[geeks] Q: Regarding Linux in K-12 education

[Lionel Peterson]

On Jan 18, 2010, at 7:29 PM, Michael Thompson <michael.99.thompson at gmail.com 
 > wrote:

>> My first college required incoming freshmen to buy $1,600 DEC
>> Professional 350s in fall of 1983 - they turned the bowling alley on
>> campus into a make-shift repair shop. It wasn't long before students
>> longed for the bowling alley... Students wanted MS-DOS compatibility,
>> and PO/S never won them over...
>>
> If you don't like PO/S you can run VENIX on the 350/380.

Uh, no.

All the compilers, tools, and infrastructure on campus were geared  
around PO/S, and I'm not sure Venix was available in the Fall of 1983  
nor would it likely have been an affordable option at that time.

I still remember the wiring they put in to accomodate the systems,  
they had to upgrade power in the Freshman dorms, and being an  
engineering school they over designed, it was spec'd for every student  
pc to switch on at the exact same time, along with one 'cube' fridge  
per two-person dorm room.

It was aprox the same guage wire as we use for grounding th district  
datacenter, about the same diameter as a sharpie marker, times three,  
as the hall feed...

Lionel