If Central Purchasing is to be effective then Subject Committee Secretaries must be able to recognise a request for a Single User System when it appears on an RG2.
Conversely, an applicant may not request a Single User System explicitly because he may not realise that such systems are now available and/or that they are more effective in solving his problem than the solution he proposes. This situation will arise most frequently in the coming 12 months as non Computer Science researchers learn about the advantages of the Centrally supported Single User System initiative as against the D-I-Y approach.
The following discussion should help Subject Committee Secretaries recognise the sort of entry in the Equipment section of the RG2 which should be referred to the Single User Systems team prior to committee consideration.
Easy!
Look out for the following key words (the list is not exhaustive):
ALTO
APOLLO
APPLE
CONVERGENT TECHNOLOGY
DERADO
INTEL 8086
LISP MACHINE
MOTOROLA M68000, 68010, 68020
SYMBOLICS
TERAK
WICAT
XEROX 820
Z8000
This is difficult to spot because the applicant probably intends to build his own system i.e. wheel reinvention and this intention could be masked. Look out for all or some of the following clues.
Increasingly Single User Systems will be a more flexible, powerful and economic alternative to existing, conventional minicomputers. Requests for small minicomputer systems costing less than £15K should be referred to the Single User Systems team for comment.
Typical examples are:
Some applicants just request a computer, giving a budgetary figure. Such requests should always be referred to the RAL Computing Division for comment. Requests of under £15K should go to the Single User Systems team.
Some applicants try to hide the fact that they require a computer system, using suitable euphemisms (see below). These are obviously the most difficult to spot but in case of doubt the RAL Computing Division will be happy to assist. Some euphemisms are:
Not all of these requests are for Single User Systems, of course, but many of these applicants are not used to central SERC supported computing and would benefit significantly from such a service. These are often the very people who should be doing Science but often waste too much time doing Programming because they are not familiar with central SERC support facilities.
Send a copy of the RG2 to:
K Robinson
Computing Division
Rutherford and Appleton Laboratories
Chilton, Didcot, Oxon
OX11 0QX
Tel: Abingdon (0235) 21900 Ext: 6491
If you are not sure whether the request is for a Single User System then either send the RG2 to the above address anyway or phone the above number. It should be quick and easy for a computing expert to decide.