micros
in one respect: sensitivity to power fluctuations. The least little
brownout and our VAX machines would be down for about the 15 minutes it
took to recheck and remount their filesystems and go through the rest of
the boot process. Whereas the little machines on our desks wouldn’t even notice a thing.

We noticed an odd thing. Some, but not all, of the desktops had UPSs.
During the occasional 'oh shit' flicker the machines without a UPS or
those with a good UPS didn't have a problem. Those with a bad UPS went
down hard.
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