14 Jan
2017
14 Jan
'17
3:40 p.m.
From: "Rick Bensene" <rickb at
bensene.com>
> - A Tektronix 4132 Unix workstation using a National 32016 CPU and a
> 4.2bsd port called UTek
>
Jon wrote:
Gee, how does it perform? I built a clone of a Logical
Microcomputer Co. 32016 Multibus system and got it working.
But, it was glacially slow! I did have some memory that was likely a little slower than
the stock memory, but it wasn't insanely slow. But, firing up certain things >like
editors was just maddening. And, I'm not talking about Emacs, just vi. I eventually
got a MicroVAX-II to replace it, and, yes, that DID have a cache to speed >up the
memory, but it was quite a difference.
Well...considering the era, it wasn't too bad. By today's standards, yeah,
it's pretty darned slow.
Vi starts up pretty quick, even with a couple of terminals running on it. It runs rogue
pretty nicely, quick enough for multiple people to play it at once.
The machine has 7MB of RAM, which really helps. Without additional RAM, there's only
1MB on the main board, and running it with just 1MB makes it incredibly slow. There
isn't any external cache.
It's fun to fire it up and just relive the days when I was on cloud nine to have my
own personal Unix workstation that I built myself from parts.
-Rick