We still have our old Cray-1 in our data center foyer. A vertical clear plastic panel covers one segment so one can peer into the inards.

The leather clad seating was always useful late at night while developing code for the Cray-1. However, one needed to be careful when throwing down the briefcase onto the seating as it could impact the mainframe and cause electrical shorts issues.

As we were developing OS code enahancements we started with (paid for) 2MB, then went to 4MB and finally 8MB of central memory as it was so expensive.

We placed our Cray-1 in a room with a small window that had a blind on the inside. During production the blind was up for all employees to gawk at the Cray as it crunched on the numbers. At night when Admins and code developeres were swarming about we lowered the blind.

Your TOB article brings back fond memories.