Reproducing old machines with newer technology

[Paul Koning]

> On Jul 14, 2015, at 1:55 PM, Noel Chiappa <jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu> wrote:
> 
>> From: Paul Koning
> 
>>> I have a hard time coming up with other machines with the same level
>>> of impact/influence, in terms of CPU internal architecture. Maybe
>>> Atlas, or the 801?
> 
>> CDC 6600, of course.
> 
> I guess I don't know the 6600 that well (I have the book, and have skimmed it
> in the past). What are the novel features in the 6600 that were widely
> adopted by other machines? (I listed the Atlas because of paging, and the 801
> because of RISC.)

RISC.  I/O processors.  Multiple instructions in process at the same time.  (Not pipelining, that came a year or two later in the 7600).  Interlocking machinery to handle memory ordering (“stunt box”) and register access ordering (“scoreboard”).  Very fast memory cycling for its day.  Extremely efficient context switching.

That’s a good start.

	paul