The Passing of Ucbvax (1994)

Summary

Path: agate!agateway!CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU!CLIFF From: CL...@CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU (Cliff Frost {510} 642-5360) Newsgroups: ucb.net.announce Subject: Network News: The passing of ucbvax Message-ID: <199408232058.NAA22782@violet.berkeley.edu> Date: 23 Aug 94 20:58:00 GMT Sender: usenet Distribution: ucb Organization: The Internet Gateway Service Lines: 81 Friday, Aug 19, 1994, at approximately 2PM, Berkeley Time, a group of programmers gathered in the old CS department computer room, fourth floor of Evans Hall, amongst the scattered remains of network wiring, ancient hardware, ghosts of legends, and general debris, for a mysterious and moving ceremony; a rite of passage for a computer, and perhaps its human caretakers. A semiologist could write a thesis on this event, but here we confine ourselves to the facts. What actually happened on Friday is that Keith Sklower and Eric Allman halted the computer that had carried the name of "ucbvax.berkeley.edu" for the last several years of that venerable name's history. Then Kirk McKusick turned the power off, an honor due him as he was the first person to turn the power on to that particular piece of hardware. Shortly before this, Keith gave a brief history of ucbvax, and told us that although the machine was retiring, it would be following recent local tradition by immediately coming back to work in another capacity--as a card-key access system controller for the UC Police department. (See below for Keith's history.) Keith's eulogy was followed by Eric Allman's moving tribute: Alas, poor Ucbvax! I knew him, Horatio. A machine of infinite jest, of most excellent software. He hath borne my mail in his queue a thousand times. And now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. Here hung those disks that have spun I know not how oft. Where be your news now? your dialins? your routes? your flashes of congestion that were wont to set the department on a roar? The assembled multitude of T-shirted and blue-jeaned programmers...