Re: Perfboard computers, VAX and others - Re: About support for rtVAX300

[Gregg Levine <gregg.drwho8%gmail.com@localhost>]

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 9:06 PM, Toby Thain 
<toby%telegraphics.com.au@localhost> wrote:
> On 14/01/13 2:12 PM, Paul Koning wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Jan 14, 2013, at 1:40 PM, John Wilson wrote:
>>
>>> From: Toby Thain<toby%telegraphics.com.au@localhost>
>>>
>>>> I have
>>>> a couple of J11's sitting around, and a dozen Transputers. I'd love to
>>>> learn enough electronics, and have enough spare time, to build the
>>>> support circuitry and run them.
>>>
>>>
>>> You definitely should!  I don't know much about the Transputer but if
>>> it's
>>> anything like the XMOS XS1 CPU (same architect) it must be a ton of fun.
>>>
>>> John Wilson
>>> D Bit
>>
>>
>> Transputers are interesting beasts.  All I know is their theory, which
>> appears to be small compute nodes interconnected by multiple fast message
>> passing links.  So you can build a large multicomputer setup with a mesh of
>> those.
>>
>> For programming, you can use C or the like, but there's a different
>> programming language (Occam) specifically designed to make use of that
>> message passing machinery.  Given who created it (C.A.R. Hoare) I assume it
>> ties into his research into the design of reliable distributed algorithms.
>>
>
> I used two T800 TRAMs in the late 1980s, attached to a NuBus card (Levco
> Translink) in Macintosh II series. I programmed them in C (under MPW) and
> yes, they are heaps of fun.
>
> I also ported TeX, METAFONT and associated utilities to the Transputer
> (since evan a single T800 was so much faster than the 68020 host machine and
> I was using them for production work every day).
>
> --Toby
>
>
>>         paul
>>
>>
>

Hello!
I remember that family of processors. Interesting family.

I also remember my second Mac. It was a Mac II who worked at a
typography facility that my father ran. The system did a better job
running Quark Express and feeding output to a pair of laser
phototypesetters. And this was a facility who also hosted a pair of
(very) bored Eclipse machines (DG) who did the same, and a trio of
regular systems for phototypesetting.

You (Toby) must be aware that TI invented the NuBus backplane and used
it for the family of LISP systems that were popular about that time
period. I believe all of those machines were based on bit-slice
technology.

Apple licensed the bus and used the parts TI created to support it,
for that family of machines, until the invention of the PCI bus.

That's why Dave I know a fair bit about the DG machine living with all of you.
-----
Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8%gmail.com@localhost
"This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again."