Washing machine

From JargonWiki

The Jargon File Parts of this article are based on the Jargon File, v. 4.4.7, a public domain document of hacker jargon.

washing machine

Usage: n. Etymology: Carnegie-Mellon University Derivation: CMU See Also: walking drives

washing machine: n.

1. Old-style 14-inch hard disks in floor-standing cabinets. So called because of the size of the cabinet and the `top-loading' access to the media packs -- and, of course, they were always set on `spin cycle'. The washing-machine idiom transcends language barriers; it is even used in Russian hacker jargon. See also walking drives. The thick channel cables connecting these were called bit hoses (see hose, sense 3).

(The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 76-02-20:2. The previous cartoon was 75-10-04.)

1. [CMU] A machine used exclusively for washing software. CMU has clusters of these.

Sources

Public Domain This article is in the public domain and is not subject to copyright, trademark, or any other legal protection of intellectual property. Any and all user contributions to this page are also immediately dedicated to the public domain. Editors of this page must accede to these terms as special conditions of the standard editing privileges.