22 Dec
2001
22 Dec
'01
7:03 a.m.
They're not actually DG clones. While they have
instruction sets that
are either largely compatible with or a superset of those found in some
DG machines, the CPU architecture and implementation is uniquely ROLM
So thay are Data General "mostlies". Will they run early Nova code,
before Data General started to expand the architecture?
ROLM manufacture Mil-Spec, not ruggedized, computers
and peripherals,
and manufactured a single model for all services. This "single model"
approach created all sorts of packaging headaches, because the
requirements of the Army, Navy and Air Force have almost no overlap.
This is how it is supposed to be, when the AN/ system was laid down in
1942. It obviously does not work.
One of the more interesting consequences of some of
these is
the packaging of the machines in sealed ATR chassis. The enclosures
are gasketed and filled with dry nitrogen;
These machines do not have the gaskets or a fill port. The 1666B has
massive heat sinks on the side, however.
William Donzelli
aw288(a)osfn.org