Has anyone here pondered a 32-bit CPU in the spirit of the Magic-1? How
much harder would that be?
--
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu
A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
I just picked up a Scitex NuBus card at surplus a couple days ago.
Anybody have any guesses what it is?
The only connector on the card is the DIN96 NuBus connector. There
are two sets of empty pads for 96-pin connectors (4 rows of 24 pads).
Major chips include a Cypress CY7C342 EPLD, 40 MHz Motorola XC96002
DSP, and a custom LSI QFP marked "COLOR-SCITEX". There are a fair
number of RAM devices, too, including MT5C1008 20ns 128Kx8 SRAM in
one group of 8 and one group of 5, MT42C8256 70ns 256Kx8 DRAM in one
group of 8, and four CY7C199 35ns 32Kx8 SRAM chips.
Silkscreen marks include SCITEX, "S.C.N. II", "ZEN", "PS QUAD", and
"QUAD CS".
Stickers include "NURIT" and "VS500048/ 5".
Guesses? The only Scitex card for Macintosh I can even verify exists
is the ResoLUT, which accelerates color space translations. Not sure
though if that's what I have.
Any ideas?
ok
bear
I met a woman today who has done considerable software work with ARTIC. The
website that has a bunch of the hardware for sale is at http://www.quadron.com/.
I've already put her in touch with Al regarding the manuals, etc.
I'm hoping to start a thread that might answer some questions about
the PDP-6 that I've so far been unable to get resolved through Google
or other means. This is all mostly spurred on by finally getting
around to reading Steven Levy's "Hackers" after 23 years, and reading
about the role the PDP-6 played in the early Hacker culture around
MIT's Tech Square and Stanford's SAIL. It seems like the PDP-6 is
one of the least well preserved of DEC's systems, maybe even the
"Holy Grail" (at least to some folks).
Without further ado, the questions:
1) Are there any complete PDP-6s anywhere at all?
2) Does the Computer History Museum in Mountain View have any PDP-6
artifacts?
3) Are the stories about the Boston Computer Museum receiving a
complete PDP-6 and then chopping it up to sell as gifts truth or
urban legend?
4) Does any PDP-6 software still exist, especially PDP-6 ITS ? (I
haven't found any on Bitsavers, so I'm guessing the answer is "no")
5) Does anyone have any PDP-6 stories they'd like to share with the
group?
I'm hoping #5 spurs on some good discussion.
-Seth
>
>Subject: homebrewed 32-bit cpu?
> From: David Griffith <dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu>
> Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2007 14:50:17 -0700 (PDT)
> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
>
>
>Has anyone here pondered a 32-bit CPU in the spirit of the Magic-1? How
>much harder would that be?
Yes, but I'll likely not build it. Harder only by a little, maybe 2x the
parts. I find that simply bigger (more bits) often is nice thinking but I
always do the "whatif" in instruction set and the like.
When it comes to building from raw ttl I find myself specualting on
longer words with multiple address schemes or something simple like
PDP8 but say 16bits.
No matter what it would be s software orphan.
Allison
>--
>David Griffith
>dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu
>
>A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
>Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
>A: Top-posting.
>Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
Recently, I tried to make a point about the cost of rolling products being a
detriment to product change. I was more optimistic than I thought. Here's
something from today's EETimes on the costs of innovation. I was way low.
Even disk drive vendors figure $30-50 million to bring out a new drive.
Change is done to survive, not to satisfy some marketing whim.
Billy
Quote from:
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=198701495
In the new IC world order, fewer integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) can
afford to build fabs, while only an elite group may be able to develop
leading-edge IC designs over time. At the 45-nm node, a new 300-mm fab costs
about $3 billion, process technology R&D runs $2.4 billion and a "mask set"
is up to $9 million, Synopsys said. Test costs, meanwhile, continue to be
flat.
IC design costs range between $20 million and $50 million, the EDA company
estimated. And there's a new problem on the block: process variation.
Identified as one of the new "pressure points" at the 45-nm node, variation
is becoming one of the root causes of chip failures.
Much of the data is uncertain for the 32-nm node and beyond, but some say
that by then, a new 300-mm fab could go for $10 billion, as process R&D
costs reach $3 billion and design costs $75 million.
------------Original Message:
Date: Sun, 01 Apr 2007 13:05:51 -0700
From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com>
Subject: Re: IMI disk drive on Cromemco
I don't know if this applies to the 7700, but I do recall that the
5000 was somewhat finicky about being level. IIRC, if one inclines
the drive so that the positioner is working against gravity, you'll
get seek failures.
Cheers,
Chuck
-----------Reply:
Good point, although that applies to most of the old drives (especially
those with a linear positioner); installation guides usually specifically
disallowed any orientation like that. And of course any old drive with
potentially slightly worn parts should always be used in the same
orientation and given lots of warm-up time before writing to it.
While we're taking about the 5000, the 5MB 5007 drive's index sensor
often caused problems. It used a poorly mounted reflective optical sensor
which could easily move; also, dust would accumulate in the index disk
holes and on the reflective surface.
mike
This message has been forwarded from Usenet. To reply to the
original author, use the email address from the forwarded message.
Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2007 19:28:34 -0500
Groups: comp.os.vms,comp.sys.dec
From: "Schroeder, AJ" <ajschroeder at no-spamhotmail.com>
Org: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com
Subject: Digital Storageworks equipment for sale...
Id: <46104e02$0$5781$4c368faf at roadrunner.com>
========
Hello group,
I have quite a bit of Digital Storageworks equipment that I have collected
over the past few years. I am looking to sell some of it off. I figured that
I would give the newsgroup members first dibs on it, then I will go to eBay.
I have multiple BA35x towers (tan and blue) with the fans, personality
modules, and power supply units, some of them even have the complete "skins"
with the doors and stands. If anyone wants them, I have a bunch of 4 GB tan
and 9GB blue SBBs available. Also I have SCSI cables of varying lengths and
connector types.
All of this is coming from my personal collection of pieces and parts and
all parts are known to be in working order and in good condition. I can sell
some individual items off as parts, but I would like to sell a couple towers
as whole packages. Shipping can be negotitated if outside the US, although I
am told that there are massive amounts of fees if shipping is outside the US
so it may not be worth it. I am in the Milwaukee, WI area so if you are near
me local pickup can be arranged.
Please email ajschroeder at no-spamhotmail.com (remove no-spam first) for a
complete list of parts.
Thanks,
AJ Schroeder
Does anybody want a small (13") IBM colour monitor Model 8513002 ?
Worked fine when last used, some years ago.. little grubby now from
being stored in the attic though.
I'm in Manchester, UK. I'd rather not try and post it, so if anybody
is in the area or passing and wants it, please pipe up :-)
Rob
