Datapoint-ARC

[@SteveMeyerSr]

As one of the co-founders and former President of Sunbelt Computer Systems (developers of Datashare-DOS and the most widely used PC DATABUS - PL/B compiler), I really enjoyed the video. ARCNET was way ahead of its time. We were a Beta site for the SMC PC ARCNET cards running on Novell's NetWare NOS. Great memories. Thanks for sharing it.

[@k4vms]

WOW !!!!! I was there. Worked in Los Angeles. Flew over and over to San Antonio. Players Dungeons and Dragons in Bear County. Worked with Roger Hurr when I was in San Antonio. I was Systems Engineer and programmer. Installed the first ARC Network at the Star Dust Hotel in Las Vegas. Worked on DOS and RMS. 8800, 5500, 6000, Datashare, etc. I was also hardware trained to install and repair all DataPoint equipment. I did hardware and Software Support and programming. Ricky from IBM, Ret(formerly of DataPoint Corp)

[@gepeterson2]

Datapoint definitely changed the world of business computing forever away from monolithic mainframe computers. It was definitely a cool time to be around! You might enjoy sharing memories on our social media group... mewe.com/join/datapointcomputers ...! ;-)

[@zardinus1]

Stumbled upon this accidentally while learning and exploring distributed systems concept. What a fine piece of history.

[@gepeterson2]

Glad you liked it! There are a number of more videos coming, it's a remarkable story about how far ahead of our time Datapoint was. Remember that this introduction was fully FOUR YEARS before the first cassette-and-diskette-only IBM PC hit the market with PC-DOS 1.0, in 1981. By that time, Datapoint had over ten thousand LANs installed worldwide, was a Fortune 500 company and employed over 10,000 people. We sold well over a billion dollars worth of The (my!!) ARC System.

[@robwarren3296]

memories indeed. I was an engineer in the San Antonio facility from 1979- 1987, when I was let go in the 6th round of layoffs after Edelman bought it

[@soumyaranjanmukherjee337]

A really nice video and certainly a good trip down memory lane !!

[@gepeterson2]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@fjspirit]

I worked for Datapoint for six years as a field engineer. Cool to see the old stuff again.

[@gepeterson2]

Please join us in our DatapointComputers Yahoogroup! We've also got some Datapoint groups on Facebook too. ;-)

[@TonyCecala]

Wow. Far ahead of its time.

[@gepeterson2]

Yup. We changed the world of computing! A scanned copy of my proposal for my system software project, written in summer 1976, is in the Files area of the DatapointComputers Yahoogroup.

[@dbranconnier1977]

Pretty advanced networking for 1977. Imagine if Datapoint and Data General merged together back in the 70s, you'd have 'Datapoint General' with some amazing mini and micro computers.

[@gepeterson2]

Thanks! Yes, we changed the world of computing forever. The development of LAN... incrementally expandable, modular architecture... where programs could access shared disk resources on a remote server the same way and just as easily as local disk files... made it unnecessary to use big, monolithic mainframe computers that were once the workhorse of business data processing. It made it possible to cluster far more processing capability around that shared data than could ever be practically done with a monolithic mainframe processor. Data General was doing some interesting stuff too, but (like other minicomputer companies at the time) they were approaching it more from the "dumb terminal" approach and where the majority of the work was done on the machine hosting the shared data (basically, the same way like the bigger machine companies were doing too). It's amazing how not just the mainframe companies (IBM and "the BUNCH"... Burroughs, Univac, NCR, Control Data, and Honeywell) have all but disappeared (at least as manufacturers, and as a percentage of the marketplace) but how even seemingly invincible companies like Data General, DEC, and all the other minicomputer companies are gone too. But the concept of LANs (and WANs of course) has become _the_ way that business (at least) computing is done nowadays.

[@profjake]

WOW. Memories!

[@dhpbear2]

What's described here (2:03) is now called 'mirroring' (w/o the extra computer). :)

[@gepeterson2]

well, sort of... the reason for duplicating the files is to try to get more data access and bandwidth, and (at the time at least) required the extra computer, or keeping files on individual machines. But there really wasn't any good way (at the time) to maintain the parallel copies. And for that matter, there really wasn't any good way back then to (transparently, at least) add more applications processing power outside of the computer holding the shared files!! Transparent, Incremental expandability and modular architecture really didn't exist in the marketplace before The ARC System!

[@mormand5003]

I used to live on Datapoint Drive in San Antonio across from the old country club. It is a shame what the neighborhood became after Datapoint closed.

[@gepeterson2]

I agree!!! Very true, on all counts. :-(

[@graybeard1952]

The coax ends I've installed number in the thousands. I was in Peripheral Final Test from 75 to 79... Worked at 8550 for a year or so then went to the field for 14 years.

[@gepeterson2]

I probably haven't done THAT many, but with a good coax stripper and the screw--on connectors I usually used back then, I could reliably do a good RG-62 coax connector end in 20-30 seconds. It was a great cabling system, reliable, sturdy, and inexpensive.

[@Legolas2112]

Cool! I was hoping you would post some of your computer history stuff!

[@gepeterson2]

I don't know if any translated versions of this (or any other!) Datapoint marketing videos were produced. If they were, it probably was by one of our international distributors. But I don't think we ever did translated versions of our software, either.

[@cautiousoptimist]

All I can say is - Fuckin' Sales Department screwin up a great company...

[@geckoproductions4128]

You got it all wrong, Chuck. The sales guys sold what they had to sell. Management hubris fucked up the company. I was in R&D and saw a lot of it first hand. They were reading their own press releases and listening to their own "yes" men instead of the line managers who know what was going on. For example, look at all the little spin-off companies that took ideas that management laughed at and made them successful. Some even went public, making their founders, former Datapointers, millionaires. Data Race, Image Data, ATX to name a few. There was even a technical publications company that spun off and became successful because the VP of software didn't believe Datapoint systems were capable of doing end-user quality. But I agree with you, way too fucking bad, there were quite a few brilliant people there, and many, many good ones. The big boyz screwed the pooch.

[@karenstephaniecapetillomon8384]

Wow! It's so amazing, but... I need in Spanish? Someone?