From: "John Allain" <allain(a)panix.com> Today I started mothballing the VAX 6000 and noticed that a large part of its power supply is on 3.3 volts, now common, but probably not in 1988. Seems like something was invented, probably in chip design that made 3.3 so useful. I wonder what that was, when that landmark was reached. (For that matter, I don't really know why 5V and 12V were popular, on a "first priinciples" basis.) Maybe we've lost some of the people on the list who can answer these questions, but I'm trying anyway. John A