OT: A call to arms (sort of)

From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis_at_mcmanis.com>
Date: Fri Jul 2 16:15:41 1999

Q: Name the one thing that Classic Computers have that modern computers lack?
A: Adequate documentation to write your own system level software on them!

What we need is the "Open Hardware" movement. What is Open Hardware? It is
a set of specifications for a computer and an interface system that anyone
can build processors, I/O, or accessories for without owing any taxes to
anyone.

However, ideally, this "open architecture" needs a bit of software already
available for it to get the movement off the ground. I suggest that the
PDP-11 could be that architecture for several reasons:
        1) It has lots of software available for it.
        2) It can be expressed in a single modern FPGA so processors
           can be "home built"
        3) It has some pretty easy to use busses defined for it (Q-Bus, Unibus)

Alternatively one could go with something like SPARC (which Sun alleges is
open but I have my doubts)

Comments?

--Chuck
Received on Fri Jul 02 1999 - 16:15:41 BST