AWalker@rutgers.arpa (02/18/83)
From: Hobbit <AWalker@rutgers.arpa> It would be interesting to see how many of those people who are bothered by terminal fan noise often work in/around machine rooms, where of course fan noise reaches thunderous proportions. I happen to enjoy hacking *in* the machine room, probably because the noise is steady, keeps my ears busy, and allows me to think about what I'm doing. Music has a similar effect; some of the folks down here were offering theories as to why. _H* -------
Blackwell@cmu-cs-c.arpa (02/18/83)
From: Mike Blackwell <Blackwell@cmu-cs-c.arpa> Working in the machine room!!?? Gack! Thundering (?) switching power supplies are not something you really want to subject your ears to for long periods of time (of course, a lot depends on your machines, the number of them, and the room itself). And if you want horror stories... my dad is totally deaf in certain high frequencies from working in a machine room with a band printer, back in the "good" old days... I only noise *I* want to hear while hacking is Bach... -m-
dws (02/20/83)
Humming fans--as well as an original print hanging nearby provides a little sensual distraction, often missing from areas for computer terminals. Graphic artisans should exhibit more work here at the information processing center. Wallspace is available in the rooms for terminals and corridors.
jfw (02/22/83)
"Working in the machine room"? At MIT-CCC, we recently fought tooth-and-nail to get a separate room for our terminals. In fact, we got a room with a small side-room with a closable door so that our terminal concentrator (PDP11/10 with 2 standard racks of display hardware) won't shout in our ears also! The only advantage the terminals-in-the-machine room had was when the system crashed (which due to the age of our 11/45, is fairly often...).