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23 | |
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24 | <p>The Univac 9200 (Univac 9300) is a punch card computing data center from 1966. It is |
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25 | uncommon that such old devices are completely preserved, even all the |
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26 | manuals are available. This system was stored for over four years in the museum |
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27 | archives until we moved it with a freight company into the museum, next |
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28 | to the <a href="univac9400.shtm">UNIVAC 9400</a>.</p> |
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29 | |
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30 | <p>After moving the devices with a trucking company to the museum building, |
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31 | the restoration started with cleaning all the devices, initially removing the typical |
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32 | old, rotten noise-absorbing mats at the very first. They have been replaced by |
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33 | brand new cellular rubber.</p> |
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34 | |
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35 | <p>We expect most of the problems to be with the mechanical parts in the cabinets. |
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36 | Already we have removed the transportation locks and replaced some bearings, |
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37 | drive rollers and belts. The card puncher features 15 timing belts, for instance. |
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38 | The card reader (500 cards/minute) works again and the puncher mechanics are |
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39 | now executable, too. The processor link to these auxillary devices is another |
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40 | issue and will be checked in the near future.</p> |
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41 | |
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42 | <div class="box center auto-bildbreite"> |
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43 | <img src="/shared/photos/rechnertechnik/univac9300.jpg" alt="UNIVAC 9300" width="700" height="375" /> |
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44 | <p class="bildtext"> |
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45 | <b>UNIVAC 9300</b> electronic data processing system, with its components (left |
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46 | to right): bar printer, cpu, "electronic cabinet" (power supply and plated wire |
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47 | memory), card reader, card puncher. |
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48 | </p> |
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49 | </div> |
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50 | |
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51 | <p>For aesthetic reasons, we also repainted the cabinets.</p> |
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52 | <p>We will address the bar printer at a later time. In contrast to the already |
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53 | mentioned devices, the printer cannot be controlled manually, so we will |
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54 | have to start up the processor, too. This will be a buggy job. |
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55 | But all the work is not for nothing, <!-- sic! gute uebersetzung --> |
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56 | since the system is really unique, featuring punch card assembler programming.</p> |
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57 | |
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58 | <p>We will continously update this page about the progress of the reparation |
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59 | until the device is fully functional again.</p> |
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60 | |
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61 | <div class="box center auto-bildbreite"> |
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62 | <img src="/shared/photos/rechnertechnik/univac9200.jpg" alt="UNIVAC 9300" width="700" height="368" /> |
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63 | <p class="bildtext"><b>UNIVAC 9300</b> electronic data processing system, uncovered while being restored</p> |
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64 | </div> |
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65 | |
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66 | |
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67 | <b id="cards">UNIVAC 9200 Software</b><br> |
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68 | <p>Often it is sheer luck that helps saving unique artifacts from scrap. In this |
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69 | case a curious student at the Goethe University discovered strange objects in a |
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70 | building and informed us. It turned out that these devices were a <a href="/en/computer/punchcard.shtm#u1710">UNIVAC 1710</a> |
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71 | |
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72 | card puncher and a cabinet full of punched cards containings programs for our |
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73 | UNIVAC 9200. The punch cards, about 65000 pieces, contain programs which were |
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74 | developed between 1967 and 1975 at the institute of mathematics and applied |
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75 | computer science. We will surely revive some of these old programs on our |
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76 | UNIVAC system. <br> |
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77 | The rescue action was actively supported by the University of Frankfurt and |
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78 | the "FITG" (Frankfurt) whon we would like to thank for their efforts.</p> |
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79 | <div class="box center auto-bildbreite"> |
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80 | <img src="/shared/photos/rechnertechnik/univac/lochkarten.jpg" alt="65.000 punch cards" width="700" height="174" /> |
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81 | <p class="bildtext">24 boxes containing more than 65000 punch cards extend our software library</div> |
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82 | |
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83 | <p>NB: One punch card can hold up to 80 characters - that makes about 80 bytes |
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84 | per card. Thus 65000 cards correspond to about 5 MB which is roughly the same |
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85 | amount of data that a modern digital camera produces for a single picture. |
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86 | Stored on punch cards 5 MB weigh about 160 kg while the cabinet housing the |
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87 | cards has a volume of about 0.5 m³ (about 500 liters of volume).</p> |
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88 | |
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89 | |
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90 | |
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91 | <h3 id="blog">Restoration Blog</h3> |
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92 | <p><b>17.01.2010:</b> There were some mice in the power supply and printer; they |
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93 | bit thorugh some small cables. |
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94 | <p><b>16.02.2010:</b> After locating two defective resistors the power supply is |
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95 | running again. Now we can use punch card devices from the CPU. Actually |
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96 | we cannot read nor punch data. |
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97 | <br>Now there is another malfunctioning device: The <a href="storage-media.shtm#plated-wire-storage"> |
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98 | plated wire storage</a> does not work. We are trying to get it working at least partially, |
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99 | replacing it with a new self-made solid state memory. As you can read on our |
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100 | <a href="/en/devices/plated-wire-storage.shtm">detailed description of the |
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101 | plated wire storage</a>, this type of memory has always been very error-prone. |
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102 | <div class="desc-right"> |
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103 | <img src="/shared/photos/rechnertechnik/9300pannel.jpg" alt="UNIVAC 9300 Front palen" width="400" height="296" /> |
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104 | <p class="bildtext" style="width:400px;"><b>UNIVAC 9300 front panel:</b> 160 |
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105 | states of processor and periphery can be indicated with light bulbs and |
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106 | selected via switches.</p> |
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107 | </div> |
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108 | <p><b>15.04.2010:</b> The boot process of the device is still crashing. There is |
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109 | an error message from the printer without any reason. We are trying to |
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110 | locate this error. |
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111 | <p><b>02.05.2010:</b> A broken thyristor (hammer driver) raised the |
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112 | "printer error" message. Data integrity was the most important consideration at the |
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113 | time. If only one of the 140 printer columns is not working correctly, the whole |
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114 | printer goes offline to avoid any wrong output. |
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115 | <p><b>10.05.2010:</b> We managed to get the plated wire storage online. We |
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116 | can even start some small test programs via the input switches, but there are |
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117 | bugs while running. This is perhaps the only device that still uses the old |
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118 | plated wire storage. Anyway, we are planing a replacement. |
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119 | <p><b>12.06.2010:</b> After calibrating the optical card reader, we could read in |
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120 | and execute small programs in the data memory. We will report about the high |
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121 | security level of the card reading process later. Surprisingly the plated wire |
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122 | storage still works.</p> |
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123 | <p><b>16.06.2010:</b> The card puncher doesn't work any more. 30 years of inactivity |
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124 | are a long time for computers, too. |
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125 | <br>On the other side, we could execute a printer loop program. The huge printer |
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126 | starts up, but doesn't print yet. After two minutes, a thermal fuse triggers.</p> |
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127 | <p><b>25.06.2010:</b> The fuse is triggerd by a broken centrifugal switch from the |
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128 | printer engine start-up windings. Therefore the winding was always on and |
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129 | constantly dissipated current. Now the engine is running, but print commands |
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130 | are not yet executed. |
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131 | <br>We also found a bug in the memory. Now all 8kB seem to run completely |
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132 | error-free.</p> |
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133 | <p><b>30.06.2010:</b> We located another bug in the printer logic (faulty |
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134 | transistor). For the first time in 30 years, the bar printer works and is capable of |
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135 | printing files from various punch cards. The type face looks good. |
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136 | <br>Now we turn to the damaged printer.</p> |
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137 | <p><b>05.08.2010:</b> After replacing a broken transistor and injecting some oil, |
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138 | the puncher is up and running! Now we are able to dublicate punch cards. |
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139 | Unfortunately we had to disable the error checking functions since the device |
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140 | detected a non-existing error when punching. Locating this error is the next |
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141 | problem.</p> |
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142 | <p><b>26.08.2010:</b> Locating the bug in the device's internal error checking |
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143 | of punched data was hard work. The computer compares the data which should be |
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144 | punched with the position of the hammers in the punch station in a very |
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145 | complex way. One of the 24 inductive sensing elements was broken, |
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146 | furthermore a transistor which amplifies the particular induced voltage was |
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147 | out of order and there was a cold solder joint. Finally the complete sensing |
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148 | station had to be recalibrated to deliver all information simultaneously to |
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149 | the comparing element. The adjustment has only a margin of 5 microseconds. |
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150 | After this repair, all duplicated punch cards are checked too. If there |
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151 | is a wrong punch hole, the computer stops immediately (an event that occurs |
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152 | extremely rarely now).</p> |
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153 | |
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154 | <div class="desc-right"> |
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155 | <img src="/shared/photos/rechnertechnik/univac/messen-am-memory.jpg" width="400" height="313" /> |
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156 | <p class="bildtext" style="width: 400px;"><b>Backside of the UNIVAC 9300:</b> With a storage oscilloscope and a logic analyzer logic states are measured</p></div> |
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157 | |
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158 | <p><b>19.10.2010:</b> After all test programs were run successfully, we can now declare |
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159 | the machine as being fully operational. The next step will be constructing a |
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160 | new memory system which is necessary since the original plated wire memory is |
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161 | fragile and it is doubtful that it would survive the years to come without |
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162 | errors.</p> |
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163 | |
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164 | |
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165 | <p><b>Feb. 2012:</b> Redesigning the memory using modern semiconductor circuits is more complicated |
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166 | than expected initially. Despite a lot of effort concerning the timing of |
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167 | all signals involved in the RAM's logic the new RAM card is still not working. |
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168 | Further tests and modifications will be necessary. Fortunately the original |
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169 | wire memory is still working perfectly.</p> |
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170 | |
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171 | <p><i>This blog will be irregulary continued.</i></p> |
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172 | |
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173 | <p class="small">We would like to thank Dr. Frank Berger and Dr. Juergen Steen (both from the |
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174 | "Historischen Museum Frankfurt) for their suuport and many spare parts they |
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175 | donated for this machine. Repairing such complex circuitry would be next to |
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176 | impossible without known good boards for swapping etc.</small> |
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177 | |
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178 | |
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179 | |
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180 | </div><!-- end of content --> |
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