s X-NEWS: spcvxb alt.folklore.computers: 4239Relay-Version: VMS News - V6.0 10/3/90 VAX/VMS V5.3; site spcvxb.spc.edu m Path: spcvxb.spc.edu!njin!princeton!udel!wuarchive!uwm.edu!bionet!agate!linus!linus!mwunix.mitre.org!jcmorris " Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers+ Subject: Re: 3/4" tapes (was: 7 track tape) $ Message-ID: <122860@linus.mitre.org>, From: jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org (Joe Morris) Date: 10 Oct 90 21:19:59 GMT0 Reply-To: jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org (Joe Morris) Sender: usenet@linus.mitre.org0 References: <1990Oct9.190941.595@spcvxb.spc.edu># Organization: The Mitre Corporation 	 Lines: 44   P In a recent article terry@spcvxb.spc.edu (Terry Kennedy, Operations Mgr) writes:   I >  Does anyone remember the IBM "Data Cell"? It was introduced around the H >same time as the 360, as I recall. Imagine a cross between flypaper andK >a tie rack 8-). It used long strips of (maybe) 2" tape and would go fondle H >the desired strip onto the read/write station on demand (or maybe afterK >being repaired). Standard procedure was to read the full tape set once per B >shift, or the beast would start sticking with disastrous results.  E There are still some of us at SHARE who wear the old data cell strips B as badges to show that we support unsupported systems.  One point E frequently made is that a nice smooth strip cannot be properly called D a data cell strip; it must be folded, spindled, and mutilated beforeD it can be considered authentic.  One favorite (ha!) nickname for theD Data Cell (officially the "2321") was "noodle picker" because of theL way it retrieved the strips from the carrier.  That was when it accidentallyG worked as designed; more commonly (it seemed) it was called the "noodle G stuffer" for what it tried to do with the strips  when it was finished.   I The device was IBM's attempt to provide a storage device for massive data G bases which could tolerate significant delays in retrieving data.  Nice J idea, but the hardware would have made Rube Goldberg envious.  Perhaps theL best summary of the problem was an emergency software fix (PTF) IBM releasedM for the online test procedure (OLTEP) because the diagnostics were destroying  the pick finger.  I Robert Rannie of Nothern Illinois University has a standard spiel when he  hands out an old strip:   J   "This strip contains 200 K of official Atomic Energy Commission secrets.H    (Note that I said 'Atomic Energy Commission', not 'Nuclear RegulatoryB    Commission'.)  If you can read them, you deserve to have them."  J The strips don't really have AEC secrets on them, but the spiel summarizes0 the frustration of users saddled with the units.  L Best use I found for one was several years ago when I was at a SHARE meetingJ in Denver.  Several of us went to the Traildust, a steak house in ArapahoeN which forbids male customers from wearing ties: if a customer is found wearingJ one it is cut off and stapled to the walls.  The net result is that unlessK they've taken it down there is a data cell strip attached to the wall there & with my business card stapled on it...  
 Joe Morris