INFO-VAX Sun, 09 Nov 2008 Volume 2008 : Issue 607 Contents: Re: Most impressive VAX installations Re: Variable record format but used with fixed lenght data ? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 09 Nov 2008 15:07:43 +0000 From: ChrisQ Subject: Re: Most impressive VAX installations Message-ID: Richard B. Gilbert wrote: > Bob Eager wrote: > > There was a shop on RT 130 just south of Hightstown, NJ where I saw a > disk platter that must have been three to four FEET in diameter! Ancient > technology of course. IBM Ramac ?. There was one of those in a scrap yard in Newbury (Uk) in the 1960's, the result of a USAF base closing at Greenham Common. The drive had the disks vertically on a spindle, with 2 axis head movement - vertically to select the platter, then laterally to select the track . Probably 10 or 15 platters around 3 feet across iirc. overall height around 6 feet. I was late teens at the time and spent hours removing parts and some of plug in modules, one module per flip flop or gates etc. Carefully removed all the r/w heads from a fixed head drum drive as well, which I guess would have been used for cache. This was a valve (tube) computer and probably still have some of the heads and stuff like wire ended neon lamps that were everywhere in the plugin modules. The majority of the tubes were 6211 double triodes, a mil spec version of the 12AU7 or similar. Knowing what I know now, I should have bought the whole thing, though it would probably have filled the ground floor of a house. They probably dumped a couple of hundred tons of aviation, electronics, radio and test gear scrap, much with a hammer through the face to stop it being reused. As young radio & electronics enthusiast, it was like being transported to paradise :-)... Chris ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 9 Nov 2008 05:32:40 -0800 (PST) From: yyyc186 Subject: Re: Variable record format but used with fixed lenght data ? Message-ID: <86ed602a-d2cf-474b-8592-deded1609653@a29g2000pra.googlegroups.com> On Nov 8, 7:40=A0pm, Jan-Erik S=F6derholm wrote: > > OK, so it sounds as the join is done in the PowerHouse > application, not in the database utself (such as in Rdb > Database Integrator, wich can join from Rdb and any > Transparent Gateway) which I belive could get slihtly > better performance. > > Only one problem, the "join" isn't done inside of RDB like you think. A result set is handed back to RDB from the Integrator. Use what you want, I don't care. I pointed out the most robust tool I've found in my 20 years on this platform. If you wish to continue playing with a product that was so broken it was taken out and shot, by all means, carry on. Roland ------------------------------ End of INFO-VAX 2008.607 ************************