daemon@ucbvax.UUCP (08/09/84)
From GSB@MIT-MC Wed Aug 8 19:07:37 1984 1984 marks the 20th Anniversary for DEC's 36-bit family of computers. Everything started back in 1964 when the ancestor of today's DECSYSTEM-10's and DECSYSTEM-20's, the PDP-6, was announced. The Fall DECUS Symposium, to be held in Anaheim from DEC-10 through DEC-14, 1984, will have several sessions as well as a banquet to celebrate the last 20 years. One of the sessions being planned is a "36-Bit Pioneers Rountable" in which people who have significantly influenced the history of DEC's 36-bit machines will participate in a panel discussion and reflect on the developments of the last 20 years, share old war stories, etc. Another session being planned is the "36-Bit Trivial Pursuit" session in which a team from DEC will meet a team of customers in a contest patterned after the old college bowl. SO...I need the help of all the old DEC-10/20 hackers out there: 1. We are making up a list of all the people who played a role in 36-bit history. This does NOT only include DEC people, but also users who influenced the development of the hardware or software. Many of these folks have left the scene over the years, and we would like to track them down to let them know of the plans for Anaheim. It would be a shame if somebody missed out on the fun simply because they were never told about it. From this list we will pick the people who will be invited to be in the Pioneer's Round Table session. If you have strong feelings about who these people should be, let me know. Please send me names as well as pointers to where these folks might be contacted if you happen to know. 2. I need volunteers for the 36-Bit Trivial Pursuit customer team, AND, even more important, I need trivia questions!!! Get those old manuals and printouts out and start digging! 3. We are also planning to put together a special edition of the Large Systems SIG newsletter, available at DECUS, full of as much 36-bit memorabilia as we can get our hands on. Please go through your old files, bookcases, store rooms, etc., and mail me any neat stuff you find. Examples would be funny SPR's, written accounts of strange happenings related to either hardware or software, etc. Net mail address: CLIVE@UTEXAS-20 U.S. mail address: Clive Dawson Computation Center Univ. of Texas Austin, TX 78712 Thanks!! Hope to see you at Anaheim. Clive -------