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Post by zbang on Sept 24, 2018 21:21:18 GMT
The X signals between Manor House - Turnpike Lane, Wood Green - Bounds Green are not data collections signals. They were introduced to protect the PEECS (Piccadilly East End Computer System (Metal Micky/Evil Edna)) system. When the computerised signalling system was introduced there were so many problems. Trains were taking 30/40 minutes to travel between Wood Green and Cockfosters, it was an absolute nightmare. The computers kept losing data and instead of having the correct number on the diagram each train was labelled '000' as it's data was lost. So... about that machine...(those machines)... There's a thread from 2005 (http://districtdavesforum.co.uk/thread/1473/metal-mickey-mummy-bear-daddy), but I can't find anything else. Are there some souper-sekret pages about them (containing only public info, of course)? |
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Post by coyote on Sept 25, 2018 6:03:54 GMT
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class411
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Post by class411 on Sept 25, 2018 14:56:00 GMT
I'd just like to point out that the actual computers were not at fault (I don't know the system but that's not a possible failure mode for any CPU). Rather it would be the software, or ancillary hardware that was at fault.
Nice to see a shot of a proprietary commercial computer that LU used though, so thanks for that link.
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Post by zbang on Sept 25, 2018 16:04:38 GMT
I'd just like to point out that the actual computers were not at fault [...]. Rather it would be the software, or ancillary hardware that was at fault. Definitely. I've worked with computer systems for almost 40 years; what passed for production software "back then" was often poorly designed, poorly tested, and the concept of "exception handling" was practically unknown. Or, it was un-cared-about. (We had two older systems in a steel mill, one for a blast furnace and another for a basic-oxygen-furnace. They would metaphorically wander off into the weeds probably once a week and need someone to go poke the data to rights.) Still curious about how they were set up, their actual tasks, etc. |
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Post by coyote on Sept 25, 2018 17:40:39 GMT
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Post by rheostar on Sept 26, 2018 17:11:36 GMT
I'd just like to point out that the actual computers were not at fault (I don't know the system but that's not a possible failure mode for any CPU). Rather it would be the software, or ancillary hardware that was at fault. Nice to see a shot of a proprietary commercial computer that LU used though, so thanks for that link. That's very true. The actual HP1000s worked without too many problems, although they did overheat at times. It was the other kit and software that caused the problems with the signalling system. |
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Post by rheostar on Sept 26, 2018 17:23:59 GMT
Now that it's been decommissioned, it should be OK to post some pictures of the HP1000s that ran PEECS at Earl's Court. These are the three HP1000s in the equipment room. There's two main computers with the far right one being a spare.  Untitled by rheostar, on Flickr This is the main unit.  Untitled by rheostar, on Flickr Think this one worked the graphics, can't remember now.  Untitled by rheostar, on Flickr This is what the control desk looked like in 1982. As far as I know, this is the only picture of the original 'Metal Micky' that we have.  Untitled by rheostar, on Flickr Just for interest, these are the King's Cross and Hyde Park Corner program machines located not too far from the HP1000s in the relay room.  Untitled by rheostar, on Flickr If I get time, I'll try and write up a potted history of PEECS in the next day or so. |
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Post by coyote on Sept 26, 2018 21:30:46 GMT
From left to right at Earls Court upper relay room, the HP computers were Centre, VDU and Spare. The Spare was not actually a spare but was loaded with the software for the Centre and VDU functions and could be used for either in the event of a failure provided all the channel changeover switches shown in the photos were set correctly.
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Tom
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Signalfel?
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Post by Tom on Oct 6, 2018 12:17:11 GMT
They're so old they pre-dated the VCP (Virtual Control Panel) functionality, these actually had a control panel of buttons!
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Post by coyote on Oct 9, 2018 7:09:26 GMT
They're so old they pre-dated the VCP (Virtual Control Panel) functionality, these actually had a control panel of buttons! It's called an Operator Panel and much easier to use than VCP, but there was no remote option. |
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