23 Oct
2005
23 Oct
'05
1:58 p.m.
Chuck Guzis wrote:
Slightly OT: How fast (in comparison to the original
11/780) do PC-based
emulators run? My only close-up exposure with this line was a couple of
years with an 11/750. It didn't seem like a speed demon then.
The emulators run alot faster, but the problem is the 11 is still a
commerical product
so I don't think we will get better new hardware out.
If PC-based emulators are fast enough, why bother with
the IC version? An
intellectual exercise? Or will the FPGA version run an order of magnitude
faster than the original?
I suspect about the same speed as PC's 15 years ago or 74Sxx speeds.
The real speed limit on computers
now days is the cache memory. A external bus depending on memory used
is the factor.
Most common memory is about 120 ns to 70 ns access time unless you want
to use the latest
chips.
The marketeers didn't have a clue ("Do we make
that?"). Apparently, if I'd
wanted to buy a 6300, they'd put a dozen on a truck headed my way the next
day. But one of their minis? A wall of ignorance. After absolutely no
luck, I picked up the phone, talked to the local DEC marketer and had an
11/750 the next week.
Ben alias woodelf.