Old IT

[Bigguy]

I couldn't find a similar thread already running. If there is one, please Mods merge for me.



Core memory board for a DEC PDP 11/45 main frame. Circa 1972. 32K if I remember correctly.

[Bigguy]

Not all IT, but still some cool old tech.

[Bigguy]

The first computers in Newspapers in the early 1990s went to the graphic and photo departments. Nobody in those days predicted a computer department. We just kept adding them one or two at a time. The first "computer guys" at news papers were graphic artists or photographers who adapted to them. I was hired as a graphic artists but wound up a department heard running the IT department.
As more computers were added we needed more hubs . (Not switches or routers in those days.) When we filled up one, we'd buy another and stack it on top of the other one sitting on a table. Out network was never designed and installed, it simply grew. This was taken after buying our first rack.

Network wiring was simply run through drop ceilings.

We eventually learned to try and keep network wiring away from power lines.

[Bigguy]

When we moved to the new building we had a unique opportunity. The purse was open in a way we hadn't experienced before. We insisted on a state of the art network. Corporate IT, realizing that they may have to one day support it, backed us up and we got to design and install a network we were proud of. Some of the other employees offered their kids as ceiling rats and we ran all new cable through labeled conduit physically spaced away from sources of interference.


The new computer room was well laid out with everything labeled.

The jacks in the offices were labeled with the switch and port number, so there was no guessing when something went down.

The labeling and jacks were color coded. Blue for workstations, black for phones, and orange for servers. We even had yellow for miscellaneous, though I can't remember what systems were on those.

The switches were managed switches and we could do a lot of trouble shooting at our desk just logging in to them. We even had a photo of the rack at the old building mounted with the caption, "Never Again."

[Bigguy]

These were some early photos. Eventually there were many more pieces of equipment in the rack. We continued to use wire management systems and it was a thing of beauty on my last day.

[Bigguy]

Sadly to me, when Corporate shut down the local IT dept. they ported everything over to virtual servers off site. I remember there was a big server on the east coast, and one on the west coast. (I don't remember the cities.) Problem, there was only one pipe into Texarkana run by a cable company that though all Internet users were kid looking at porn in their parents basement. We actually had to put out gimped versions of the paper using cell phone data lines.

This was in the last few days on my employment with them.

And it gets even better. All of this was happening just as i was about to get my papers. I remember the company I went to work for as was still loyal. Looking back I can now see that the new management and thrown us under th bus years ago.
So, the boss's son-in-law had stock in some cell phone company, so there was a lot of pressure for employees to use that company. Being the pig-headed-SOB I was, I stayed with AT&T. But all company phones were now on the SIL's company. Problem was, you couldn't get a signal from almost anywhere in our area.

"No problem" SIL's tech people say. They put in an Internet repeater. So, in the building, you could get a signal back feeding through the Internet. (Still couldn't get a signal in the field, but corp didn't care. Just come back to the paper to write your story.)

So, we eventually learn that out ISP is crap and if we go down on a Friday night, they'll answer the call Monday morning. Even though they used the word "corporate" in the package title, this was a consumer service with the attitude, "you can wait a couple of days to get back to your porn sites."

I'm raising hell that we have no back up. SIL sends me an arrogant email that my concerns are unwarranted because we can alway use cellular data if the Internet goes down. !!!!!! WTF. You mean the same cell service that has to backbone on the Internet to place phone calls???

I was amazed to learn how stupid rich people in large offices and expensive suits could be. Me and my "facts" were far less important than following corporate philosophy.

They put out at least two papers I remember using my, and other trouble makers AT&T cellular data. And they squawked when I sent them a bill for the overage on my data plan.

No wonder newspapers have joined the dinosaurs.

[BN]

Cool stuff. I worked one year at NCR in Cambridge OH and then spent 34 years at the Phone Co. Familiar looking stuff in your pictures.

[RoyGBiv]

The new computer room was well laid out with everything labeled.

The jacks in the offices were labeled with the switch and port number, so there was no guessing when something went down.

The labeling and jacks were color coded. Blue for workstations, black for phones, and orange for servers. We even had yellow for miscellaneous, though I can't remember what systems were on those.

The switches were managed switches and we could do a lot of trouble shooting at our desk just logging in to them. We even had a photo of the rack at the old building mounted with the caption, "Never Again."

That's awesome... !

I was the default IT guy for a satellite office of about 25 people, back in the early '00's. Not my primary job, but, I had some pin-level data-com training (one class as part of training for a previous job that was completely irrelevant to that job.. the class was a boondoggle in the Bay Area, so, no complaints from me.. ) and a WTF attitude, so, I just did it because someone had to... No servers on site, but, phone and data distribution. Sourced the phone system used, off eBay or Craigslist, IIRC. I wish someone had been around to tell me about labeling ports back then...

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Cool - I programmed a PDP 11/34 to run a color vision testing apparatus for a monkey - testing their red/green adaptation processes - whatever. It ran an optical mechanical gadget of lenses, mirrors and stepping motors that moved from red to white to green. When it turned white and the monkey pressed a button, it got some juice. Those were the days.

Like I said before: Eat your vegetables so you live long enough not to understand your phone, computer and car!

Another geezer friend of mine who was a CS prof is building some retro computer from old TVs and parts just for fun.