On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 1:50 PM, John Coffman <
john...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Paul,
>
> Just some more thoughts of other CPU's to consider:
>
> DG Nova (likewise, Nova 1200, Nova 800)
> DEC PDP-11
> DEC PDP-1 (18-bit, one's complement)
> IBM 7090 or 7094
>
> The PDP-10 (successor to the PDP-6) was a 36-bit machine. Likewise the
> 7090/94. These are an interesting challenge in today's 8/16/32/64 bit
> environments.
>
> The original Nova is really a RISC machine; but the I/O structure is
> unique. DG has licensed the RDOS operating system to hobbyists.
>
> --John
>
>
>
>
>
> On 06/26/2012 10:54 PM, Paul Birkel wrote:
>
> Perhaps completely off-topic, but I was thinking that rather than
> moving in the direction of a current/modern OS & HW environment that
> we might consider exploring the direction of an historic "big iron"
> computing environment -- one of the legendary mainframes from the 60's
> or so coupled with a slightly more modern (but still legacy) HW
> technology.
>
> So, perhaps use bit-slice technology coupled with a suitable
> micro-programmed sequencer to implement a member of the IBM
> 360-series, the CDC 6000-series, or the DEC PDP-10-series computers?
> I'd be partial to a PDP-10 environment as it clearly overlaps with the
> birth of uP technology & software development, however the IBM 360 or
> CDC 6000 environment have their own attractions as being mainstay
> computing environments in their (slightly earlier) eras.
>
> (One could head back even further to an IBM 1401 ...)
>
> Possibly the chip-count would be too high for a SBC-level
> implementation (probably of a low-end series-model) or there's little
> interest in these legacy architectures? It seems to me that any one
> of these environments offers plenty of worthy challenges as well
> significant historic computing value.
>
> Doing yet another Unix on a contemporaneous high-performance chip
> would be a different sort of challenge, of course ...
>
> Just testing the water here ... I'm in no position to lead such a
> project but I thought that it was worth publicly contemplating :->.
>
> -----
> paul
>