A chance encounter while studying (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

By following a course in LDAP on Monday and Tuesday I've essentially ensured that I have a full week of vacation, what with Christmas right around the bend. Of course any IT course is hard work so calling it a true vacation is going a bit far, but let's say that the change of scenery makes for a nice change ^_^

I'm following the course at AT Computing in Utrecht, which is a fifteen minutes' bike ride from our home. It's great to just hop on my bike and be at "my" desk after short, but brisk ride. So far the course's been very educational, so I'm enjoying myself.

What's made my day though is a chance encounter with something I've been wanting to meet for years now. You see, in the corner of the break room at ATC there's an ancient PDP-11/45 from 1972. Apparently the system's seen thirteen uninterrupted years of service at the university of Nijmegen, where it was decommissioned in 1986. Impressive!

I've always had admiration for systems from that era, especially after reading Tracy Kidder's The soul of a new machine. Computers that, to our modern eyes, are humongous beasts filled to the brim with PCBs and wiring... *heart* It's systems like these that make me think that I was born thirty years too late <3

Posted in: course , lucky , pdp-11 , study