IBM 610 workstation computer 3463
Only up to a hundred thousand processors, or so. ;-) Seriously, PowerPC (Power4-5 etc.) does 8-way SMP as a basic building block. Intel x86 is...
they were also common on ibm tapes ... especially the ptf tapes ... small gray plastic ... barely bigger than the space for the hub ... pontentially having a 100ft or so. they didn't have cases. the little blue tapes were little less important on the tapes that came in cases. "ptf" ... program temporary fixes ... distributed on these really cheap mini-reels.
then came the drive sthat supported the autoloading band ... and you no longer needed such stuff.
On Thu, 02 Mar 06 13:21:28 GMT in alt.folklore.computers, ISTM he's talking about the processor chips nowadays...
a little topic drift, recent thread about mounting tape (have some URL pointers to pictures of tape drives and (large) reels of tape:
this is picture of 3420 9track tape ... with the autoload strape ... you no longer needed the little blue tapes to keep the tape from unraveling around the hub.
the small gray plastic ptf tapes (with possible 100ft-200ft of tape, as opposed to 2400ft of tape for full-size tapes, there were also "mini-reels" that were 1200ft and mini-mini reels that came in a rubbermaid-like snap-off cover container with possibly as little as 400ft of tape) had maybe half inch wide flange for tape (maybe inch bigger diameter than the hole in the middle for the tape drive hub).
another picture of 3420 9track tape reel, along with a 3480 tape cartridge
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