Classic Workstations (was Re: RANT Re: PDP-8 on e-bay)

From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis_at_freegate.com>
Date: Wed Jan 20 19:36:57 1999

At 08:07 PM 1/20/99 -0500, Doug wrote:
>Yes, Xerox is famous for mismarketing, but are you saying that a
>mouse-driven bitmapped networked 8010 isn't a workstation because of where
>it was on a price sheet?

No, I'm saying that the mouse-driven bitmapped networked 8010 wasn't a
workstation because it was never sold, or converted as such. Just for
reference, when I use the term "Workstation" my definition is as follows:

        Megapixel+ bitmapped display is primary interface device.
        General purpose OS.
        Software development is hosted on the machine.
        1+ Megabytes of RAM
        1+ MIPs execution speed.

This is not the definition that is applied today (it tends to track Sun,
HP, and IBM's offerings as the definition)

>I forget the number: either 1000 or 2000 Altos were made and "seeded"
>various universities. Probably made a bigger dent than the Sun 1, and
>much earlier.

We differ in our analysis of the "dent."

>Probably true if you ignore the Alto. And the Terak was a PDP-11/03 with
>a bitmapped display around 1979/1980 IIRC. They were quite popular at
>UCSD and UCI, at least.

Apollo came out with their box in 1980 as well I believe.
--Chuck
Received on Wed Jan 20 1999 - 19:36:57 GMT