Description

Beige DECStation 5000/25 "Maxine" computer with rectangular CPU and large CRT monitor. Red MIT Deactivated sticker on front, MIT barcode MIT-0255052.

This machine was an Athena dialup server named dec.dialup.mit.edu or grumpy-fuzzball.mit.edu, in use from July 1992-November 1999. This was the last of the maxine servers, decomissioned in 1999. Originally it ran Ultrix with Athena-related modifications, but later it ran NetBSD.

Project Athena was an eight-year (1983-1991), $100 million collaborative project involving MIT, IBM, and Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) to integrate computers into the university curriculum at MIT and beyond. The project stimulated many influential applications, such as Instant Messaging, Active Directory, and the X Window System. But the real goal was to make very powerful software available for students, faculty, and staff to do almost anything -- from sending email and writing papers to analyzing data and creating new applications. Getting an Athena account is one of the first things all new members of the MIT community do when they arrive. Though powerful wireless networks provide near-universal Wi-Fi access across campus, students still love using the Athena clusters. [MIT 150 Exhibition label text]