21 Nov
2006
21 Nov
'06
3:21 p.m.
Tony Duell wrote:
But I would not want to replace the CPU boards in the
PDP8/e on my
desk with a board containing an FPGA + level shifters. Just as I'd
not want to put a PC motherboard running an emulator inside that case.
True. But vintage chips are not being made any more, so a viable
replacement strategy might at least allow the rest of the
vintage computer to continue computing for a little longer
(or while waiting for that special old chip to show up).
I'd see it as no different to making do with a modern fan if the
original had gone south, or replacing the bearings with a
modern equivalent. Or even powering a C=64 from something
that lasts longer than a day before giving up the ghost :-)
The specific case mentioned was the 6120 where it seems a
common supply mechanism is to remove them from a DECmate
board. If an FPGA saves a DM3 I'd see that as a good thing.
It would be an equally good thing if a handful of chips
and a wirewrap tool achieved the same objective.
Not that I have a DM3 or an FPGA (but I do have several
handfuls of chips and at least two wire-wrap tools - one
of them mains-driven!).
Antonio