AIX was ported in very cut down manner and used on the f960 and h960
routing cards used on the early T3 based NSFnet. F960 was FDDI and H960 was
HSSI. Come think of it, I think the v.25 and ether net cards also used
i960, just a smaller version.
--
Will
On Oct 29, 2018 12:13 PM, "alan--- via cctalk" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
wrote:
I know i960 is a very different beast, but was there ever any high level
OSs that ran on it? Or was it pidgin-holed as a high speed embedded
processor for storage controllers and NICs?
I picked up a cache of i960 CPUs a couple years ago and they speak to me in
tongues every time I pass by the shelf.
-Alan
On 2018-10-29 12:56, Ken Seefried via cctalk wrote:
> the i860 found at least a little niche on graphics boards, so somehow
>> not a complete failure ;-)
>>
>
> I'd be mildly surprised if Intel ever made enough from selling i860s
> as GPUs to cover the cost of developing and marketing them. At the
> time, Intel was pushing them as their RISC processor, and put a lot
> into the program. Going to take over the world and all that. Maybe
> not a 'complete' failure...just mostly.
>
> From: Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com>
>
>> On 10/26/18 6:10 AM, Gordon Henderson via cctalk wrote:
>>
>> However it was a royal PITA to code for although a 32-bit CPU, it would
>>> read memory 64 bits at a time (actually 128 IIRC to satisfy the cache),
>>> with half that 64-bit word being an instruction for the integer unit and
>>> half for the floating point unit, so you effectively had to build a
>>> floating point pipeline by hand coded instructions, so 8 (I think)
>>> instructions to load the pipeline, then each subsequent instruction
>>> would feed another value into the pipe, then another 8 at the end to
>>> empty it. Great for big matrix operations, rubbish for a single add of 2
>>> FP numbers.
>>>
>>
>> My impression of the i860 was that it might have been fun for about 2
>> weeks for which to code assembly, but after that, you'd really start
>> looking hard for an HLL to do the dirty work for you. While there's a
>> sense of accomplishment over looking at a page of painfully
>> hand-optimized code that manages to keep everything busy with no
>> "bubbles", you begin to wonder if there isn't a better way to spend your
>> life.
>>
>
> It wasn't fun for the whole 2 weeks. And the i860 is Yet Another
> example of Intel claiming their compilers were going to be so smart
> that all the architectural complexity/warts will never be noticed.
> Wrong, and they didn't learn and said the same thing about Itanium.
> The interrupt stall issue that Gordon pointed out was so bad they were
> basically relegated to single-task software in the end.
>
> KJ
>
First up is the addition of Crescent Software's entire product line. The
company produced a number of good library suites in the late 80s and early
90's. Note these are all DOS products - the Windows product line was sold
in the early 90's.
http://annex.retroarchive.org/crescent/index.html
When the documentation arrives, I'll be paying the IA to get it all
scanned. It's a lot cheaper than me buying a Scribe scanner or building a
DIY version. :)
Next up is a HUGE CD-ROM and FTP site archive I've been working on.
http://www.retroarchive.org/cdrom/index.html
What I've done here is pull CD-ROMs from the Internet Archive and make
them easily browseable. I've also extracted the contents of each of the
zip, etc. files and created index files for those as well. The goal was
to make the material more easily accessible for both us meat bags and
search spider bots.
This is going to be a long term project that will end when I've either
exhausted the available CD-ROMs on the IA, or I die, whichever comes
first. ;)
There's a number of holes in the sets that are on the IA - if you've got a
disc that would fill a hole, please consider making an ISO of the disc and
upload that along with a photo of the disc to the IA and then let me know
so I can get it processed.
I'm also looking to acquire a manual set for QuickBASIC 4.5 and the
Microsoft Professional Development System 7.1. If you have either one,
please contact me!
Thanks!
g.
--
Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home.
Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies.
ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment
A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes.
http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!
>the i860 found at least a little niche on graphics boards, so somehow
>not a complete failure ;-)
I'd be mildly surprised if Intel ever made enough from selling i860s
as GPUs to cover the cost of developing and marketing them. At the
time, Intel was pushing them as their RISC processor, and put a lot
into the program. Going to take over the world and all that. Maybe
not a 'complete' failure...just mostly.
From: Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com>
>On 10/26/18 6:10 AM, Gordon Henderson via cctalk wrote:
>
>> However it was a royal PITA to code for although a 32-bit CPU, it would
>> read memory 64 bits at a time (actually 128 IIRC to satisfy the cache),
>> with half that 64-bit word being an instruction for the integer unit and
>> half for the floating point unit, so you effectively had to build a
>> floating point pipeline by hand coded instructions, so 8 (I think)
>> instructions to load the pipeline, then each subsequent instruction
>> would feed another value into the pipe, then another 8 at the end to
>> empty it. Great for big matrix operations, rubbish for a single add of 2
>> FP numbers.
>
>My impression of the i860 was that it might have been fun for about 2
>weeks for which to code assembly, but after that, you'd really start
>looking hard for an HLL to do the dirty work for you. While there's a
>sense of accomplishment over looking at a page of painfully
>hand-optimized code that manages to keep everything busy with no
>"bubbles", you begin to wonder if there isn't a better way to spend your
>life.
It wasn't fun for the whole 2 weeks. And the i860 is Yet Another
example of Intel claiming their compilers were going to be so smart
that all the architectural complexity/warts will never be noticed.
Wrong, and they didn't learn and said the same thing about Itanium.
The interrupt stall issue that Gordon pointed out was so bad they were
basically relegated to single-task software in the end.
KJ
>
> From: Ken Seefried <seefriek at gmail.com>
> Subject: i860: Re: modern stuff
> >the i860 found at least a little niche on graphics boards, so somehow
> >not a complete failure ;-)
>
>
I have a Quad-i860 VME board in one of my Sun systems.
Michael Thompson
At 04:29 PM 10/29/2018, geneb via cctalk wrote:
>There's a ton of them on the IA already. I would /love/ to get the early ones. My collection begins at 1997 so I would *eagerly* take anything previous to that.
Oh, I'd guess I have them all from '94 to 97 at least,
including the non-Intel MIPS and Alpha sets.
Does the Internet Archive had an easy tool that lets me put a CD
in my drive and it'll tell me if they already have it?
- John
Actually I just fixed it ;) <Emily Litella> Never Mind.
I took the supply all the way apart and found one secondary filter cap that
had leaked electrolyte. Cleaned and fixed that, but still no luck. 155 volts
on the main filter cap. Then I noticed that occasionally it would try to
start for a blink but then the voltages would just drop to zero. So I
started looking around the section that had to be for bootstrap power to the
switching regulator, a common TL494 chip with datasheets online. Sure
enough, a small electrolytic on the primary side had blown its bottom out.
The diodes around it were still good. Changed that cap and a couple more
suspicious looking small ones and the voltages came right up (including the
24V once I pushed the cover-open microswitch).
Put it back in the printer, screwed it all together (a very modular design
for easier field servicing) and fired it up. Test page printed perfectly.
Saved some $ on a new laser printer. For now :)
I like these old cinder-block-sized (and weight) printers too. They last
ALMOST forever...
Charles
The main power supply for my ancient Laserjet IIp+ printer has given up.
Fuse is not blown. Power switch has continuity... don't feel like trying to
debug and repair the "brick".
There are two Sony labels: One says Model RG1-1782 (I think that's the HP
part number) and the other Model CD-91A, 100-115V.
Does anyone have a working one in their junkbox?
This is the LAST time I repair it before it goes to the recycler! I think
I've changed every module except this one.
It has become my grandfather's axe: new head and new handle, but it's still
my grandfather's axe :)
thanks
Charles
Thursday I visited Computer Fusion near Dallas, TX. They have 2 huge
warehouses that they have been filling up since the 1990s. I saw a lot of
old Sun gear, lots of 90s era PCs, etc. Not all of it is listed on his site,
but if there is something specific you want, go to http://www.cfusion.com
and send them a request. Yes, he still has working ESDI, MFM, etc drives J
Cindy Croxton
Electronics Plus
1613 Water Street
Kerrville, TX 78028
830-370-3239 cell
sales at elecplus.com
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