"Don Y" wrote in message
...
On 9/3/2015 11:23 PM, Robert Green wrote:
"Don Y" wrote in message
...
On 9/3/2015 5:55 AM, Robert Green wrote:

If the former, no computer cable I've seen should be used. Just
not even current capacity (along with another friction fit point to
cause arcing).

The modular power cord to one of my machines handles its 2200W
load...

I hope you're not talking a PC that draws 2200W. That's a lot of
juice.

It's a computer. PC has a very specific connotation.

I thought you were running a minicomputer but a blade server is close
enough. I used to run a BBS with 16 nodes using the precursor to
blades, an
Alloy server setup and an ATT 6300 as the main PC.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alloy_Computer_Products

In 1984 Alloy developed the PC-Slave card which consisted of an X86
(8086
or V20) processor, either 256k or 1 Meg of memory and two serial ports.
This

This is similar, conceptually, to what my needs are. The difference being
my "nodes" are more loosely coupled; instead of an ISA bus that allows you
to "talk" to each of the cards, each card talks to the others over the
network.

If I recall correctly, ArcNet was the only game in town at the time (1985).

card used RTNX (later renamed NTNX) to use the host processor to act as
a
file server. Dumb PC-Term terminals were attached to the PC-Slave to
allow
the running of DOS programs. At the time it was much cheaper to use this
solution rather than network multiple computers

It's still cheaper. With multiple computers, you bring along more disks,
keyboards, monitors, etc. (even if you run headless). And, they take up
more space!

CPUs are so powerful now that all you need is a multiport serial card to
drive 16 modems - not that anyone runs BBS's anymore. Even back then the
archtypical personalities of the Internet were emerging. The guys who truly
want to learn from each other, the guys who want to prove they're superior
to the rest of the world and the guys that just want to mess things up for
everyone else.

Each slave card was connected to a USR modem - they were very nice to my
PC
group, donating first eight 2400 BPS modems and then when we expanded
they
gave us sixteen 9600 BPS units at a time when those suckers sold for
$500.
It was good PR because people who wanted to connect at what was then the
fastest modem in the world also bought them.

Yeah, I used a USR many years ago. Along with Telebit "PEP" modems to
talk to UN*X boxen.

A wee bit bigger, heavier, NOISIER and more capable than most "PC's"
:

The Alloy unit wasn't nearly as powerful or capable but for its time, it
was
pretty hot stuff. Really. We had to cut louvered vents into the door
to
the tiny room holding the BBS gear and even that wasn't enough. We had
to
have a ceiling fan installed.

Perhaps more important than the advances in cost and compute power that
have taken place over the years is the advances in power reduction!
E.g., my current design uses 500MHz processors that *could* run on
*batteries*!

I switched all the desktops in my house to laptops with low power CPUs.
Amazing how much it lowered my monthly electric bill.

--
Bobby G.