Unibus / Qbus bus drivers and receivers

From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis_at_mcmanis.com>
Date: Fri Jun 29 20:15:08 2001

At 02:04 AM 6/30/01 +0100, Iggy wrote:
>So, what makes MSCP so particular that it may be patented?
>And how come people can write emulators and clones all over the place? Haven't
>Intel or Motorola patents on their processors?

Who knows? Only the patent office I suppose. It was a mass storage protocol
that DEC invented and some patent examiner said "Yup, this is good stuff."
The Microprocessor was also patented but that patent has expired. Most of
the emulators/clones on DEC gear do _not_ include MSCP support. Getting it
is a challenge. Intel and Motorola have copyrights on their Microcode and
patents and various aspects of their processors but as a whole they aren't.
I believe all of Intel's chipsets are patented in one form or another which
prevents non-licensees from building them.

--Chuck
Received on Fri Jun 29 2001 - 20:15:08 BST