RFC 588

LONDON NODE IS NOW UP 🌸

Okay bestie, this RFC is a little time capsule 🕰️✨ It's from October 1973, written by A. Stokes at UKICS (NIC 20217). The original doesn't list a category or status, and it doesn't say it obsoletes or updates anything. It's just an announcement that the London node of the ARPANET is live!! 🎉🦋

The London node has been on the Net as Address 42 since early September 💅 It's made of a TIP (Address 170) and, for now, a local HOST (0), a PDP-9. That PDP-9 fronts the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory 360/195, which is 60 miles from London and connected by a 2.4 Kbps line 🚂 The specs for the 360 will show up in the Resource Notebook soon, but the highlights are 2 megabytes of fast store (750ns), a fixed head disk, and a whole bunch of other peripherals 💜 It runs OS/MVT release 21.7 and HASP II version 3.1. It also has a locally written message switching system called MAST and an interactive editor called ELECTRIC 🔥 Besides its own hardware, it supports about 20 remote workstations, mostly GEC 2050s pretending to be IBM 1130s. 🙈 Eventually, other Hosts will hook up through the Very Distant Host Interface (Address 234) 🌈

The PDP-9 at the Institute of Computer Science also simulates a 1130. It has 2 card readers, 2 card punches, two line printers, three MAST consoles, and a system console 🖨️ It's got a 16K (18 bit) words store, a 256K word drum, and a bunch of devices that are usually hooked up through modem interfaces. The 1130 simulator software is connected to an ARPA system that currently speaks IMP-HOST, HOST-HOST, ICP, and TELNET protocols 🔌 The TELNET link goes to the PDP-9 first, and from there you can log into the 360 as long as one of the two MAST ports is free (the third one is for local use only) 🎀 You get into ELECTRIC, where you can make and edit files, send them into the batch stream, and check the output interactively from a terminal. Soon you'll be able to print jobs at TIPS too, and later RJE and FTP protocols will be added 🧚

The 360 is open for limited experimental use, with a free login called GUEST 🍓 That account gets a very tiny allowance (right now, 1min CPU time/week) and it's only meant for demos, so don't get too ambitious 😭

All jobs under that account have to be Class X, which has a maximum run time of 10secs ⏱️ Proper accounts, with no charge, can be set up for the right users by contacting KIRSTEIN@ISI. It's not planned, for now, to turn the 360/195 into a normal service HOST like the CCN machine is. However, the machine will be open for cooperative projects between a US group and an interested party in the UK 🇬🇧🇺🇸 The team is especially into network measurements, high energy physics, and accelerator design, but other projects would also be considered ✨

There are primitive HELP facilities on both the PDP-9 and the 360. You get to them with %H and TYPE JB=HELP, respectively 📚 Up-to-date details will show up in the message you get when you connect to the PDP-9, and in the PDP-9 Help file.

... A typical scenario is attached. 💅

The plan is to keep the PDP-9/360 up as a HOST between 19.00 and 09.00 local time, plus a few periods during the day. (Local time is 8 or 9 hours ahead of California and 5 hours ahead of the East Coast, so do the math, bestie 🌙) There won't be an operator on the PDP-9, but during the day and at least the early evening there will be people in the computer room who can help out 🫶 The "operator's console" is a Teletype, so any messages sent overnight will get read in the morning, and they'll try to reply to every query. If you tell them where to reply, Network mail for their site can go to KRISTEIN@ISI, or to the author (IDENT=AVS) at the NIC 💌 For connection problems, reach out to Peter Higginson (NIC ident = PLH) 🦋

... Enc.

Here's the scenario:

HELLO 315
@1 42
LOGGER
 OPEN
INDRA COMPUTING SERVICE - 17 27 GMT ON 06 NOV 73
TYPE %H<CR> FOR HELP

&h
THE HOST AT ULICS IS A PDP-9 FRONT END TO AN IBM 360/195
COMMANDS TO THE PDP-9 ARE:
%HELP (%H)
%LOGIN ID=**.ACCT=**
%LOGOUT
%OPERATOR (%O)
%STATUS (%S)

ALL COMMANDS TERMINATE WITH CARRIAGE RETURN
WHEN NOT LOGGED IN TO 360 ALL LINES GO TO OPERATOR

WILL USA USERS PLEASE TYPE A COUPLE OF LINES SAYING WHO THEY
ARE BEFORE THEY LOG IN TO THE 360
FOR FURTHER HELP LOGIN TO THE 360 WITH:
%LOGIN GUEST
AND IF SUCCESSFUL TYPE:
TYPE JB=HELP

THE IMB 360/195 IS UP

THE SYSTEM HAS NO PROMPT AND ONLY TWO CONTROL CHARS:
CTRL U TO CANCEL A LINE
DELETE (177) TO DELETE A CHAR

% login guest
USER 8 F7 BL= 113/250 TL= 197 NL= 13 TG= 8 NG= 2 TJ= 0.01 NJ=  3
SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT TONIGHT AS PER THE SCHEDULE BETWEEN 1730-
1854HRS.
**ELECTRIC TERMINATING IN 0 MINS 50 SECS. AVAILABLE AGAIN AT 1847
HRS **
%logout
OK   F7 BL= 113/ 250 TL= 198 NL= 14 TG= 8 NG= 2 TJ= 0.01 NJ=  3
@c

CLOSED T
CLOSED R

That's the whole thing, bestie!! The London node is up, the 360 is ready for a quick GUEST visit, and the ARPANET just got a little more international 🌈💖👑