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Aucbvax.5825 fa.works utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!works Sun Jan 17 02:35:39 1982 WorkS Digest V2 #8 >From JSOL@USC-ECLB Sat Jan 16 21:53:18 1982 Works Digest Sunday, 17 Jan 1982 Volume 2 : Issue 8

Today's Topics: What is a WorkStation? Backups Or Not? ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 16 January 1982 00:15-EST From: Brian P. Lloyd <LLOYD MIT-MC AT> Subject: What is a workstation?

Most of us here think that 'workstation' has something to do with computers. It doesn't. It is the place we go to work. For most of the world it is a desk with a telephone.

For those of us involved with computers it is also someplace we go to communicate with a computer. I think the real question is, "What do we need to make our workstations more efficient?" Now we can get into talking about LAN's, local processors, bitmapped displays, and shared databases.

Brian

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Date: 14 January 1982 01:16 est From: SSteinberg.SoftArts at MIT-Multics Subject: WORKS V2 #4: What is Work

2. What is a workstation?

As far as I am concerned a workstation is any small computer system which is aimed at a single user. Word processors are workstations, LISP machines are workstations, the S-1 computer will be a very powerful workstation. A workstation must provide computer power for an individual. This puts certain economic and interface constraints on it but in my definition an advanced telephone is a kind of workstation even if it lacks a full keyboard and a crt.

One big problem in the computer field is that it is hard not to be conservative without appearing flakey. It is as if predicting the future of the automobile I had the choice of describing fuel injection or teleportation. My guess is that we are about ten years from a desk top Symbolics LISP Machine.

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Date: Saturday, 16 January 1982, 10:04-EST From: Daniel L. Weinreb <DLW AT MIT-AI> Subject: Dave Reed's questions

Regarding the backup problem: I don't see how you can convince people to do backup if they don't appreciate the need -- they'll find out soon enough, probably. When Symbolics sets up a new site, they insist that the site either provide a time-sharing system on their network that has tape drives, or else that the site buy a magtape drive for file system backup; the marketing department makes it clear that any configuration that we are willing to sell must include provision for file system backup either locally or over the net.

Regarding network communications, Lisp Machines are always listening to the net. If for no other reasons, this is useful because of the FINGER server that lets other people ask who is logged into the machine, and the SEND server which receives interactive messages. It's not particularly expensive to do this; we just have a process that sits around blocked all the time waiting for a packet to appear on the network, which doesn't cost anything much.

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