"Real Computers" (was Re: Trivia Question)

From: vance_at_neurotica.com <(vance_at_neurotica.com)>
Date: Sat Feb 22 04:13:14 2003

On Fri, 21 Feb 2003, Patrick Finnegan wrote:

> > > That's quite a sad definition of "real computer". Any one of my
> > > PDP-8 or PDP-11 systems, even the wimpiest, is much more of a "real
> > > computer" than any PC compatible will ever be.
> >
> > Phil wrote:
> > > What, even if said PC is a K6-II/400 running Linux?
> >
> > Even if it's the dual Athlon XP 1900 running Red Hat 8 which I use for
> > most of my software development. There's no question that it has
> > orders of magnitude more computing power, memory, and disk, but that's
> > not part of my criteria for "real computer":
>
> OK, I've got a few problems with this. Personally, I think you're
> confusing the terms 'vintage' or 'classic' and 'real' mostly. For
> reference, I'll use three computers. One very new - an IBM p690
> "Regatta" system, a 'just classic' machine ~10-11 y.o.- an IBM RS/6000
> model 520, and a fairly classic machine - an IBM System/36. I've used
> both the p690 and the 520, and sort-of-used a System/36. Yes, I have
> 'carefully chosen' these models to prove a point. If you're not
> familiar with the p690, it's basically what would happen if you took an
> IBM S/390 (their 'current' mainframe arch... well sort of) mainframe and
> turned it into an RS/6000. While it doesn't have hot swap CPU or
> memory, it is about 1/10th the price - the one that Purdue recieved had
> a street value of about $1.3M.

A Regatta is a real computer. A Dual Athlon XP 1900 isn't. And yes, a
520 is a real computer. And so is an S/36.

And a Regatta is more different from a zSeries than you think. Price
isn't really the applicable issue here. There are z800's which cost
significantly less than a Regatta.

Peace... Sridhar
Received on Sat Feb 22 2003 - 04:13:14 GMT