Page 137 - Neutrons for Sciences and Society

Chapter 5: The construction of the reactor and the scientific groups
to an IBM-360 computer at the computer centre (IMAG) of the university. Yvon Siret came from this centre on 1 January 1971 to take charge of scientific computing at the ILL.
5.3.2 Computer sharing at the ILL
Computing at the start of the ILL was an excellent example of the spirit of freedom and power being made available to the users. Then, well before the advent of the personal computer, a central computer was a huge machine, very costly, and locked in a room with access strictly controlled and managed by a small group of experts with the users at a safe distance.
To the great surprise of new arrivals there were no such barriers at the ILL. The RJE terminal connected to the IBM 360/50
of the IMAG was quickly replaced by a more modern DEC PDP-KI10 (also known as DECsystem10 or DEC10) computer offering time-sharing and much better adapted for scientific use. The incredible open door computer policy was made by Y. Siret on the arrival of this machine. In other words, after minimal instruction, in the absence of the operators, any scientist could start the machine at night or weekends, mount/dismount tapes, mount or dismount the removable hard disks, replenish printer paper, etc. Y. Siret, supported by the Directors, correctly gambled this would work due to the intelligence and serious work ethic of the scientists. Rightly so: in more than ten years of operation of the DEC-system10 there was no significant problem. This daring choice for the era would have numerous benefits. Firstly the high cost of the computer equipment was offset by the young scientists
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