5.0602 SPOOL and other Memories (4/78)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Thu, 16 Jan 1992 19:44:03 EST

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0602. Thursday, 16 Jan 1992.

(1) Date: Thu, 16 Jan 92 09:21:51 EST (21 lines)
From: Elliott Parker <3ZLUFUR@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Subject: spool

(2) Date: 16 Jan 92 16:00:00 EST (21 lines)
From: "Mary Dee Harris" <MDHARRIS@guvax.georgetown.edu>
Subject: SPOOLing

(3) Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1992 09:07 EDT (16 lines)
From: RKENNER@Vax2.Concordia.CA
Subject: 'to spool' meaning 'to store'

(4) Date: Thu, 16 Jan 92 16:51:10 GMT (20 lines)
From: Sarah Davnall <ZLSIISA@cms.manchester-computing-centre.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: 5.0595 Etymology of "SPOOL"

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 92 09:21:51 EST
From: Elliott Parker <3ZLUFUR@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Subject: spool

Yet another entry for the etymology of spool. This comes from the
ASCII/FTP version of The Jargon File:

spool: [from early IBM `Simultaneous Peripheral Operation Off-Line',
but this acronym is widely thought to have been contrived for
effect] vt. To send files to some device or program (a `spooler')
that queues them up and does something useful with them later. The
spooler usually understood is the `print spooler' controlling
output of jobs to a printer, but the term has been used in
connection with other peripherals (especially plotters and graphics
devices). See also {demon}.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elliott Parker BITNET: 3ZLUFUR@CMUVM
Journalism Dept. Internet: 3zlufur@cmuvm.csv.cmich.edu
Central Michigan University Compuserve: 70701,520
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859 USA
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------28----
Date: 16 Jan 92 16:00:00 EST
From: "Mary Dee Harris" <MDHARRIS@guvax.georgetown.edu>
Subject: SPOOLing

So I didn't remember the acronym correctly. My guess is that the computer
usage of the verb 'to spool' came from the acronym for "Simultaneous Peripheral
Operation Off-Line" which was chosen because it was reminiscent of storage
on a spool of thread/cable/wire/etc. I never heard a tape referred to as
a spool of tape; it was always a tape reel. And I do remember when tape
storage was better than card deck storage (before disks).

I also remember when the engineers first told me about disk storage (drums
were around much earlier). The first multiple platter disk systems only had
one read/write mechanism which had to move vertically to the right platter
and then horizontally to the right track. In those days, head crash meant
a serious catastrophe that put the entire disk system out of commission. It
didn't take too long for them to figure out that multiple read/write arms
would be less costly overall that destroying disks on a regular basis.

Mary Dee Harris

(3) --------------------------------------------------------------22----
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1992 09:07 EDT
From: RKENNER@Vax2.Concordia.CA
Subject: 'to spool' meaning 'to store'

In among the messages about the derivation of the infamous f-word was
an unrelated question about how the word 'spool' in computer jargon
has come to mean 'store', as in print spoolers, etc.
I have not done an exhaustive study of the word, but I think an educated
guess can be made. Watching any documentary on computers made in the
50's or 60's, or any science fiction movie of the same period, one sees
images of huge tape drives with spools of tape moving back and forth.
So, in those days, when the computer wanted to store something, where
was it put? Onto SPOOLS of magnetic tape.
Thus is my guess as to the background of this word
Roger Kenner
Concordia University
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------30----
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 92 16:51:10 GMT
From: Sarah Davnall <ZLSIISA@cms.manchester-computing-centre.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: 5.0595 Etymology of "SPOOL" (5/131)

Mary Dee Harris's note has brought back memories! In one job I had, my
computing (called "program runs" I seem to recall) had to be sent from
Manchester by van to a collection point in the Midlands, and from there
by another van to a computer in London. Turnround time was, in consequence,
a full week. And if, as happened when programs were newly written, the
runs all failed because of compilation errors, I could have the entire
set ready for resubmission inside an hour. How today's networking would
have relieved the tedium of so much waiting and so little work!

Continuing in moist-eyed vein, do folks remember when 256K was considered
a huge amount of memory, and when the advent of the 8Mbyte exchangeable
disk revolutionised our tape-bound lives? And when the EDS8s were
superceded by EDS60s (60Mbytes), did not the horizons seem boundless?

Sarah Davnall
Manchester Computing Centre, University of Manchester, England.