Smithsonian gets it wrong

You'd think a place like the Smithsonian would have a nice 11/780 with lots of disk drives and terminals and things. And geez, they could have at least got the date right. -----Original Message----- From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Vassilis Prevelakis Sent: Saturday, November 12, 2005 12:30 PM To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Smithsonian gets it wrong Pictures from the Smithsonian http://users.starpower.net/dj.taylor/Vax1.JPG VAX MINICOMPUTER Digital Equipment Corporation's VAX minicomputer, first introduced in 1976, provided enough processing power for complex design problems, but at a much lower cost than had previously been available. This meant that individuals engineers could have the fill use of a computer without having to share it with their colleagues. The VAX became the workhorse or aerospace engineering. The model displayed here, a MicroVAX II was introduced in 1985. Museum people! Oh well! They can obviously read, but cannot understand. Hello?? The label says its a *MICRO*VAX, and if its a uVAX, then its not a mini. Also, calling the baby-sized uVAX a mini gives visitors who may have never seen a mini-computer the wrong idea as to what a mini-computer looks like. Sure I'll accept that its *compatible* with a VAX (I'll even ignore the minor business of emulating a small part of the instruction set :-), but is not a VAX. At the University of Pennsylvania here in Philadelphia they have a VLSI version of the ENIAC (some student project) but no-one in their right mind would show that microprocessor next to a sign that says here is a picture of ENIAC. **vp