18 Feb
2022
18 Feb
'22
12:18 p.m.
On 2/18/22 09:46, Paul Koning wrote:
XMI already existed as the system bus for the VAX 6000 series machines.
I/O on the VAX 6000's was via an XMI-to-BI bridge. I don't remember
the exact performance specs on XMI, but it was wider and faster than BI.
XMI was then also used as one of the possible I/O buses on the VAX 10000
and AlphaServer 7000 and 8000 series machines, via a system bus to XMI
bridge. So the XMI I/O adapters were common across all these series of
machines.
Gary
On Feb 18, 2022, at 7:08 AM, Joerg Hoppe via
cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
Hi,
my computer club c-c-g.de could acquire the remains of a VAX9000 !
The machine ran at the GWDG computing center in G?ttingen, Germany, around 1993.
Parts of it were in stock of their museum for 20+ years.
See lots of hires-pictures at
https://c-c-g.de/fachartikel/359-vax-9000-ein-starker-exot
(scroll to the bottom for a slide show).
Joerg
Excellent photos!
I didn't realize the 9000 had a vector processor.
One reason the design was so expensive is that it was originally planned as a
water-cooled machine -- code name "Aquarius". At some point that idea was
dropped and switched to air cooling -- code name "Aridus". I guess those skinny
pipes with red and blue markers carry jets of cooling air, but were originally going to
carry water.
The 9000 also had its own I/O bus, XMI, different from BI. I don't know how its
performance compares, whether it was worth the effort.