The last computer APSU will ever need
鈥淭hor鈥 lived in Huntsville, Alabama. He was an early tech savant鈥攁n expert on the VAX-11/780 computer system鈥攚ho didn鈥檛 like to give out his real name. But there was a number, and in the early 1980s, staff members working in the Austin Peay State University Computer Center often tried to reach him by phone.
鈥淲e would call for him at all hours of the day and night, as it was not unusual for him to work several days straight, and then be gone for several days straight (presumably sleeping),鈥 Charles Wall, former director of information technology at APSU, said. 鈥淲e never knew when we were going to find him.鈥
Thirty years ago, this elusive 鈥淭hor鈥 was the University鈥檚 best hope for tech support after it bought the state鈥檚 first VAX computer. The machine, which cost $225,000, arrived in April 1979 to support APSU鈥檚 new computer science degree program.
鈥淧resident (Robert) Riggs used buying that computer as an excuse for not giving faculty raises that year,鈥 Dr. Bruce Myers, former chair of the APSU Department of Computer Science and Information Technology, said. 鈥淎nd he said he doubted if Austin Peay would ever need another computer.鈥
Myers, then a mathematics professor, took a year off of teaching that spring to set up and manage the VAX. The beige colored computer, which moved slower and had less memory than modern iPhones, took up three large cabinets in the basement of the Browning Building. It was considered such a state-of-the-art machine that it became a sort of local celebrity.
One afternoon in the early 1980s, the Chamber of Commerce contacted Wall because a production company was filming a Kenny Rodgers video in town, and they needed a VAX. The company had heard that APSU owned one.
鈥淚 told them we did and said it would be fine for them to use it,鈥 Wall recalled. 鈥淎 few hours later what they really needed was a FAX, not a VAX. My chance for credit on the video was gone.鈥
At other universities, students still learned computer programming by using punch cards. For a program to work, the cards had to be inserted in a specific order into old IBM machines.
鈥淚f you ever dropped your card deck, and they鈥檇 get out of order, you鈥檇 have a big problem,鈥 Myers said. 鈥淭he VAX was the next generation.鈥
APSU was ahead of the curve in purchasing the computer, but that also created a problem; where do you go to for support when something goes wrong?
鈥淥ur VAX was one of the early ones sold, and there weren鈥檛 many resources to call on for help,鈥 Wall said. The closest machine was in Huntsville. 鈥淭he guru there was a fellow who went by the name 鈥楾hor鈥 and worked his own schedule.鈥
When they could get a hold of him, 鈥淭hor鈥 helped keep the VAX running, and in 1982, Riggs鈥 decree that the University wouldn鈥檛 need another computer turned out to be a bit presumptuous. That year, APSU bought a second VAX to run the University鈥檚 business processes.
Within a few years, the University no longer needed Thor鈥檚 help. But in the early 1980s, he helped lay the foundation for one of APSU鈥檚 thriving degree programs.
If you know of any APSU legends, either true or unconfirmed, please contact Charles Booth at boothcw@apsu.edu.