aglew%mycroft@gswd-vms.Gould.COM (Andy Glew) (08/08/87)
>> o Which systems DO have a dual (or multiple) CPU UN*X? > >Gould NPL series: up to 10 12-MIPS proprietary ECL processors, Symmetric, dual >port UNIX. I don't know if these are shipping yet. Gould's older processor line, the Concept/Powernode line, can have a second processor, the IPU, added. The IPU is a full CPU, except that it cannot execute I/O instructions on most models. The UNIX running on Powernode CPU/IPU systems is based on George Gobel's dual processor VAX UNIX. This dual processor line is quite mature - it was running for a long time under a proprietary OS before UNIX was ported, and UNIX was done a number of years ago. >An interesting observation is the dominance of *BIG* boxes in the UNIX multi- >processor arena; only the Celerity and the Counterpoint would even remotely >qualify as "personal" or "workstation" systems. The others are marketed as >multiuser systems for a large user base (from 48 to 512 users), where the main >purpose of the multiple processors is to support a large number of different >tasks, as opposed to subdividing single large tasks. (I don't mean the sub- >division of large tasks isn't possible, just that none of these are marketed >that way.) The older, smaller members of the Gould Powernode line, like the PN6000, are quite comfortable small machines. We don't sell them as workstations, mainly as small multiuser systems, but I wouldn't mind one all to myself.