More IBM-tans II: The DECkoning

[stewartsage]

I have become DEC, destroyer of my own economic future (and a Naval Ordnance Laboratory computer).

NORC-tan (IBM Naval Ordnance Research Calculator)
-Early-ish vacuum tube computer
-Friendly competitor to ORDVAC/inter-service rivals
-Loves pie (held the pi computational record for years)
-Amateur filmmaker, mostly local scenes on the Northern Neck of Virginia or DC, and movie aficionado (display was a 35mm)
-Often makes casual discussions about math.
-Considers it her duty to remember the Harvard Mark-tans
-Naval officer.
-Cousin of IBM 701
-Hard working and dedicated, well liked by colleagues in the -tan world and human (Outlasted pretty much every other vacuum tube system)
-After death her consciousness drifted off into space on the asteroid named after her.  Maybe.
-Is pretty much the best at space.
-Casual acquaintance of SAGE.
-Status: Deceased 1968(?)

Physically: Spare, tallish, usually in uniform or something appropriately serious, darker blue hair (IBM's Watson lab + Naval use), often carries a slide rule, rounder face, friendly


HDOS-tan (Heath Disc Operating System)
-Illegitimate daughter of RSX.
-(Unknown) arch-rival of CP/M-tan.
-Has a dedicated, but small and aging, army of supporters.
-An early open sourcerer.  Mostly inept, but some skill with linguomancy (developed the ability to use multiple compilers)
-Initially was not able to speak to Apple-tans or TRS-80-tan due to language difficulties (lacked a BASIC compiler at first)
-Elder sister of HT-11-tan, definitely black sheep of the family.
-Ham radio operator.
-Status: Alive

Physically: Shortish, energetic, usually wears short skirts and a black leather jacket emblazoned with the Heathkit logo on the back, black hair, notes stuck in pockets


HT11-tan
-A Heathkit licensed knock-off of RT11-tan.
-Usually aggressively confused when asked about her origins.
-Technically part of the DEC family, to varying degrees of acceptance.
-Likes the DECs more then her "sister" HDOS.
-More base competency then HDOS but as a licensed DEC product is unable to use magic.
-Consequently ends up doing most of the work, including even talking to other -tans, for Heath.
-Ends up overworked and frequently tired.
-Less popular with hobbyists then HDOS, smaller following
-One of the rare "outsiders" to be decently liked by the DECs.
-Ends up doing a lot of encryption/decryption for them as well.
-Status: Dead

Physically: A near carbon copy of RT11-tan physically, just more washed out in color and shorter.  Usually wears a Heathkit script logo hair clip or printed scarf to avoid confusion, often lugging around bits and pieces of DEC equipment


MUMPS-11/MUMPS-tan (Massachusetts General Hospital Multi-User Multi-Processing System) AKA DSM (Digital Standard MUMPS)-tan AKA M-tan AKA MacMumps-tan AKA GTM-tan
-Terrifying database management/operating system/programming language -tan
-Started life in the mid-60s on PDP-7s, but went global by the early 1970s
-Like MTS-tan has installations all over the world that drag her away from Boston from time to time
-Loves animals (first used in laboratory recording)
-Excellent memory for faces, names and medical problems all in one
-The other half (with LINC) of DEC's crack medical team.
-Is a nurse as well as administrator
-Excellent diction, though thick accent, and scrupulously polite to the public
-Often carried messages from DEC HQ to other companies/-tans
-Today is semi-retired but continues to do her programming language related work, mostly as a public face of MUMPS systems and consulting for hospital records systems.
-Status: Alive

Physically: Solid, not large in any sense but not shapely either, used to usually wear a Mass General nurse's uniform with DEC insignia, transitioned to professional outfits in the late 1980s, black hair (now graying) tied back in a ponytail, usually smiling

[Bella]

NORC-tan sounds like an interesting character, I can just imagine her and ORDVAC blowin' up crap together. I lost it at the space bit though. She was an acquaintance of SAGE-tan ... are we totally sure that NORC didn't just get on her bad side and get shot out into space? (I'm assuming SAGE could do that. If she so wanted.) Have you -tanned IBM 701 yet? I ... don't remember. ><

HOW DOES RSX-TAN HAVE AN ILLEGITIMATE DAUGHTER?! DOES THAT MAKE HER A PART-SISTER TO VMS-TAN?! If so, what's with VMS-tan's siblings all being aggressively mediocre/inept?! She and MERT-tan can duke it out for title of Most Mundane Magical Skill.

RT11-tan ought to be pleased she has another clone. She's gonna give Unix-tan a run for her money at this rate! I find her role as DEC Family code expert quite interesting though....

Ahh, finally we get to meet MUMPS-tan!! She sounds like quite the industrious lass, what with her multiple roles as programming language AND database management system AND OS. If she, LINC and DR DOS-tan got together, they could form the Unholy Trinity of OS-tans Who Aren't Actually Doctors but Pretend to Be. ^____^;;;;

I wonder if she knew Whirlwind or MTC-tan. She certainly sounds like the sort who'd get along with them.

Pent and I should make MO-tan.

Do itttttttttt~

[Chocofreak13]

i heard terrifying and automatically saw an image of her with a face of "RAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWW".
how cool, though, that Mass General has its own OS. how hilarious that its name was once a disease they had to deal with.

does HT11 not like her sister because of the work burden that she places upon her? or is it something else? it just seems kinda sad that there isn't much of a relationship there. :\

OSSSS-TAAAAANS INNNNNN SPAAAAAAACE

they could form the Unholy Trinity of OS-tans Who Aren't Actually Doctors but Pretend to Be. ^____^;;;;

i lol'd.

Do itttttttttt~

perhaps tonight.

[Nichi]

@Kari: Indeed; maybe we can toss around a few ideas after I get off work :3

@Stew: I now want to see NORC-tan holding the Space Core >w>;
Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace~

[Chocofreak13]

silly willy, NORC-tan IS the space core.

(SOMEONE DESIGN HER OUTFIT AFTER IT, SRSLY.)

[Bella]

Hey look! A new almost DEC-tan. Hopefully I haven't gone overboard with her backstory ... all in all it reminds me a lot of OS/2-tan's backstory, though.

Data General Nova-tan
-Nebulously related to PDP-8-tan. (Shared designer.)
-Early life spent at DEC HQ. (Design originated at DEC. Or so it goes.)
-However, her creators grew  "big for their britches" and eventually ran afoul of the existing DEC-tans and their allies. (The design group planned to create a machine that would make all previous PDPs obsolete and butted heads with other engineering groups.)
-She departed with her creators when they rebelled against the DEC establishment. 
-DEC put up no resistance when they departed (no lawsuits for theft of intellectual property)
-However, the departure left a lasting impression of sadness. (Quoth Ken Olsen in the 1980s: "What they did was so bad we're still upset about it.")
-The focus of quite a bit of DEC/Data General lore. Believed by some to be the mythical "PDP-13". 
-Like PDP-8-tan, Nova is energetic and unexpectedly competent at a variety of jobs, but less fanciful and extravagant.
-Her résumé includes work in medicine, laboratory work and manufacturing.
-Believes the DEC-tans are frivolous and impractical and views the IBM-tans even more unfavorably than the DECs do, if that's even possible.
-Wicked arrogant and aggressively-spoken, but generally has an alright personality otherwise.
-Likes Apple I-tan and the other early Apple-tans by extension. (Steve Wozniak is purportedly a fan of the Nova.)
-Still working. (Novas are still used in air traffic control and throughout the military.)

Physical: 5'4'', average build, tan skin, honey-brown hair, blue eyes, contemporary 1960s and 70s clothing generally in blue or yellow.

does HT11 not like her sister because of the work burden that she places upon her? or is it something else? it just seems kinda sad that there isn't much of a relationship there. :\

I believe it's because HT11 was a licensed DEC product (and thus, HT11-tan was a "real DEC-tan") while HDOS was not, but only Stew would be able to tell you for certain.

@Stew: I now want to see NORC-tan holding the Space Core >w>;
Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace~

silly willy, NORC-tan IS the space core.

(SOMEONE DESIGN HER OUTFIT AFTER IT, SRSLY.)

I plan on drawing NORC-tan soon. So I'll see what I can do.

[Nichi]

Yay! Space! >w<

Also:

-The focus of quite a bit of DEC/Data General lore. Believed by some to be the mythical "PDP-13". 

...does this mean that NOVA and the Bella mainframe from my stories are one in the same? *w*
(For those who aren't reading my stories, there's a sentient mainframe named Bella, that has a sign reading "PDP-13" on the front...even if the PDPs are actually minicomputers. If you're confused by this minor detail, repeat to yourself "it's just a story; I should really just relax")

[Chocofreak13]

glaze over the specifics. it's just fanfiction. -w-

[Bella]

Yay! Space! >w<

Also:
...does this mean that NOVA and the Bella mainframe from my stories are one in the same? *w*
(For those who aren't reading my stories, there's a sentient mainframe named Bella, that has a sign reading "PDP-13" on the front...even if the PDPs are actually minicomputers. If you're confused by this minor detail, repeat to yourself "it's just a story; I should really just relax")

I knew you'd mention that, lol.

For real though, nobody knows why a PDP-13 was never produced. It's generally speculated that DEC avoided it due to superstition, but others have pointed out that it was the designation that would have belonged to Edson deCastro's PDP design, and that when he left, DEC simply didn't want to re-use the name.

[Chocofreak13]

i forget, was the line discontinued after PDP-12? (as in, is there a PDP-14? no, right?)

[Bella]

There's a PDP-14, -15 and -16. But they're so trivial compared to their predecessors, the line may as well have ended with the PDP-12 ...

(To elaborate: The PDP-14 and -16 were industrial controllers, so they were used inside of other pieces of machinery, and didn't really do anything altogether interesting or fun by themselves. The PDP-15 is a descendant of the PDP-1, which automatically makes it a little more interesting. However, as I understand it, by the time the PDP-15 was produced the PDP line was already going "out of fashion" and there isn't a whole lot documented about it.)

[Chocofreak13]

PDP-15 is a PDP-1 fangirl. this is canon now.

[Nichi]

What if there is a PDP-13, but it was built exclusively for use at Warehouse 13, to catalog their artifacts?
(Got to love random spur-of-the-moment theories -w-; )

[Chocofreak13]

silly pent, take your theories to the theories thread. -w-;

[stewartsage]

There's just a lot of latent resentment by HT11 because of how much of a useless priss HDOS is.