Computer nostalgia - Post your relics!

[brianl703]

It was actually a pretty big deal when T1's went below $1K/mo. I'm pretty sure it was in the 80's.

The Adtran H4TUC and H4TUR (4 wire) and H2TUC / H2TUR (2 wire) cards did much to reduce the cost of T1 lines. They converted T1 signals to HDSL signals. HDSL could operate over 10,000 feet without repeaters--Going from memory, I think the 4 wire version would go as far as 15,000 feet without using repeaters. The 2 wire version couldn't go as far, maybe 10,000 feet.

HDSL also has the advantage that it can run over "regular" unloaded cable pairs.

In fact, I used to order voice-grade leased lines from the telco for $20 a month and run SHDSL using Actelis equipment over them. Got about 3.5 mbps on them, over 5000 feet or so.

 

[mr_neutron]

It was actually a pretty big deal when T1's went below $1K/mo. I'm pretty sure it was in the 80's.

Back then it was all SNA and Decnet (Dreknet, hey! I worked in an IBM shop) Then along came this TCP/IP thing and changed everything forever.

 

[mr_neutron]

The Adtran H4TUC and H4TUR (4 wire) and H2TUC / H2TUR (2 wire) cards did much to reduce the cost of T1 lines. They converted T1 signals to HDSL signals. HDSL could operate over 10,000 feet without repeaters--Going from memory, I think the 4 wire version would go as far as 15,000 feet without using repeaters. The 2 wire version couldn't go as far, maybe 10,000 feet.

HDSL also has the advantage that it can run over "regular" unloaded cable pairs.

In fact, I used to order voice-grade leased lines from the telco for $20 a month and run SHDSL using Actelis equipment over them. Got about 3.5 mbps on them, over 5000 feet or so.

Adtran - oh that brings back memories. They were pretty reliable, which I appreciated.

 

[blufeb95]

Is the the $1000 month in the 80s just for like an inter office leased line, I don't remember where I was reading about pricing on T1s, but what I was reading was probably for an SLA for a guaranteed 1.5mbit of routing to the greater internet on an unmetered line.

 

[mr_neutron]

Interesting. Token-ring with BNC connectors? I don't think so, not that I remember. I worked for a company in the mid-90's that ran token-ring and it was all RJ45 at that time. Token-ring was competing with (and losing to) ethernet. From 1998 to a little after 2000 I was the maintainer of the Linux token-ring driver (ibmtr) and most of my user population was in Africa, South America and some Asian countries. Some in Europe but not much. Very sparse in the US.

Now that I think about it the old Ethernet had BNC connectors back when it was a true bus. Vampire connectors, oh yeah.

 

[brianl703]

Adtran - oh that brings back memories. They were pretty reliable, which I appreciated.

They were also line powered at something like 180V, which I got shocked from a couple of times while cleaning up the telephone room where I worked. No T1 lines in the building, it was a bridge tap from a neighboring building. (HDSL is far more tolerant of bridge taps than plain T1).

 

[mr_neutron]

Is the the $1000 month in the 80s just for like an inter office leased line, I don't remember where I was reading about pricing on T1s, but what I was reading was probably for an SLA for a guaranteed 1.5mbit of routing to the greater internet on an unmetered line.

I think that was pricing for corporate customers. I worked in the corporate arena. This was pre-Internet.

 

[mr_neutron]

They were also line powered at something like 180V, which I got shocked from a couple of times while cleaning up the telephone room where I worked. No T1 lines in the building, it was a bridge tap from a neighboring building. (HDSL is far more tolerant of bridge taps than plain T1).

It was actually a pretty big deal when T1's went below $1K/mo. I'm pretty sure it was in the 80's.

Remember that you were dealing with Ma Bell back then.

 

[brianl703]

Remember that you were dealing with Ma Bell back then.

It was Contel and later GTE around here. Contel was kind of a joke of a phone company, from what I saw and heard.

 

[mr_neutron]

It was Contel and later GTE around here. Contel was kind of a joke of a phone company, from what I saw and heard.

This is why you don't casually mention things like this around me. I've been in IT for 45 years. I've known interesting people. I've seen a lot.

So...I recently changed the oil in my 2012 FJ Cruiser with HPL 0w-40 and....

 

[mr_neutron]

Remember that you were dealing with Ma Bell back then.

You know this may sound amazing to some people but do you have any idea of the state of telephone switching equipment was like back then? T1's were implemented on a system designed for voice - 6K Hz per circuit. It took some pretty good Bell Labs voodoo to get you your 1.544 Mbps. That's why it was expensive.

 

[Sumboodie]

You were 11 in 2006?! ****, now I DO feel old! I was 8 when we got our 8088...

I'm wearing socks I bought before 2006 haha.

 

[mr_neutron]

You know this may sound amazing to some people but do you have any idea of the state of telephone switching equipment was like back then? T1's were implemented on a system designed for voice - 6K Hz per circuit. It took some pretty good Bell Labs voodoo to get you your 1.544 Mbps. That's why it was expensive.

Then again, back then we put a man on the moon.

 

[Fish Fry]

My first computer

 

[wwillson]

Far as I know token ring never used a BNC connector because it never used coax. It ran on either shielded twisted pair with an IBM proprietary connector or unshielded twisted pair with the standard RJ45.

I think you are right! The RG-6 coax adapters were made by Apollo Networks and ran at 10Mb/s. Apollo had their own proprietary token ring protocol.

 

[wwillson]

T1's were implemented on a system designed for voice - 6K Hz per circuit.

All voice communications on the Bell system networks were predicated on 8Khz voice. 8Khz X 8k samples/second = 64k/voice channel. The TDM world revolved around 64k/channel for decades. Granted there were different standards for clear channel T1s, channel associated signalling T1s, primary rate interface PRIs, which all had different methods for signaling in-band, but the basic voice channel was 64k.

I asked a guy I worked with one time to explain the differences between clear channel T1s, CAS T1s, and PRIs and got a very detailed hour long whiteboard lecture. He was an assembly programmer on the 4E and 5E at Bell Labs. I wish I would have recorded that lecture, it was better than reading a book on the subject. His knowledge was incredible.

 

[Pew]

I was 12 in 2006, 6th grade IIRC

I don’t think we have any pictures of it, but I wish I would have kept our old indigo iMac G3… 14 year old me wanted to tear it down to its individual components in 2008. PowerPC g3 at a whopping 500mhz, ATi Rage 128 Pro GPU, and 256mb RAM.
View attachment 185563

I can ask my middle school to see if they saved one in the back for you

 

[OVERKILL]

OS/2 was by no stretch of the imagination a *NIX. It was a next generation MS-DOS hobbled by the need to maintain compatibility with MS-DOS. It was good. I liked it. But it wasn't a *NIX. I soon abandoned it for Slackware.

I wasn't stating, nor implying, that OS/2 was a *NIX derivative, was just mentioning that there was a computer running it in that room. In retrospect, I probably could have worded that statement differently, because re-reading it, I can see how you might have taken it that way.

 

[OVERKILL]

Now that I think about it the old Ethernet had BNC connectors back when it was a true bus. Vampire connectors, oh yeah.

Yup, the Vampire taps! I had an old 3COM 10Mbit hub kicking around for the longest time that had 12 (IIRC) RJ45 and 1x BNC connector on it.

 

[blufeb95]

Off the top of my head 10BASE5 was thicknet which is the one where you used vampire taps, then 10BASE2 was thinnet was a slight improvement using hubs but still only half duplex and still easily brought down by broadcast floods which was still a major issue at the time with the prevalence protocols like NetBEUI.