🚀 go-pugleaf

More:
From: dwells@fits.CX.NRAO.EDU (Don Wells)
Hugh wrote:
>Mainframe.  A long way to go before dead.  Today, a mainframe is a
>machine which
>can do at least 100 MBytes/sec of I/O.  All the mini/micro systems that
>I know of
>think 8-10 MB/sec is a big deal...
>.  The first step is memory bandwidth.  Was
>~1Gbyte/sec.  Next time, 5-10 GBytes/sec.  Still far from Y-MP 40 GBytes/sec.
>
>It is too bad that no one builds decent Unix mainframes, ...

That last sentence ignores things like Amdahl's "UTS", which runs native
on any 370 architecture, and IBM's "AIX" which at least runs under VM.
And -- amazing! -- it ignores CRI's "Unicos" on CRI "mainframes".
It also ignores the mini-supercomputers, which are effectively mainframes
by your definition, and which mostly run Unix. Also, their kernels are
customized and have sophisticated I/O systems which are, of course,
analogous to the smart channel controllers of traditional mainframes.
There is nothing about Unix per se that inhibits vendors from providing
kernels with functionality and performance analogous to traditional kernels,
and numerous vendors are systematically following the obvious strategy.
Surely, Eugene, you are not ignorant of these things!?!
	[We have big Amdahls front-ending our mass-storage system --enm]
Donald C. Wells, Associate Scientist | NSFnet: dwells@nrao.edu [192.33.115.2]
National Radio Astronomy Observatory | SPAN:   NRAO::DWELLS    [6654::]
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==================
From: dik@cwi.nl

In article <6965@amelia.nas.nasa.gov> you write:
 > The thing to clearly watch for the the appearance of a COBOL compiler
 > for the Cray.  Then it's curtains.
 > 
But isn't that already the case?  As far as I understand it, Crays are
nowadays mainframes.  Just as inaccessable for the average student as
a 'mainframe' was 10-15 years ago (at least here, the time scale may be
different in the US).
-- 
dik t. winter, cwi, amsterdam, nederland
==================
From: tony@comperex@comperex.cx.oz.au (Tony Williams)

This is indeed an interesting subject. I previously worked for Control Data
Australia on mainframes like CDC 6600, 7600, Cyber 205, Cyber 990, ETA10 
and also Vax .... through the Third Party Maintenance area. Now I work for
the distributor of MIPS systems. The compute power comparison is very
interesting based on physical size, I/O bandwidth etc. Even better think about
how you would classify a 386/486 with a couple of Transputer array boards
plugged into it.

--e. nobuo miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@orville.nas.nasa.gov
  {uunet,mailrus,other gateways}!ames!eugene