[SIGCIS-Members] Cray 1 serial number 0 being put together on Facebook Live at SC 2018

[Grider, Gary Alan]

I will ask around.  Paul Iwanchuk did the original report on the memory at LANL and may remember the story.
He still lives in Santa Fe pretty nearby.

From: "Ceruzzi, Paul" <CeruzziP at si.edu>
Date: Tuesday, November 13, 2018 at 7:05 AM
To: Cynde Moya <CyndeM at livingcomputers.org>, Gary Grider <ggrider at lanl.gov>
Cc: "'ianmacconnellsc at gmail.com'" <ianmacconnellsc at gmail.com>, members <members at sigcis.org>
Subject: RE: [SIGCIS-Members] Cray 1 serial number 0 being put together on Facebook Live at SC 2018

The National Air and Space Museum has a CRAY-1, serial #14, in its collections. It is not on display now but will be soon. It had been installed at NCAR, where it was heavily used and well-regarded.  When we got it (in 1988), we were told that it originally had a lower serial number but was re-worked and renumbered. Maybe the addition of parity bits? (“Parity is for farmers!” – Seymour Cray.) If any of you have more information on this let me know. Would there be any way to tell by looking at its circuits or wiring?

https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/computer-super-cray-1-cpu


Paul Ceruzzi
ceruzzip at si.edu<mailto:ceruzzip at si.edu>
202-633-2414

From: Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> On Behalf Of Cynde Moya
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2018 10:29 AM
To: 'Grider, Gary Alan' <ggrider at lanl.gov>
Cc: 'ianmacconnellsc at gmail.com' <ianmacconnellsc at gmail.com>; members <members at sigcis.org>
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Cray 1 serial number 0 being put together on Facebook Live at SC 2018

I was at the Bradbury Museum a year or so ago. They had an exhibit about supercomputing built around a CRAY-1. The front-end staff did not know the serial number. Perhaps this is Serial number 2 you refer to?

Cynde Moya




From: Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org<mailto:members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org>> On Behalf Of Grider, Gary Alan
Sent: Friday, November 9, 2018 2:13 PM
To: Kevin Walsh <kwalsh at ucsd.edu<mailto:kwalsh at ucsd.edu>>; members at lists.sigcis.org<mailto:members at lists.sigcis.org>
Cc: Tom Hutton <hutton at sdsc.edu<mailto:hutton at sdsc.edu>>; Ian MacConnell (ianmacconnellsc at gmail.com<mailto:ianmacconnellsc at gmail.com>) <ianmacconnellsc at gmail.com<mailto:ianmacconnellsc at gmail.com>>
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Cray 1 serial number 0 being put together on Facebook Live at SC 2018

Perhaps I should share why serial number 1 was sent back to Cray since this is a history group.

When Serial 1 showed up in Los Alamos in 1976 it wouldn’t run for more than a few minutes yet it would run for hours in Minnesota.
Turns out there was no memory protection and cosmic events at Los Alamos altitude were different enough from Minnesota.
The memory was reworked and protection was added.  Serial number 1 was a bit of a testbed and had many mods/corrections made
before subsequent machines were produced in 1977 and beyond.  That was the intent of the trial.

Gary

From: Grider, Gary Alan
Sent: Friday, November 9, 2018 3:01 PM
To: 'Kevin Walsh' <kwalsh at ucsd.edu<mailto:kwalsh at ucsd.edu>>; members at lists.sigcis.org<mailto:members at lists.sigcis.org>
Cc: Tom Hutton <hutton at sdsc.edu<mailto:hutton at sdsc.edu>>; Ian MacConnell (ianmacconnellsc at gmail.com<mailto:ianmacconnellsc at gmail.com>) <ianmacconnellsc at gmail.com<mailto:ianmacconnellsc at gmail.com>>
Subject: RE: [SIGCIS-Members] Cray 1 serial number 0 being put together on Facebook Live at SC 2018

I think there is a correction to be made here:
From https://www2.cisl.ucar.edu/supercomputer/c1

“By 1975, NCAR's 7600 was straining under a severe overload. SCD was oversubscribed; turnaround time had become intolerable. A request for proposal (RFP) was issued, resulting in an order for a CRAY-1A. While serial number 1 of the CRAY-1 computer system had been shipped to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1976 for a six-month trial period, NCAR was Cray Research's first official customer.

On July 11, 1977, the CRAY-1A, serial number 3, was delivered to NCAR. The system cost was $8.86 million ($7.9 million plus $1 million for the disks).”

For a long time, Serial number 1 sat in the Bradbury Museum in Los Alamos until Cray asked if they could have it for their Chippewa<https://www.google.com/search?q=chippewa&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi9_Iilp8jeAhWFiVQKHTvIBSEQkeECCC8oAA&biw=1125&bih=1215> museum.

They shipped Los Alamos Serial number 2 for the Bradbury Museum.  I believe it is sitting in a back room at Bradbury now.

Thanks

Gary Grider

LANL



From: Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org<mailto:members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org>> On Behalf Of Kevin Walsh
Sent: Friday, November 9, 2018 2:48 PM
To: members at lists.sigcis.org<mailto:members at lists.sigcis.org>
Cc: Tom Hutton <hutton at sdsc.edu<mailto:hutton at sdsc.edu>>; Ian MacConnell (ianmacconnellsc at gmail.com<mailto:ianmacconnellsc at gmail.com>) <ianmacconnellsc at gmail.com<mailto:ianmacconnellsc at gmail.com>>
Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Cray 1 serial number 0 being put together on Facebook Live at SC 2018

All,

Cray 1 fabrication  on Facebook LIVE happening now  -

https://www.facebook.com/pg/SCconferences/videos/?ref=page_internal

The Cray 1 that was the first Cray at NCAR and then Los Alamos is currently being put together for display at the ACM/IEEE Supercomputer Conference in Dallas, Texas.

Folks in the Dallas area can stop by to see the Cray and supercomputing artifacts assembled for the 30th Anniversary of the SC conference.

We will record the fabrication and post a separate time lapse video after completion.

Regards,
Kevin Walsh
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
KK6FRK
(858)822-3356<tel:(858)%20822-3356>
kwalsh at ucsd.edu<mailto:kwalsh at ucsd.edu>








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