Re: A long time ago ...
"Queue even more bad language!"
That's not just a developing world problem. Back in 1970 our new in-house computer room was built by a novel method. They assembled the machine on the false floor that was part of the factory mainframe commissioning hall. Then they boarded off the area from the rest of the factory - and built a separate small office block and entrance for the operations staff on the end of the building.
Then the state-of-the-art 600MB disk unit*** arrived at a weekend. Not sure if the staff entrance was big enough for it to go through - it would have been a tight squeeze. There was a rumour about a hole in the roof and a large crane. It was deposited on its shipping wheels on the central concrete runway inside the hall. As it was rolled onto the false floor there was the horror of the floor tile supports buckling. A retreat just in the nick of time saved the day until a reinforced floor could be arranged.
*** my mind's eye says the unit was about 2m long, 2m high, 1m wide - and was very heavy. Two stacks of platters approaching a metre in diameter - each holding 300MB. (An internet comment suggests they were contra-rotating). The substantial head actuators for both sets were interconnected so that the reaction forces cancelled out as the synchronised heads moved in and out. A head crash, which happened quite often initially, produced a neat silver band about 2cms wide. The bearings were water cooled. If the mains pressure dropped there would be a groaning sound as the unit started to power down. This then turned into a slow oscillation as the pressure recovered - only to fall again as the unit came back to its required flow.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
