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Time Traveller Seeks IBM 5100

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  • Time Traveller Seeks IBM 5100

    What gets me about this story is that it's so consistent. I want to explore just how much he did his homework, thus the 5100 angle. The only hole I am finding so far is that he says UNIX will have a timecode problem in 2038--that's true for a 32 bit time_t, but newer machines are 64 bits and linux already uses a 64 bit time_t. So here we go: Brian says: What I think would be of particular interest to the MCP crowd are the references to a "5100" computer, made in the IBM Rochester labs. He came back to look for one to bring back to the future, because it has undocumented features that they need in the future. (This is consistent with IBM's practice of hiding features in new systems that may obsolete existing systems). One quote that piqued my interest was "I believe the 5100 is unique in its ability to run assembler language on the 360-machine platform and still be portable". He also says "Yet, I would bet there is someone out there who can do the research and discover I am telling the truth. There must be an old IBM engineer out there someplace that worked on the 5100." Do you know any old IBM engineers from Rochester? What about Frank Soltis (not that old, but might know), or Wayne O, or ??? Any ideas or email addresses? Maybe Tom knows someone. Perhaps it would make a story. Any thoughts? Brian Rob says: here are a few more snippets of what John Titor says about the IBM 5100 he was looking for: 30 December 2000 13:37 You said you are confused by the 5100 story. I will explain further. In 2036, it was discovered (or at least known after testing) that the 5100 computer was capable of reading and changing all of the legacy code written by IBM before the release of that system and still be able to create new code in APL and basic. That is the reason we need it in 2036. However, IBM never published that information because it would have probably destroyed a large part of their business infrastructure in the early 70s. In fact, I would bet the engineers were probably told to keep their mouth's shut. Therefore, if I were not here now telling you this, that information would not be discovered for another 36 years. Yet, I would bet there is someone out there who can do the research and discover I am telling the truth. There must be an old IBM engineer out there someplace that worked on the 5100. They just might not have ever asked if I hadn't pointed it out. 02-01-2001 11:28 AM The people who sign my paycheck told me why we needed a 5100 and sent me off to get one. I was not in a position to make alternate suggestions. As I recall, isn't the Cray a rather large system? We need something portable. The 5100 isn't required for its reliability, its needed to translate between APL, UNIX and a few obscure IBM mainframe languages. 02-06-2001 08:33 AM Based on what I know about the 5100 (IBM computer), it has a few very interesting and worthwhile properties that make it worthwhile for a time traveler to recover. Also, please keep in mind that civilization is recovering from a war. Yes, we do have the technology but many of the tools were lost. As you are probably aware, UNIX will have a timeout error in 2038 and many of the mainframe systems that ran a large part of the infrastructure were based on very old IBM computer code. The 5100 has the ability to easily translate between the old IBM code, APL, BASIC and (with a few tweaks in 1975) UNIX. This may seem insignificant but the fact that the 5100 is portable means I can easily take it back to 2036. I do expect they will create some sort of emulation system to use in multiple locations. I will examine the web site you mentioned. I believe the 5100 is unique in its ability to run assembler language on the 360-machine platform and still be portable. I'm not sure if that fact was ever made public so it's the best "proof" I have. I would like to examine the software you mentioned; perhaps I can further justify my side-trip. Brian Singleton wrote: That must have been a system that was before the ancestors of the machines that I knew all about, cuz I never heard of it. However, we could post to MCPressOnline, which is frequented by folks from those very IBM labs in Rochester, Minn. Some of which have worked there for a LONG time, or know those who have since retired. Wanna? -----Original Message----- from Rob: Brian dude, you know all about those IBM machines, right? what do you think of the time traveler guy's statements about them here? Why did you go to 1975? The first "leg" of my trip was from 2036 to 1975. After two VGL checks, the divergence was estimated at about 2.5% (from my 2036). I was "sent" to get an IBM computer system called the 5100. It was one the first portable computers made and it has the ability to read the older IBM programming languages in addition to APL and Basic. We need they system to "debug" various legacy computer programs in 2036. UNIX has a problem in 2038.
    I have a working IBM 5160 computer. Maybe I should stash it away for thirty years and see what happens.
    Toss it. The 5100 is the interesting machine. 30 December 2000 13:37 You said you are confused by the 5100 story. I will explain further. In 2036, it was discovered (or at least known after testing) that the 5100 computer was capable of reading and changing all of the legacy code written by IBM before the release of that system and still be able to create new code in APL and basic. That is the reason we need it in 2036. However, IBM never published that information because it would have probably destroyed a large part of their business infrastructure in the early 70s. In fact, I would bet the engineers were probably told to keep their mouth's shut. Therefore, if I were not here now telling you this, that information would not be discovered for another 36 years. Yet, I would bet there is someone out there who can do the research and discover I am telling the truth. There must be an old IBM engineer out there someplace that worked on the 5100. They just might not have ever asked if I hadn't pointed it out. 02-01-2001 11:28 AM The people who sign my paycheck told me why we needed a 5100 and sent me off to get one. I was not in a position to make alternate suggestions. As I recall, isn't the Cray a rather large system? We need something portable. The 5100 isn't required for its reliability, its needed to translate between APL, UNIX and a few obscure IBM mainframe languages. 02-06-2001 08:33 AM Based on what I know about the 5100 (IBM computer), it has a few very interesting and worthwhile properties that make it worthwhile for a time traveler to recover. Also, please keep in mind that civilization is recovering from a war. Yes, we do have the technology but many of the tools were lost. As you are probably aware, UNIX will have a timeout error in 2038 and many of the mainframe systems that ran a large part of the infrastructure were based on very old IBM computer code. The 5100 has the ability to easily translate between the old IBM code, APL, BASIC and (with a few tweaks in 1975) UNIX. This may seem insignificant but the fact that the 5100 is portable means I can easily take it back to 2036. I do expect they will create some sort of emulation system to use in multiple locations. I will examine the web site you mentioned. I believe the 5100 is unique in its ability to run assembler language on the 360-machine platform and still be portable. I'm not sure if that fact was ever made public so it's the best "proof" I have. I would like to examine the software you mentioned; perhaps I can further justify my side-trip.

  • #2
    Time Traveller Seeks IBM 5100

    What gets me about this story is that it's so consistent. I want to explore just how much he did his homework, thus the 5100 angle. The only hole I am finding so far is that he says UNIX will have a timecode problem in 2038--that's true for a 32 bit time_t, but newer machines are 64 bits and linux already uses a 64 bit time_t. So here we go: Brian says: What I think would be of particular interest to the MCP crowd are the references to a "5100" computer, made in the IBM Rochester labs. He came back to look for one to bring back to the future, because it has undocumented features that they need in the future. (This is consistent with IBM's practice of hiding features in new systems that may obsolete existing systems). One quote that piqued my interest was "I believe the 5100 is unique in its ability to run assembler language on the 360-machine platform and still be portable". He also says "Yet, I would bet there is someone out there who can do the research and discover I am telling the truth. There must be an old IBM engineer out there someplace that worked on the 5100." Do you know any old IBM engineers from Rochester? What about Frank Soltis (not that old, but might know), or Wayne O, or ??? Any ideas or email addresses? Maybe Tom knows someone. Perhaps it would make a story. Any thoughts? Brian Rob says: here are a few more snippets of what John Titor says about the IBM 5100 he was looking for: 30 December 2000 13:37 You said you are confused by the 5100 story. I will explain further. In 2036, it was discovered (or at least known after testing) that the 5100 computer was capable of reading and changing all of the legacy code written by IBM before the release of that system and still be able to create new code in APL and basic. That is the reason we need it in 2036. However, IBM never published that information because it would have probably destroyed a large part of their business infrastructure in the early 70s. In fact, I would bet the engineers were probably told to keep their mouth's shut. Therefore, if I were not here now telling you this, that information would not be discovered for another 36 years. Yet, I would bet there is someone out there who can do the research and discover I am telling the truth. There must be an old IBM engineer out there someplace that worked on the 5100. They just might not have ever asked if I hadn't pointed it out. 02-01-2001 11:28 AM The people who sign my paycheck told me why we needed a 5100 and sent me off to get one. I was not in a position to make alternate suggestions. As I recall, isn't the Cray a rather large system? We need something portable. The 5100 isn't required for its reliability, its needed to translate between APL, UNIX and a few obscure IBM mainframe languages. 02-06-2001 08:33 AM Based on what I know about the 5100 (IBM computer), it has a few very interesting and worthwhile properties that make it worthwhile for a time traveler to recover. Also, please keep in mind that civilization is recovering from a war. Yes, we do have the technology but many of the tools were lost. As you are probably aware, UNIX will have a timeout error in 2038 and many of the mainframe systems that ran a large part of the infrastructure were based on very old IBM computer code. The 5100 has the ability to easily translate between the old IBM code, APL, BASIC and (with a few tweaks in 1975) UNIX. This may seem insignificant but the fact that the 5100 is portable means I can easily take it back to 2036. I do expect they will create some sort of emulation system to use in multiple locations. I will examine the web site you mentioned. I believe the 5100 is unique in its ability to run assembler language on the 360-machine platform and still be portable. I'm not sure if that fact was ever made public so it's the best "proof" I have. I would like to examine the software you mentioned; perhaps I can further justify my side-trip. Brian Singleton wrote: That must have been a system that was before the ancestors of the machines that I knew all about, cuz I never heard of it. However, we could post to MCPressOnline, which is frequented by folks from those very IBM labs in Rochester, Minn. Some of which have worked there for a LONG time, or know those who have since retired. Wanna? -----Original Message----- from Rob: Brian dude, you know all about those IBM machines, right? what do you think of the time traveler guy's statements about them here? Why did you go to 1975? The first "leg" of my trip was from 2036 to 1975. After two VGL checks, the divergence was estimated at about 2.5% (from my 2036). I was "sent" to get an IBM computer system called the 5100. It was one the first portable computers made and it has the ability to read the older IBM programming languages in addition to APL and Basic. We need they system to "debug" various legacy computer programs in 2036. UNIX has a problem in 2038.
    I have a working IBM 5160 computer. Maybe I should stash it away for thirty years and see what happens.
    Toss it. The 5100 is the interesting machine. 30 December 2000 13:37 You said you are confused by the 5100 story. I will explain further. In 2036, it was discovered (or at least known after testing) that the 5100 computer was capable of reading and changing all of the legacy code written by IBM before the release of that system and still be able to create new code in APL and basic. That is the reason we need it in 2036. However, IBM never published that information because it would have probably destroyed a large part of their business infrastructure in the early 70s. In fact, I would bet the engineers were probably told to keep their mouth's shut. Therefore, if I were not here now telling you this, that information would not be discovered for another 36 years. Yet, I would bet there is someone out there who can do the research and discover I am telling the truth. There must be an old IBM engineer out there someplace that worked on the 5100. They just might not have ever asked if I hadn't pointed it out. 02-01-2001 11:28 AM The people who sign my paycheck told me why we needed a 5100 and sent me off to get one. I was not in a position to make alternate suggestions. As I recall, isn't the Cray a rather large system? We need something portable. The 5100 isn't required for its reliability, its needed to translate between APL, UNIX and a few obscure IBM mainframe languages. 02-06-2001 08:33 AM Based on what I know about the 5100 (IBM computer), it has a few very interesting and worthwhile properties that make it worthwhile for a time traveler to recover. Also, please keep in mind that civilization is recovering from a war. Yes, we do have the technology but many of the tools were lost. As you are probably aware, UNIX will have a timeout error in 2038 and many of the mainframe systems that ran a large part of the infrastructure were based on very old IBM computer code. The 5100 has the ability to easily translate between the old IBM code, APL, BASIC and (with a few tweaks in 1975) UNIX. This may seem insignificant but the fact that the 5100 is portable means I can easily take it back to 2036. I do expect they will create some sort of emulation system to use in multiple locations. I will examine the web site you mentioned. I believe the 5100 is unique in its ability to run assembler language on the 360-machine platform and still be portable. I'm not sure if that fact was ever made public so it's the best "proof" I have. I would like to examine the software you mentioned; perhaps I can further justify my side-trip.

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    • #3
      Time Traveller Seeks IBM 5100

      Let’s see, the shadow people created the original code for the 5100, which was technology that was stolen from a downed saucer near White Plains, NM, which now resides 40 floors underground in a secret bunker in Area 51, or something like that...

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      • #4
        Time Traveller Seeks IBM 5100

        gapthemind wrote: > What I think would be of particular interest to the MCP crowd > are the references to a "5100" computer, made in the IBM > Rochester labs. He came back to look for one to bring back to > the future, because it has undocumented features that they > need in the future. Well then he's not trying very hard to get one. A Google.com search for "ibm 5100 for sale" brings up numerous hits, most are old but fit in the time frame mentioned. One even had the manuals for it. Bill

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        • #5
          Time Traveller Seeks IBM 5100

          Has anyone heard of the time traveller named John Titor who went back in time from 2036? he was a big deal on the internet in 2001, claiming to be a time traveller with a pretty consistent story. Occam's razor leads me to disbelieve, but it's been fun along the way and the guy *really* did his homework. what do people think? www.johntitor.com is a good archive of his postings. The thing that makes it relevant to mcpressonline is this: he was after an IBM 5100 computer. So far, some people on a web log called anomalies.net have been trying to find a 5100 engineer without any luck. I asked Brian if he knew of any and here we are. I will post some relevant quotes from his postings but it's all on the web site, organized by topic (although the topic thing doesn't work for me). I can be contacted through my new web site (thanks Mike) at www.gapthemind.com. Rob Chansky

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