View of Amdahl 5860

This is a general view of the Amdahl 5860 computer.
In the middle front is the processor cabinet itself, it contains the CPU (Central Processing Unit),
the RAM (Random Access Memory), and the I/O (Input/Output) channels.

Behind it are three banks of disks drives, to its right is a blue cabinet which is a rotary convertor,
this was a large 3 phase electric motor on the same shaft as a dynamo that provided electricity.
The electricity so provided was absolutely free of spikes, dips and surges.
In the distance is a group of three computer operators with their consoles.

Here are some of their consoles. The one on the left was a view of the status of NUNET network,
everything is OK because it is all green, unreachable parts were coloured red.
(NUNET was a network that preceeded the Internet, it was topologically a 'star' network.)
To the right of that is a Display Console which was the console to control the Amdahl computer,
one of the lines is highlighted indicating operator intervention was required.
To the right of that is an IBM 3270 Display being used as a terminal to access the MTS Operating System,
these displays were a fixed number of lines per screen, and a fixed number of characters per line,
and only two colours, green on black, albeit two shades of green.
Behind are 4 magnetic tape drives, only one is in use.

Here is a view from the Operator's Console area towards the disk drives and the Amdahl mainframe.
In the foreground are a row of consoles and graph plotters. These devices required considerable
operator intervention which is why they are so close to the operator console area.