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Re:Show HN: Homemade 32-bit CPU and OS (2015) [video] by arethuza on Monday June 06, 2016 @05:40AM (#11845557)
That sounds like something from a Charlie Stross Laundry novel.

Edit: I have encountered systems that were designed in the 1960s where they wanted to rely on tried and tested technology - so pretty much clockwork! This was for sequencing operations during the emergency shutdown of a nuclear reactor, so being conservative in technology platform was perhaps understandable!

Re:Show HN: Homemade 32-bit CPU and OS (2015) [video] by VLM on Monday June 06, 2016 @09:23AM (#11846552)
Remote reprogramming requiring a metal lathe, milling machine, and a cooperative operator onsite is not necessarily a bug with nukes. Expensive, but accidents are more expensive.
Re:Show HN: Homemade 32-bit CPU and OS (2015) [video] by fit2rule on Monday June 06, 2016 @07:37AM (#11845958)
In my case, it was just so that the Boss could prove the point: even his relay-CPU could handle the train signalling/switching systems, sometimes, better than the 'modern' versions we were all sweating on developing. Technological prowess runs deep in the train-nerds world.