Tom Lyon

Key takeaways

The IBM 360's influence on computing terminology is profound, with a focus on the concept of machines being 'Ready' rather than 'Idle'.
Historical computing artifacts serve as a reminder of the evolution and significance of technology in shaping modern computing.
Networking technologies have a rich history intertwined with the evolution of Unix and TCP/IP, highlighting moments of innovation and competition.
The open-source community is crucial for modern computing, especially as systems grow increasingly complex.
Collaboration between engineers can lead to transformative technologies, as demonstrated by Tom's involvement in various initiatives and projects.

Summary

Artifacts of Computing History

The episode opens with guest Tom Lyon discussing his collection of computing artifacts, including a bag full of buttons and indicators from the IBM 360. Tom shares an anecdote about the term "Ready" used by IBM in place of "Idle." He also exhibits interest in collecting various sizes of platters from the era of computing history, including two giant platters from 1961. The conversation extends to vintage computing memories, such as memory scopes and CRT-based memory. Tom's passion for historical computing brings a nostalgic tone as he reminisces about the origins and impacts of these artifacts.

Exploration of Networking Technologies

The discussion shifts towards networking technologies, covering topics such as token rings, Ethernet, and ARCNET. Tom and the hosts highlight the differences and evolution of these technologies, explaining the challenges and quirks that each type brought to the computing world. They reflect on the competitive nature of networking protocols and the evolution towards TCP/IP, emphasizing the importance of interoperability which laid the foundation for modern networking.

The Evolution of Unix

Tom shares insights from his experiences at Amdahl, where he contributed to porting Unix to the mainframe. He discusses the significance of Unix’s architecture and its resultant impact on networking and server management systems, including the introduction of NFS. The conversation emphasizes the significance of software choices made in this era and how they formed the backbone of networking that we continue to build on today.

Transition to Modern Computing and Open Source

The final section of the episode touches on Tom's involvement in the formation of Nuova Systems, where they aimed to fuse server and networking technologies and how the subsequent acquisition by Cisco impacted their vision. They explore the challenges of scaling and modernizing server management, while also discussing the open-source movement and Tom's contributions that led to the development of VFIO in the Linux kernel. This segues into reflections on the future of computing, stressing the need for more robust and user-friendly management solutions.

Show notes

You can find Tom on Twitter at https://twitter.com/aka_pugs and find his blog at https://akapugs.blog/. You can learn more about DriveScale at https://drivescale.com/.

Tom brought us a present: an IBM 360-era "Ready" button!

Some of the highlights of the show include:

Williams tube (CRT-based memory): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_tube
Mercury delay lines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delay_line_memory
Datapoint: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datapoint
Datapoint: The Lost Story of the Texans who Invented the Personal Computer Revolution by Lamont Wood: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16214216-datapoint
ARCNET: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARCNET
AppleTalk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AppleTalk
Z8530 UART: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zilog_SCC
Apple LaserWriter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaserWriter
DECnet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DECnet
X.25: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X.25
Tom's notes from the NFS offsite in 1983: https://twitter.com/aka_pugs/status/985941297327366144
Automounter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automounter
CAP theorem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAP_theorem
Sun's Network Disk (nd) protocol: https://github.com/senjan/ndd/blob/master/nd_pkt.h (if you find nd(4P) from the SunOS 3.x man pages, let us know!)
The Internet Collapse of 1986: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_congestion#Congestive_collapse
Larry Roberts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Roberts_(scientist)
Telenet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telenet
Tandem Computers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandem_Computers
Token ring: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Token_ring
Ipsilon Networks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipsilon_Networks
FDDI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_Distributed_Data_Interface
Crescendo Communications: https://books.google.com/books?id=PDsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44
CDC 3400: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDC_3000_series
Ones' Complement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ones%27_complement
IBM 1130: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_1130
Olivetti Programma 101: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programma_101
TI-83: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-83_series
HP 48G: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_48_series
HP-35: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-35
ed(1): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_(text_editor)
IBM System/370: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System/370
APL\360: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APL_(programming_language)#APL%5C360
IBM 2741 with APL keyboard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_2741#/media/File:IBM2741.JPG
VM/370: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VM_(operating_system)
Unibus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unibus
Interdata: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interdata
Greg Chesson: https://grainger.illinois.edu/alumni/distinguished/7939
Joe Ossanna: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Ossanna
nroff: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nroff
IBM 1403: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_1403
Amdahl UTS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdahl_UTS
IBM 3270 terminal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_3270
Dick Lyon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_F._Lyon
MAXC, PARC's PDP-10 clone: http://www.digibarn.com/collections/parts/maxc-board/index.html
Berkeley Computer Corporation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Genie
Bob Lyon: https://www.facebook.com/bob.lyon.98
Optical mouse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_mouse
The Oxide garage Sun art work of mysterious origin (a Sun-3/160, perhaps?): https://oxide.computer/img/garage-sun.jpg
Steve Kirsch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Kirsch
Dick Lyon's (color!) technical report on the optical mouse: http://www.dicklyon.com/tech/OMouse/OpticalMouse-Lyon.pdf
Ipsilon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipsilon_Networks
ATM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asynchronous_transfer_mode
Andy Bechtolsheim on "Death to ATM" (July 1996): https://web.archive.org/web/20001217105700/https://www.redherring.com/mag/issue33/atm.html
Tom's original announcement of VFIO: https://lwn.net/Articles/391459/
Open Source Firmware Conference: htt...