dmr@alice.UUCP (03/23/88)
Speaking of Cray architectural features, has anyone noticed that the Y-MP comes in a dull rectangular box? It might as well be some silly IBM machine (cf. the International Style). Fortunately, thanks to upton@ole, we know that with the 3, CRI is returning to its roots. I'd say the company is well rid of Chen. Notice who's funding his new company? It's clear that the guy just wants to build conventionally-shaped computers. I'll take a true Seymour design, thanks. Dennis Ritchie
sss@ole.UUCP (Stephen Sugiyama) (03/25/88)
In article <7762@alice.UUCP> dmr@alice.UUCP writes: >Speaking of Cray architectural features, has anyone noticed that the >Y-MP comes in a dull rectangular box? It might as well be some silly >IBM machine (cf. the International Style). The photos that I've seen of the CRAY Y-MP have shown a dull rectangluar box when viewed from the side, but a Y-shaped set of two boxes and two semi-circular "ears" when viewed from above. I thought it was clever, but not stunningly attractive like the CRAY 2. A short quote from _Cray Channels_, Winter 1987: "Cray Research announced in November that Seymour Cray has extended his design and development agreement with the company. The agreement now extends until December 31, 1992. The extension relates to Cray's decision to begin work on the design of a new supercomputer, the CRAY-4 system." "Seymour Cray said he anticipates the new system will have 64 processors and will run with a clock speed of one nanosecond (one billionth of a second). The system's performance objective is to provide throughput more than 1000 times that of the CRAY-1 computer system, which was introduced in 1976. The CRAY-4 system will be based on gallium arsenide circuitry." "Under the design and development agreement, Seymour Cray acts as an independent contractor to Cray Research, furnishing development work for the company's advanced computer systems. The agreement may be extended further by additional projects." -- Stephen Sugiyama (uucp: ...uw-beaver!tikal!ole!sss) Seattle Silicon (3075 112th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA, 98004 - 206/828-4422)
darin@laic.UUCP (Darin Johnson) (03/25/88)
In article <7762@alice.UUCP>, dmr@alice.UUCP writes: > Speaking of Cray architectural features, has anyone noticed that the > Y-MP comes in a dull rectangular box? It might as well be some silly > IBM machine (cf. the International Style). > > Dennis Ritchie Hmmn, I have seen two pictures (one in this week's Time) that showed a Y-shaped Cray (rectangular box on the back of two curved wings). I had assumed this was the Y-MP (perhaps I read the caption too quickly. -- Darin Johnson (...ucbvax!sun!sunncal!leadsv!laic!darin) (...lll-lcc.arpa!leadsv!laic!darin) All aboard the DOOMED express!
brooks@lll-crg.llnl.gov (Eugene D. Brooks III) (03/25/88)
In article <7762@alice.UUCP> dmr@alice.UUCP writes: >Speaking of Cray architectural features, has anyone noticed that the >Y-MP comes in a dull rectangular box? It might as well be some silly >IBM machine (cf. the International Style). > >Fortunately, thanks to upton@ole, we know that with the 3, CRI is >returning to its roots. I'd say the company is well rid of Chen. >Notice who's funding his new company? It's clear that the guy just >wants to build conventionally-shaped computers. I'll take a true >Seymour design, thanks. I would agree that the C shaped machines are more attractive, and that Chen was probably run out of town over the square box. IBM will certainly be happy with Chen as all that needs to be done is paint the thing blue. There may, however, be method to Chen's madness.... Any look in an architecture book will show a standard crossbar to be a square object and the Y-MP is rumored to have more than one full crossbar. I wonder what the ideal shape for an Omega network, or any of its brethren, is? The Cray 2 seems to be running its semaphore bits and memory banks around in a circle, the wheel is admittedly powered by a fast rodent. Eugene Brooks Disclaimer: Nothing above is to be taken as anything but idle jest.
earl@mips.COM (Earl Killian) (03/25/88)
In article <7762@alice.UUCP> dmr@alice.UUCP writes:
Speaking of Cray architectural features, has anyone noticed that the
Y-MP comes in a dull rectangular box? It might as well be some silly
IBM machine (cf. the International Style).
Fortunately, thanks to upton@ole, we know that with the 3, CRI is
returning to its roots. I'd say the company is well rid of Chen.
Notice who's funding his new company? It's clear that the guy just
wants to build conventionally-shaped computers. I'll take a true
Seymour design, thanks.
At last, a real computer ARCHITECTURE posting :-)
--
UUCP: {ames,decwrl,prls,pyramid}!mips!earl
USPS: MIPS Computer Systems, 930 Arques Ave, Sunnyvale CA, 94086jlg@a.UUCP (Jim Giles) (03/25/88)
In article <7762@alice.UUCP>, dmr@alice.UUCP writes: > Speaking of Cray architectural features, has anyone noticed that the > Y-MP comes in a dull rectangular box? It might as well be some silly > IBM machine (cf. the International Style). The photo of the Y-MP in Scientific American this month shows a C-shaped machine with seats on the power supplies - just like a 1S (almost). We'll know for sure in a few months! J. Giles Los Alamos
jlg@a.UUCP (Jim Giles) (03/25/88)
In article <536@a.UUCP>, jlg@a.UUCP (Jim Giles) writes: > The photo of the Y-MP in Scientific American this month shows a C-shaped > machine with seats on the power supplies - just like a 1S (almost). We'll > know for sure in a few months! CORRECTION!!! The photo was in 'TIME' not 'Scientific American'. Sorry about that. J. Giles Los Alamos
eugene@pioneer.arpa (Eugene N. Miya) (03/25/88)
In article <536@a.UUCP> jlg@a.UUCP (Jim Giles) writes: >The photo of the Y-MP in Scientific American this month shows a C-shaped Sorry, no it's not, it's actually a flattened Y. Take a closer look. The slightly oblique view helps. Rotate the cabinet in your brain.... Oh, yeah! Also see Time magazine. So, everybody getting one, raise your hand! (Or two if two) ;-) On Giles comments about Fortran: there are some superior features in those other languages, it's just that overall benefit does not result in faster execution [like structures or records, I hate passing multiple arrays or using higher-dimensioned arrays]. From the Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers: --eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@ames-aurora.ARPA "You trust the `reply' command with all those different mailers out there?" "Send mail, avoid follow-ups. If enough, I'll summarize." {uunet,hplabs,hao,ihnp4,decwrl,allegra,tektronix}!ames!aurora!eugene CRAY-Z MP
shor@sphinx.uchicago.edu (Melinda Shore) (03/26/88)
[] Well, actually the Y-MP mainframe *is* rectangular. The curved objects hanging off the sides that make it look like a flattened 'Y' are the IOS and the SSD. -- Melinda Shore ..!uunet!reason.psc.edu!shore Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center shore@reason.psc.edu
roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) (03/26/88)
There seems to be a lot of concern about the shape of the box the
Cray-3 comes in. Maybe, now with Chen gone, Cray's next computer architect
should be I.M. Pei?
--
Roy Smith, {allegra,cmcl2,philabs}!phri!roy
System Administrator, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016lisper-bjorn@CS.YALE.EDU (Bjorn Lisper) (03/26/88)
In article <185@laic.UUCP> darin@laic.UUCP (Darin Johnson) writes: .... >Hmmn, I have seen two pictures (one in this week's Time) that showed >a Y-shaped Cray (rectangular box on the back of two curved wings). >I had assumed this was the Y-MP (perhaps I read the caption too quickly. So the X-MP must come in an X-shaped box then? Sorry, couldn't resist. Bjorn Lisper
mjr@osiris.UUCP (Marcus J. Ranum) (03/27/88)
In article <3216@phri.UUCP> roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes: > > There seems to be a lot of concern about the shape of the box the >Cray-3 comes in. Maybe, now with Chen gone, Cray's next computer architect >should be I.M. Pei? Seriously - Computers are too hung up on the "Machine Image" - these big high-tech looking towers. C'mon - for X-Megabucks, I want Art Deco ! I want pastel shades ! I want pretty moldings and delicate filigree ! Upholstery ! Chrome ! Another option is the Detroit principle: "If it isn't really fast - make it LOOK and SOUND fast" Maybe computers could issue an impressive spine chilling whine when the load average gets high - I see spoilers, air dams, MIPS-meters, and curb- feelers as integral parts of the next generation of super-computers. --mjr(); -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ...ich bin in einem dusenjet ins jahr 53 vor chr...ich lande im antiken Rom... einige gladiatoren spielen scrabble...ich rieche PIZZA...
webber@porthos.rutgers.edu (Bob Webber) (03/28/88)
In article <1574@osiris.UUCP>, mjr@osiris.UUCP (Marcus J. Ranum) writes: > In article <3216@phri.UUCP> roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes: < > > > There seems to be a lot of concern about the shape of the box the < >Cray-3 comes in. Maybe, now with Chen gone, Cray's next computer architect > >should be I.M. Pei? < > Seriously - Computers are too hung up on the "Machine Image" - these < big high-tech looking towers. C'mon - for X-Megabucks, I want Art Deco ! I want > pastel shades ! I want pretty moldings and delicate filigree ! Upholstery ! < Chrome ! Actually I prefer the Rube Goldberg look. The amount of time I have had to wait while Sun tries to make the TAAC board inconspicuous makes one wonder just what their priorities are anyway. ---- BOB (webber@athos.rutgers.edu ; rutgers!athos.rutgers.edu!webber)
lisper-bjorn@CS.YALE.EDU (Bjorn Lisper) (03/29/88)
In article <1574@osiris.UUCP> mjr@osiris.UUCP (Marcus J. Ranum) writes: >In article <3216@phri.UUCP> roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes: >> >> There seems to be a lot of concern about the shape of the box the >>Cray-3 comes in. Maybe, now with Chen gone, Cray's next computer architect >>should be I.M. Pei? .... > Another option is the Detroit principle: >"If it isn't really fast - make it LOOK and SOUND fast" > > Maybe computers could issue an impressive spine chilling whine when >the load average gets high .... Some historic computer trivia: the Swedish late-fifties computer BESK at some stage of its lifecycle had a loudspeaker connected to its instruction register. Different instructions gave a different sound, so you could hear it compute. A skilled operator could actually hear if the computer had got stuck in an infinite loop! Bjorn Lisper
reeder@ut-emx.UUCP (William P. Reeder) (03/29/88)
In article <1574@osiris.UUCP>, mjr@osiris.UUCP (Marcus J. Ranum) writes: > Maybe computers could issue an impressive spine chilling whine when > the load average gets high - I see spoilers, air dams, MIPS-meters, and curb- > feelers as integral parts of the next generation of super-computers. > > --mjr(); I have suggested to many sales reps that they need a bank of gee-whiz lights on the front which blink faster as the load goes up. That way people who walk by our machine room and look through the big window could see something "impressive". -- Wills -- William {Wills,Card,Weekly,Virtual} Reeder reeder@emx.utexas.edu Scholars who study dinosaurs say there were some smart dinosaurs and lots of stupid dinosaurs. Those smart dinosaurs came along early, but in the survival wars, please note, the stupid dinosaurs won. DISCLAIMER: I speak only for myself, and usually only to myself.
lackey@Alliant.COM (Stan Lackey) (03/29/88)
>> Another option is the Detroit principle: >>"If it isn't really fast - make it LOOK and SOUND fast" >> >> Maybe computers could issue an impressive spine chilling whine when >>the load average gets high .... > Dave Barry writes that computers are not like cars that you can tell how fast it is just by looking. For example, a Corvette is built for speed, while a VW bug was built for your dog to throw up in in the way to the vet. He goes on to say that, if you want to tell if how fast a computer really is, your best bet is to look at the person using it. If he is neatly shaven and wearing a tailored suit, the computer is obviously a real clunker. If, however, he is bearded with long, scraggly hair, wearing a T-shirt and cutoff jeans, it must be a top-of-the-line scientific supercomputer. Reprinted with no permission whatsoever. Not very well quoted, either.
davidsen@steinmetz.steinmetz.ge.com (William E. Davidsen Jr) (03/30/88)
In article <25959@yale-celray.yale.UUCP> lisper-bjorn@CS.YALE.EDU (Bjorn Lisper) writes: | [...] | Some historic computer trivia: the Swedish late-fifties computer BESK at | some stage of its lifecycle had a loudspeaker connected to its instruction | register. Different instructions gave a different sound, so you could hear | it compute. A skilled operator could actually hear if the computer had got | stuck in an infinite loop! We had an FM radio on our GE-605 (the military version of the 635) and the operators could detect a hung CPU and in many cases a hung i/o device. You could play tunes on it. -- bill davidsen (wedu@ge-crd.arpa) {uunet | philabs | seismo}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me
barmar@think.COM (Barry Margolin) (03/30/88)
In article <1461@ut-emx.UUCP> reeder@ut-emx.UUCP (William P. Reeder) writes: >I have suggested to many sales reps that they need a bank of gee-whiz >lights on the front which blink faster as the load goes up. That way >people who walk by our machine room and look through the big window >could see something "impressive". You'd appreciate the Connection Machine's exterior design, then. The entire face (about a 5x5-foot square) is an array of LEDs (2 faces with 64 rows of 32 lights on a fully-configured machine). It would be nice if they weren't all the same color, but I think I've heard that only red LEDs are inexpensive enough to put 4K of them on a machine. The lights can either be controlled explicitly by a program, or they can show the state of a set of processors. Barry Margolin Thinking Machines Corp. barmar@think.com uunet!think!barmar
emiller@bbn.com (ethan miller) (03/30/88)
In article <18616@think.UUCP> barmar@fafnir.think.com.UUCP (Barry Margolin) writes:
=>
=>You'd appreciate the Connection Machine's exterior design, then. The
=>entire face (about a 5x5-foot square) is an array of LEDs (2 faces
=>with 64 rows of 32 lights on a fully-configured machine). It would be
=>nice if they weren't all the same color, but I think I've heard that
=>only red LEDs are inexpensive enough to put 4K of them on a machine.
=>The lights can either be controlled explicitly by a program, or they
=>can show the state of a set of processors.
=>
=>Barry Margolin
=>Thinking Machines Corp.
=>
=>barmar@think.com
=>uunet!think!barmar
No, green and yellow LEDs aren't that expensive. You can buy them at
Radio Shack (quantity 1) for around $.50 each--about the same as for red LEDs.
The total cost would be about $2000, probably less due to quantity discounts.
That is not that much relative to the cost of a Connection Machine.
The reason they are all the same color is probably that the additional
colors would not add information and, instead, would confuse the engineers.
ethan
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Ethan Miller
BBN Laboratories (Cambridge, MA)
ARPAnet: emiller@bbn.com
Disclaimer: Don't blame BBN for what I write.
"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should
on no account be allowed to do the job."
-- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxykolding@ji.Berkeley.EDU (Eric Koldinger) (04/02/88)
In article <1461@ut-emx.UUCP> reeder@ut-emx.UUCP (William P. Reeder) writes: >I have suggested to many sales reps that they need a bank of gee-whiz >lights on the front which blink faster as the load goes up. That way >people who walk by our machine room and look through the big window >could see something "impressive". Oh, this is too true. There is absolutely nothing to see in the state of the art these days. The newest computers are big boxes, the disk drives are all sealed and you can't even see the disk, and the latest tape drives from IBM are cartridge drives with no great big reels to watch. I mean seriously folks, computer rooms are getting boring. What are people going to see when they see the next generation of movies with computers in them? _ /| Eric \`o_O' kolding@ji.berkeley.edu ( ) "Gag Ack Barf" {....}!ucbvax!ji!kolding U
wcs@ho95e.ATT.COM (Bill.Stewart.<ho95c>) (04/04/88)
In article <1982@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu> kolding@ji.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Eric Koldinger) writes:
:The newest computers are big boxes, the disk
:drives are all sealed and you can't even see the disk, and the latest
:tape drives from IBM are cartridge drives with no great big reels to watch.
The larger optical disk jukeboxes are fun to watch.
I recently took a tour of the main computer center at Lawrence Livermore
Labs. The Cray-2 is small and cute, and you can watch the Freon bubble,
or go look at the humongous power/AC system. But what's *physically*
impressive to watch is the robot-controlled tape-hanging system, which
is a 50-foot jukebox of hundreds of tape reels - stay out of the way of
the tape-grabbing arm.
--
# Thanks;
# Bill Stewart, AT&T Bell Labs 2G218, Holmdel NJ 1-201-949-0705 ihnp4!ho95c!wcs
# So we got out our parsers and debuggers and lexical analyzers and various
# implements of destruction and went off to clean up the tty driver...news@ism780c.UUCP (News system) (04/05/88)
In article <1982@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu> kolding@ji.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Eric Koldinger) writes: >Oh, this is too true. There is absolutely nothing to see in the state >of the art these days. The newest computers are big boxes, the disk >drives are all sealed and you can't even see the disk, and the latest >tape drives from IBM are cartridge drives with no great big reels to watch. >I mean seriously folks, computer rooms are getting boring. What are people >going to see when they see the next generation of movies with computers in >them? More historical trivia. The first machine that I worked on was a DA (Bush mechanical differential analyzer) (circa 1950). It was an analog machine. The machine was powered by a motor of several horse power. It had colored gears and it actally rang a bell. The machine was located at UCLA. When Hollywood was making the movie "When Worlds Collide" they came to the campus to film a computer scene. Also on campus was SWAC (south west automatic calculator), a digital machine. They opted to use the DA in the movie because they said "it looks like a computer". The SWAC had no moving parts (except a card reader). The DA is now at the Smithsonian, but I don't think it is on public exibit. Marv Rubinstein.
wcs@ho95e.ATT.COM (Bill.Stewart.<ho95c>) (04/05/88)
In article <2099@ho95e.ATT.COM> wcs@ho95e.UUCP (me) writes:
:I recently took a tour of the main computer center at Lawrence Livermore
:Labs. The Cray-2 is small and cute, and you can watch the Freon bubble,
Eugene Miya points out it's actually the National Magnetic Fusion Energy
Comp. Center (NMFECC), not the heavily-paranoid-security main comp. center.
--
# Thanks;
# Bill Stewart, AT&T Bell Labs 2G218, Holmdel NJ 1-201-949-0705 ihnp4!ho95c!wcs
# So we got out our parsers and debuggers and lexical analyzers and various
# implements of destruction and went off to clean up the tty driver...jeff@aiva.ed.ac.uk (Jeff Dalton) (04/11/88)
In article <1982@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu> kolding@ji.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Eric Koldinger) writes:
]I mean seriously folks, computer rooms are getting boring. What are people
]going to see when they see the next generation of movies with computers in
]them?
They're going to see tape drives, just as they always have. And blinking
lights.mangler@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu (Don Speck) (04/15/88)
In article <1982@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu>, kolding@ji.Berkeley.EDU (Eric Koldinger) writes: > The newest computers are big boxes, the disk > drives are all sealed and you can't even see the disk, I have some older Winchesters with transparent plastic HDA housings (Fujitsu 2284, 2298). When I had one hanging out on its slides for seek adjustments, with only thin plastic between the 125-MPH platter edges and my stomach, and the heads banging against the stops when I adjust too far, I can never help wondering "if this crashes, will I live?". It gives me the creeps. While lying under a 2298, pulling a cable snags the power switch and the belt starts moving inches from my head. (I have long hair...) I have to caution every field service person about our ancient 9766 top-loading disk drive with no door interlock, worrying that one of them is going to open the top while it's spinning and get his necktie sucked in. Dangerous moving parts *SHOULD* be sealed! Don Speck speck@vlsi.caltech.edu {amdahl,ames!elroy}!cit-vax!speck
greggy@infmx.UUCP (greg yachuk) (04/16/88)
In article <339@aiva.ed.ac.uk>, jeff@aiva.ed.ac.uk (Jeff Dalton) writes: > In article <1982@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu> kolding@ji.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Eric Koldinger) writes: > ]I mean seriously folks, computer rooms are getting boring. What are people > ]going to see when they see the next generation of movies with computers in > ]them? > > They're going to see tape drives, just as they always have. And blinking > lights. Actually, future computers are simply going to be full colour CRT's which are zoom into photographs, and simulate interactive Identi-Kits. See Blade Runner and RoboCop. Once the boundary between Computer and Television is blurred, maybe Videotext will stand a chance :') Greg Yachuk Informix Software Inc., Menlo Park, CA (415) 322-4100 {uunet,pyramid}!infmx!greggy !yes, I chose that login myself, wazit tooya? So, like, uh, where do you guys get all these way cool .sig's, anyways?