On 2026-06-13 14:06, Dave McGuire wrote:
On 6/13/26 06:55, Johnny Billquist wrote:We had 128 bit floats on a VAX, so I'm sure somebody running funny things on it :)40 years ago, sure... Today? I doubt it.That's a popular assumption, but I just took a contract to maintain several Modcomp systems (1978) that are running in production at a company, and have just been approached about two more. (apparently the word has spread that there's someone who can work on those machines who isn't 80..)At least this installation IS using their EAU boards.. ;)Ancient hardware doing real work is shockingly common. It's just not popular to talk about.
You are misinterpreting my answer.I still sometimes help out on PDP-11 systems out there in the field. Yes, there are plenty still running.
But here we're talking about a specific kind of usage and application, which is high precision math. Anyone into that is almost certainly also into high performance computing. These kind of systems and applications are not running on 40 year old platforms. No matter the fact that VAX have 128 bit FP. IEEE FP have 256 bit format. So not only does IEEE formats allow for larger ranges and higher precision, but it also does it on hardware that runs way faster than any VAX. Anyone interested in either very high precision, or very high speed math is not on a VAX anymore, and haven't been for a long time.
There are certainly other fields and types of application where the age of the hardware matters very little. But where tested, reliable and cost matter more, and where it makes sense to continue with what already works, and does the work as well as it could ever be done.
Johnny
--
Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus
|| on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt%softjar.se@localhost || Reading murder books
pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol