VAX9000 unearthed

[Paul Koning]

> On Feb 18, 2022, at 7:08 AM, Joerg Hoppe via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> my computer club c-c-g.de could acquire the remains of a VAX9000 !
> The machine ran at the GWDG computing center in Göttingen, Germany, around 1993.
> Parts of it were in stock of their museum for 20+ years.
> 
> See lots of hires-pictures at
> 
> https://c-c-g.de/fachartikel/359-vax-9000-ein-starker-exot
> 
> (scroll to the bottom for a slide show).
> 
> Joerg

Excellent photos!

I didn't realize the 9000 had a vector processor.

One reason the design was so expensive is that it was originally planned as a water-cooled machine -- code name "Aquarius".  At some point that idea was dropped and switched to air cooling -- code name "Aridus".  I guess those skinny pipes with red and blue markers carry jets of cooling air, but were originally going to carry water.

The 9000 also had its own I/O bus, XMI, different from BI.  I don't know how its performance compares, whether it was worth the effort.

Speaking of vector processors: there's a very obscure DEC processor, the DEC MPP.  I remember seeing the processor architecture document when it was being designed, not sure why.  It's a very-RISC machine, just a few instructions, but lots of cores especially for that time -- 256?  More?  Recently I saw it mentioned in some documents, apparently it did get produced and shipped, perhaps only in small numbers.  I wonder if any have been preserved.  As far as I know there is no family connection between that machine and anything else DEC did before or since.

	paul