Looking for a small fast VAX development machine

[Jon Elson]

On 02/21/2016 07:21 PM, Jay West wrote:
> I do have a Microvax 3100-40. I remember that I powered it 
> up once when I got it, and it's been sitting on a shelf 
> ever since (probably 10 years). I'm not familiar with 
> those type of machines, is that fast enough to play around 
> with? J 
Well, VAXes are fairly slow compared to a recent x86 
machine.  My MicroVAX-II is about 1000 times slower than my 
desktop machine.  I migrated a few programs from the VAX to 
my desktop Linux machine, so I have some rough comparisons.  
But, your 3100 might be slower than a 100 MHz Pentium 
Classic, just to give you a range.

You would not want to go web browsing on a MicroVAX, even 
though the 3100 is quite a bit faster than my MicroVAX-II.  
Moving files around on the net, email and such things might 
not be so obviously slow.  I wouldn't want to do any real 
computing on and VAX system, I'm just spoiled by what a 
typical machine can do now.

Jon