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Which Mac to get (to control Nuclear Power station)

ChemicalGeoff said:
What do we learn from this?

Stay the hell away from nuclear radiation!

P.S. Need to get my particle physics up to scratch, you totally pwned my knowledge there
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Unfortunately we're going to need them - and more of them soon. Can't rely on Brent crude forever.
I'm trying hard to decide if this is a joke - its 1am and I've just got back from the pub. FWIW no I don't think it'd do but give it a whirl - see what happens :p
 
That attitude is all very good for you londoners but i'm stationed in coventry which is a wee bit too close to sellafield for my likings, just have to hope it goes off in the hols when i'm back in cambridge :S

EDIT:

When i say stay away from nuclear radiation i dont mean stay away from the reactors... we need to save oil and those big scary windmills are well, big and... scary
 
Little problem: Mac OS X license agreement, part 2C on the copy that came with my Panther discs: "...THE APPLE SOFTWARE IS NOT INTENDED FOR USE IN THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES..."


(If this is a joke, the original poster is probably referring to this)


DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer, nor do I purport to be one. Therefore, this is NOT LEGAL ADVICE; use at your own peril. ;)
 
JeffTL said:
Little problem: Mac OS X license agreement, part 2C on the copy that came with my Panther discs: "...THE APPLE SOFTWARE IS NOT INTENDED FOR USE IN THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES..."


(If this is a joke, the original poster is probably referring to this)


DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer, nor do I purport to be one. Therefore, this is NOT LEGAL ADVICE; use at your own peril. ;)
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LOL... I thought this was a joke too at first, but the license agreement actually states it. That's hilarious.
 
JeffTL said:
Little problem: Mac OS X license agreement, part 2C on the copy that came with my Panther discs: "...THE APPLE SOFTWARE IS NOT INTENDED FOR USE IN THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES..."

DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer, nor do I purport to be one. Therefore, this is NOT LEGAL ADVICE; use at your own peril. ;)
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Would Yellow Dog Linux be OK then?

Its just that by the end of May I've got to:

1) Buy a Mac mini (or a Packard-Bell as an earlier poster reported- nice nice colour, will go nicely with lab coat) and install all the software for it.

2) Install everything to control the rods, and I've just read on my temping contract (sneaky buggers Manpower, they never told me about this) that this system has to control the emergency warning systems. To tell all the staff when things go wrong and that.

3) Throw the dusty old mainframe out, and replace with Mac without and disterbance.

4) test the damn thing to see if it works.

Also I cant find any cracked rod controlling software on Limewire, so I'm going to have to make one myself using Java or Macromedia Director.

Yikes!

EDIT: No-one knows of any punch card readers? Are there any of those 11 i one memory card readers for digi cameras with punched card facility?
 
vniow said:
Uhh...

<<

>>
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Yes, I agree with the member deserving a slap upside the head...

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Of course the bean counters in charge would probably spend $15 million dollars studying the problems and allow $1000 for hardware and software to run things. ;)

Personally I'd upgrade to at least an XServe or a few of them running in failover or voting mode on all the decisions.

Plus you want to make sure you get a good line conditioning UPS to clean up the power to the machines... :cool:

Plus it's probably easier to hire a few interns to be the punch card readers and give them a USB keyboard.

Edit: When I was down in FL years ago they dumped their specialy launch control mainframes over on the Cape side and replaced them with Amigas... so it can be done. ;)
 
Sun Baked said:
Yes, I agree with the member deserving a slap upside the head...

attachment.php

Plus it's probably easier to hire a few interns to be the punch card readers and give them a USB keyboard.
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hey how do you know what the interns do? ;)

Nah they pay us too much do just that
 
geese said:
Hi,

I'm currently responsible for upgrading the old 1960's mainframe computers that are controlling the nuclear reactors at Sellafield power station, in the UK.

I'm considering a Mac mini- do you think it'll be up for the job? Mind you, it cant crash otherwise KABOOM! Chernobyl over again!

So, would a Mini with 512mb memory cover it?

Also does anyone know of any freeware 'Reactor controller' software for the Mac? And does anyone sell any USB 'punch-card' readers that'll work on the mac?

Thanks
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nuk nuk nuk...
 
LOL its true, cant use it for nuclear facilities, aircraft navigation or communication systems, . .. . or other equipment in which the failure of the apple software could lead to death, personal injury, or severe physical or envirnmental damage. sounds like OS X is good for everything except life/death! heh. . .
 
geese...

This is the last place you need to be looking for advice about nuclear systems.... Changing out the computer (new or old) is a huge undertaking for one person to do, either your yanking our chain or your getting yours yanked. Even for a small test reactor here in the US it is a large undertaking, and it would be overseen by the NRC and also supporting companies. I'm currently getting my MS in nuclear engineering and my friend who works at a power plant says that this is a multimillion dollar undertaking, and even then it has to be approved by the NRC... So no $500 dollar computer will solve your problem.

You really need to contact other companies that are currently doing this. I would first look at Framatome, Westinghouse, GE, etc. Ask them what they recommend. From there you should be able to get a good idea. Best of luck.

mkrishnan it's nice to know there is another NE on this forum.
 
Nuc said:
mkrishnan it's nice to know there is another NE on this forum.
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:D

Geese, on the tiny off chance that this whole thread isn't a joke, please, in God's name, listen to Nuc. Even the Bush administration wouldn't be dumb enough to back an idea like one person creating a software system for a nuclear power plant in a month using off-the-shelf hardware and software....
 
Dude, you're in charge of all this and you're asking here?

The Simpson's is supposed to be a comedy, not a documentary. Do you enjoy donuts and have a boss named Mr. Burns?
 
geese said:
Also I cant find any cracked rod controlling software on Limewire, so I'm going to have to make one myself using Java or Macromedia Director.
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Lol. Geese are you for real. This thread is the funniest thing I've seen all day. Are you kidding me!
 
RE:

I'd say a Quad powered g50 PowerMac,with atleast 5 teraflops of RAM. It has a nuclear fusion powered system bus too.:)
 
geese said:
Hi,

I'm currently responsible for upgrading the old 1960's mainframe computers that are controlling the nuclear reactors at Sellafield power station, in the UK.

I'm considering a Mac mini- do you think it'll be up for the job? Mind you, it cant crash otherwise KABOOM! Chernobyl over again!

So, would a Mini with 512mb memory cover it?
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Yes.*

*(As long as you're not running Java, which is specifically not intended for controlling nuclear reactors: http://www.java.com/en/download/license.jsp, see Section 3.)

Also does anyone know of any freeware 'Reactor controller' software for the Mac? And does anyone sell any USB 'punch-card' readers that'll work on the mac?
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RTFM, this gets asked every damn day here.

Edit: Oops, joke's on me. OS X specifically disclaims nuclear controllers too. I wonder if thats in the Windows license too. Nah, the universe is too ironic for that; MS is probably selling their software to nuclear plants.
 
geese1 said:
Buy a Mac mini (or a Packard-Bell as an earlier poster reported- nice nice colour, will go nicely with lab coat) and install all the software for it.
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Go with the Packard- Bell. You can't run a nuclear power station if your computer doesn't match your lab coat. Sheeesh i thought everyone knew that. I can donate a G3 Blueberry iMac for the days you want a '70s vibe.
 
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