Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by A7C3D5 933 days ago
No, F that. PiVAX 9000 incoming. We have the technology. I want a room sized replica of the computer that helped ruin the only decent employer in my state for a generation.

I need to experience the majesty of SID scalar and vector processor synthesis for myself.
2 comments
shrubble 933 days ago
There is a VAX 9000 in the flesh, at the Large Scale Systems Museum near Pittsburgh, PA. The processor complex board is crazy looking ...

However, there is not enough power in that city block, to turn it on :-)

https://lssmuseum.org (you may be redirected to MACT.io which is the same people).

link
PopePompus 933 days ago
I think the handwriting was on the wall when the VAX 8600 was introduced. It was introduced 7ish years after the 11/780, and was only a few times faster. Today, in the twilight years of Moore's Law, a factor of a few speedup over 7 years would not be all that bad, but back then it was shocking. I felt the VAX line was a slowly sinking ship from that point on.
link
sillywalk 933 days ago
Also, the PRISM/MICA project got cancelled so Dave Cutler (and whomever he took with him) left for Microsoft.

Then they tried MIPS for a while, and I think(?) PRISM became the basis for the Alpha. Also the other 'minicomputers' - IBM AS/400 came out in 1988, and the HP3000 switched to PA-RISC.

link
__d 933 days ago
The DECstation line was MIPS-based, and DEC sold Ultrix, a BSD-based Unix.

I used a 2100, 3100, 4000/25, and 4000/125 (?) I think. They were decent workstations for their time.

link
rahen 933 days ago
I would choose a VAXi-11/780 if its appearance wasn't so plain and dull. In comparison, the early PDP-10s, particularly the KA-10 and KI-10, are charming. They are probably the epitome of computer aesthetic alongside the 11/40-45-70 series.
link
sillywalk 933 days ago
Do you happen to know what the KA and KL prefixes stand for?
link
rahen 933 days ago
I'm uncertain about the 'A' in KA, it might suggest that it was the initial release.

'I' stands for 'Integrated', as it was the first PDP-10 CPU to utilize ICs, and 'L' stands for 'LSI'.

There was also the ill-fated KC-10, which was unfortunately killed for various reasons, both technical and strategic as it was competing with the 11/780. It was to use integrated NAND chips like the 11/750 (or even the Cray 1). I'm not sure what the 'C' stood for.

Oh, I should also mention the small KS-10, which had a mini form factor (the DEC10-20 was a mainframe). I guess you can figure what the 'S' stood for.

link