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jgeorge

LOL what the everloving heck is this, it's the weirdest thing I've ever seen an IBM logo on. Spoilers: it's legit. I have it, it works, it does precisely what it says on the tin, and I love it.

Takeapart thread coming soon.
1 August at 17:28 | Open on oldbytes.space
44 comments
StellaFoxxie :spinny_fox_nb:​

@jgeorge ah yes, an annoying machine

1 August at 17:56 | Open on tech.lgbt
Stewart Russell

@jgeorge you were probably supposed to note down what you were doing it went off, preferably involving therbligs

my log would be a series of "screaming because this thing beeped at me" comments

1 August at 17:58 | Open on xoxo.zone
Mekki

@jgeorge following because I work at IBM and we have an internal IBM history community that loves unpacking where these weird objects came from. Please share more soon!

1 August at 18:04 | Open on mastodon.social
Benjohn

@mekki @jgeorge 🤔 how random?! … This almost seems useful as a way to be reminded to check a thing now and then (stir the onions). Or perhaps useful for performing random sampling?

1 August at 19:12 | Open on todon.nl
jgeorge

@benjohn @mekki Your guess is as good as mine or anyone else's. Random sampling is a good idea. My thinking would be more of a "hyper focus interruptor" to keep from going off into the weeds on a problem, but then again I have a problem with hyperfocus so that would be MY use case for something like this.

1 August at 19:50 | Open on oldbytes.space
Benjohn

@jgeorge @mekki that’s a really neat use, and makes me think of pomodoro technique.

I was just trying to think of a UI to control it! If it was Poison noise, you could control the expected events per hour, say.

2 August at 4:41 | Open on todon.nl
jgeorge

@mekki ...you do know that the majority of my hobbies involve restoring and documenting old IBM midrange systems, right?

OH HELLO NEW BEST FRIEND

1 August at 19:42 | Open on oldbytes.space
Mekki

@jgeorge <Waves hello> You can reach me via email if you wish too: mekkiATibm.com

2 August at 16:57 | Open on mastodon.social
Smörhuvud (he/surprise me)

@jgeorge @MLE_online Audible Random Timer is the name of my next band

1 August at 18:18 | Open on mastodon.social
jgeorge

IBM Audible Random Timer lolwtfbbq thread, part 1 of however many.

This is a legitimate IBM product. Not for sale, clearly an internal - probably Field Engineering - tool. Here's some exterior views of the device. It's a plastic hobbyist project box about 45x70x110mm in size. It was originally plain white plastic, but this one has been brush painted gold. My best guess is Testors gold model paint that used to come in the tiny glass bottles with impossible to remove caps (dickblick.com/items/testors-en).

Tell #1 it's an actual IBM product: Anyone knowing IBM machines from this era (spoiler: mid 80s) knows that stamped serial number tag. Proper tag, proper stamping, proper typeface on the stamp.

IBM Audible Random Timer lolwtfbbq thread, part 1 of however many.

This is a legitimate IBM product. Not for sale, clearly an internal - probably Field Engineering - tool. Here's some exterior views of the device. It's a plastic hobbyist project box about 45x70x110mm in size. It was originally plain white plastic, but this one has been brush painted gold. My best guess is Testors gold model paint that used to come in the tiny glass bottles with impossible to remove caps (dickblick.com/items/testors-en
1 August at 18:46 | Open on oldbytes.space
jgeorge

IBM Audible Random Timer lolwtfbbq thread, part 2 of however many.

Boring pics of the inside of the plastic case, showing whoever painted it did actually (good for them) test the paint to make sure it wouldn't damage the plastic.

Juicier pics coming, I promise. :)
1 August at 18:56 | Open on oldbytes.space
jgeorge

IBM Audible Random Timer lolwtfbbq thread, part 3 of however many.

GUTS

PCB front and back. Tell #2 it's IBM made are the yellow bodge wires on the back of the PCB to add a couple of diodes in (IBM has a specific bodge wire color scheme, yellow means it's a rework done in manufacturing). Tell #3 are the rectangular tantalum capacitors with IBM part numbers on them.

5615372 and I are old, old friends. That's a standard issue double capacitor part that's been in use since Ramses II was Pharaoh of Egypt. They'd be standard parts for an IBM PCB design.

IBM Audible Random Timer lolwtfbbq thread, part 3 of however many.

GUTS

PCB front and back. Tell #2 it's IBM made are the yellow bodge wires on the back of the PCB to add a couple of diodes in (IBM has a specific bodge wire color scheme, yellow means it's a rework done in manufacturing). Tell #3 are the rectangular tantalum capacitors with IBM part numbers on them.
1 August at 19:03 | Open on oldbytes.space
jgeorge

IBM Audible Random Timer lolwtfbbq thread, part 4 of however many.

How it works - overview.

The slide switch selects off, low volume, or high volume. "Low" volume is quite low. In a quiet room it's noticeable but not jarring. High volume is quite a bit louder, bordering (to me) on annoyingly loud in a quiet room but probably acceptable with any other ambient noise.

When powered on, it beeps 4-5 times to let you know it's working. Then, randomly, it will beep again 4-5 times and stop. You can stop the beeping by pressing the slide switch (it's also a pushbutton). If you leave it alone it'll beep those same 4-5 times then stop.

So far, with only a few (6-8) datapoints, the "random interval" has been between 7 minutes and just over an hour.

Beeper is a little piezoelectric buzzer stickytaped to the inside of the front panel.

Also, IBM-made tell #4 is the front panel. It's the same thickness and material as IBM machine nameplates and is the same screen printed technique.

IBM Audible Random Timer lolwtfbbq thread, part 4 of however many.

How it works - overview.

The slide switch selects off, low volume, or high volume. "Low" volume is quite low. In a quiet room it's noticeable but not jarring. High volume is quite a bit louder, bordering (to me) on annoyingly loud in a quiet room but probably acceptable with any other ambient noise.
1 August at 19:18 | Open on oldbytes.space
jgeorge

IBM Audible Random Timer lolwtfbbq thread, part 5 of however many.

How it works - detail.

The right side of the PCB are two 4060 binary counter ships and a 74HC688 8 bit comparator. This is I think where the "randomness" is generated - assuming the two counters run at different rates, the comparator would trigger the alarm when the two counters hit the same number at the same time.
1 August at 19:27 | Open on oldbytes.space
jgeorge

IBM Audible Random Timer lolwtfbbq thread, part 6 of however many.

R1 nearest the buzzer wires is a volume adjustment. I just realized that, and realized it's all the way down. Turned up this thing is SCREAMINGLY LOUD EVEN ON LOW.

R11 is a pitch adjustment for the alarm, and it's EXTREMELY touchy. Only about 5% of the range of the pot runs through audible frequencies, even just putting a finger on the pot will change the pitch significantly.

No idea what the 12-position rotary switch at SW2 does yet. Changing it doesn't seem to make any obvious difference so far. My theory is that switches between various resistor combinations to affect the time scale of the "random" events, but it's hard telling with so few data points so far.

IBM Audible Random Timer lolwtfbbq thread, part 6 of however many.

R1 nearest the buzzer wires is a volume adjustment. I just realized that, and realized it's all the way down. Turned up this thing is SCREAMINGLY LOUD EVEN ON LOW.

R11 is a pitch adjustment for the alarm, and it's EXTREMELY touchy. Only about 5% of the range of the pot runs through audible frequencies, even just putting a finger on the pot will change the pitch significantly.
1 August at 19:38 | Open on oldbytes.space
jgeorge

IBM Audible Random Timer lolwtfbbq thread, part 7 of however many.

Non-Audible Random Musings

All the chip dates are 48th week of 1983, meaning this device was probably manufactured early 1984 or so.

There's a belt clip, so this thing is designed to be worn or at least carried on your person. The best any of us have been able to come up with it that this was a way to keep someone from hyperfocusing on something - you get lost in your work, and are off in the weeds looking at something but maybe not realizing how much time has elapsed while you've been hyperfocusing, and this thing might have been around to remind you of the passage of time without being annoying.

IBM Audible Random Timer lolwtfbbq thread, part 7 of however many.

Non-Audible Random Musings

All the chip dates are 48th week of 1983, meaning this device was probably manufactured early 1984 or so.

There's a belt clip, so this thing is designed to be worn or at least carried on your person. The best any of us have been able to come up with it that this was a way to keep someone from hyperfocusing on something - you get lost in your work, and are off in the weeds looking at something but maybe not...

1 August at 19:48 | Open on oldbytes.space
jgeorge

IBM Audible Random Timer lolwtfbbq thread, part 8 of apparently 8.

Thats all for now until I can put a meter or logic probe on this thing to figure out more in detail how the counters operate or what that giant rotary switch does.

I'll answer any questions with my best guesses, or show more detail of the PCB for anyone that wants it.

I'm here all week. Tip your server. Try the Ceasar Salad!

1 August at 19:52 | Open on oldbytes.space
InkySchwartz

@jgeorge The hyperfocus counter is one possibility the other would be trigger a human started activity. What activity, no clue.

Honestly I can think of a ton of use cases outside of IBM.

2 August at 13:08 | Open on mastodon.social
Kenneth Finnegan

@InkySchwartz @jgeorge my guess would be random sampling for process control. Buzzer goes off, you grab the next device off the manufacturing line and put it in the "process control samples" bin.

A lot of statistical process control methods rely on "random" sampling, and humans are REALLY bad at random.

2 August at 13:22 | Open on social.afront.org
chris

@jgeorge There are many possible applications for a random timer, like test engineering (get another cup of coffee, umh, check equipment status), quality control (take a sample... of coffee) or security (patrol the area... of the coffeemaker).

2 August at 13:43 | Open on social.inzeiten.de
youen

@jgeorge but what was the use for something that beeps at random times?

2 August at 13:03 | Open on masto.bike
Chip

@jgeorge “We found that our workers are more responsive when they’re in a constant state of near-panic. Do you have any solutions for us?”

1 August at 18:58 | Open on awesome.garden
clew

It’s bent?!?? Did someone give the Audible Random Timer a whack? @jgeorge

1 August at 19:00 | Open on octodon.social
jgeorge

@clew Its not bent, the plastic case has a little bit of a flare-out at the seam for... aesthetics?

1 August at 19:41 | Open on oldbytes.space
clew

Of course, we need a complicated shape for the… I’m still confused.

:)

@jgeorge

1 August at 19:42 | Open on octodon.social
jgeorge

@clew It looks to me like a bog standard 80s plastic hobbyist electronic project case. I don't think there's any intent to the design aesthetics other than they were able to get them in quantity.

1 August at 19:56 | Open on oldbytes.space
Trash Rabbit 🐇🏳️‍⚧️🚮

@jgeorge i have seen a claim that these were used in speed shooting competitions; the semi random timer was the starter alarm, so that the competitors could be gauged from an unpredictable start time.

Plausible(?) but unverified.

1 August at 19:30 | Open on chaos.social
jgeorge

@madrabbit I saw that on reddit. Given the time-scale of this thing's randomness (10 min to 60+ min so far) it seems like it would be a completely unfeasible random start timer for any kind of competition.

1 August at 19:43 | Open on oldbytes.space
Chris

@jgeorge @madrabbit maybe the Barkley Marathons but that's pretty niche!

1 August at 22:37 | Open on mastodon.social
Maier Amsden

@jgeorge @madrabbit At the same time, 7 minutes to an hour is a pretty broad time span for preventing excess tunnel vision. 7 minutes seems way too short. An hour seems a bit long. And why not have a standard timer set to the perfect interval for what you typically do? I hate annoying beeps, so I'm calling this a torture device.

1 August at 23:30 | Open on mastodon.social
Stu Duerson

@madrabbit @jgeorge

I came on to say the same thing, however in Single Action Shooting, once the timer goes off, it also senses the times between shots, for a performance indicator. I've got one floating around here, somewhere...not IBM.

This one may be to signify time to take measurements, in a study that requires a random time selection.

2 August at 0:47 | Open on sfba.social
Irenes (many)

@jgeorge audible random timer :D fair enough lol

1 August at 22:30 | Open on adhd.irenes.space
Rufus J. Cooter

@jgeorge Instant follow, if only because I suddenly have an urgent need to get updates on this as soon as they're available

2 August at 2:28 | Open on mstdn.social
Tormod Halvorsen

@jgeorge

I’m sure that the printed manual for this thing will have several numbered pages with the only text being:

THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

🙂

2 August at 6:42 | Open on mastodon.social
Simon Frankau

@jgeorge So cool!

reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/c has some good ideas.

Have you tried running it? The length of the random intervals might give you an idea of its intended use.

I love the way they put some perfboard into the PCB design and used it with the bodge wires! Maybe it's a prototype, if they were so confident they'd need to bodge it? :)

Anyway, such a neat find, and some very cool archaeology by you.

2 August at 10:36 | Open on mastodon.xyz
Dan Neuman

@jgeorge The first retry with random wait protocol

2 August at 12:30 | Open on ottawa.place
Angie 🇵🇸🇺🇦

@jgeorge

Worst effects pedal ever.

(Or the best?)

2 August at 12:56 | Open on mas.to
Trammell Hudson

@jgeorge that's definitely weirder than the spray can of IBM oil that was included with my 129 card punch.
2 August at 14:24 | Open on social.v.st
Trammell Hudson

@jgeorge although I think the calculating cheese slicer is the weirdest official product from IBM.
2 August at 14:35 | Open on social.v.st
arclight

@th @jgeorge I like that it's a special purpose mechanical computer. Program in $/angle of cheese, rotate, slice, and sell.

2 August at 14:39 | Open on oldbytes.space
jgeorge

@th I saw a restoration of one on YT, and I agree its up there in its weirdness. But I feel the ART still wins out because although both products tell you what they DO ("I calculate cheese slices" "I randomly make noise") at least you can tell WHY the Calculating Cheese Slicer does what it does. Nobody so far seems to have any idea why the ART exists or what problem it was made to solve. :)

Its less annoying with the pitch of the beep potted down like half an octave though. :)

2 August at 18:44 | Open on oldbytes.space
Lysander il breve
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