On Fri, 19 Jun 2020 11:20:28 +0200
"A. Dumas"  wrote:

>Op 19-6-2020 04:00, John Carter wrote:
>> My tenure with CDC was 1968 to 1991.
>>
>> I was a field analyst working at Cape Canaveral optomizing the Real-
>> Time Computer system software that tracked any vehicle launched from
>> The Cape.  I had the opportunity to watch my software arm and
>> destruct a few Delta rockets that went out of safety envelope. I had
>> the blockhouse duty for the Apollo 7,8,9,10 and 11. I was one of
>> those guys in a white shirt and undone tie sitting at a console that
>> monitored the range radar data.  It was fun and exciting.
>>   I also did consulting at the Deep Underwater Torpedo Test Range on
>> Andros Island working with the Royal Navy.
>>
>> In December 1968, I was sent to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin where
>> Seymore Cray was doig the final trsting on  7600 S/n 1 for both
>> hardware and software.  I was running some benchmarks for Florida
>> State University on the 7600. The software was setup with a six-pack
>> of PPU s in a unit record configuration feeding the CPU and it was
>> one user at a time, make your run, et the output and find a place to
>> evaluate it until you make corrections and got back in line.  I had a
>> code from FSU that ran on their 6400, but for some reason would not
>> compile error-free.  I tried several times and finally threw the
>> listing into a trash barrel with great gusto.  Well Cray saw this and
>> asked what the problem was.  I dug the listing out of the barrel and
>> showed him.  He said that's not right, something is wrong here ther's
>> nothing wrong with that syntax. He called a guy over to look at the
>> problem.  This guy had a big beer belly, and a worn sport coat with
>> worn leather patches on the elbows.  He introduced himself as Garner
>> McCrossen who I was told later by one of the ther workers ther to be
>> the world's foremost xpert in Fortran compilers.  anyway he scratched
>> his head and looked at a couple of listings and then halted the
>> merry-go-round and did some patching nd things were fine.But I was
>> overwhelmed to have had some encounter with two major players in the
>> industry.
>>
>> Sorry to ramble, but your 7600 brought back this memory for me.
>
>
>Fantastic, thanks.

Ditto!
Always pleased to hear tales of this sort of thing - helps get today's
software and hardware problems in focus :)

--
W J G

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