Subject: Re: Off Topic???
To: Simon Burge <simonb@netbsd.org>
From: Gregory McGarry <g.mcgarry@qut.edu.au>
List: port-pmax
Date: 07/22/1999 13:46:32 
Simon Burge wrote:
 
> > I was just wondering if there is a better list to discuss hardware
> > (DECstations and the like).  And if not, I do have a question:
> 
> This maybe as good a place as any, especially if you're gonna install
> NetBSD on them at some stage in the future :-)

Recently I've been looking for information of the history of the
DECstations.  Being one of the first RISC machines, they have played
an important role in the development of the MIPS and ALPHA processors.
DECstations also have had an interesting association with OS
development such as Ultrix, OSF, Mach, Sprite, 4.4BSD and Windows NT.
Some of this code now exists in NetBSD.

These details are not easy to find.  What year did the models come out?
How were the machines marketed?  Does anyone have any pointers to
further information?  Do any ol'-timers out there want to share some
history?

Regards,
Greg
urther information? Do any ol'-timers out there want to share some > history? Well, I wouldn't call myself an "ol'-timer", but I still treasure a few old UnixWorld mags when the 3100 and 5100 were released. They're at home, but I could fax the relevent pages to you if you want me to dig them out. The headline of the 3100 story was "DEC takes a RISC" or something like that. If you can get a decent history put together I'll put it on the NetBSD web server. Simon.