g_ahrendt@vaxa.uwa.oz (Gunter Ahrendt) (12/01/89)
>Should we sell our MIPS and replace it with a 1960's CDC mainframe? > >I have always wondered why ANY system would go to all the trouble >of throwing away half of the possible characters in a byte. >Seems stupid. > >Doug McDonald Whats stupid about cutting down on excessive bits when you are constructing a scientific mainframe where you do not need 2 cases of letters, you speed up i/o by 25%, this does not increase, but reduces the amount of problems in a new system, as it simplifies a number of aspects. Considering that the CDC Gurus have quite a bit more brains than you seem to, your the one who seems stupid not to realize this.
shj@ultra.com (Steve Jay) (12/02/89)
In article <1407.257709c4@vaxa.uwa.oz> g_ahrendt@vaxa.uwa.oz (Gunter Ahrendt) writes: >Considering that the CDC Gurus >have quite a bit more brains than you seem to, your the one who seems stupid >not to realize this. I'm having trouble coming up with a clever, civil, way to respond to this kind of unpleasantness. I hope the netnews community (which I have just joined) will condemn and discourage these unwarranted attacks. Anyway, CDC is struggling to remain in the computer mainframe business. They just signed a deal to OEM MIPS machines, and sell them with a CDC label. So who's the Gurus now? Steve Jay Ultra Network Technologies Domain: shj@ultra.com 101 Dagget Drive Internet: ultra!shj@ames.arc.nasa.gov San Jose, CA 95134 uucp: ...ames!ultra!shj (408) 922-0100
shj@ultra.com (Steve Jay) (12/02/89)
In article <1407.257709c4@vaxa.uwa.oz> g_ahrendt@vaxa.uwa.oz (Gunter Ahrendt) writes: >system, as it simplifies a number of aspects. Considering that the CDC Gurus >have quite a bit more brains than you seem to, your the one who seems stupid >not to realize this. I'm having trouble coming up with a clever, civil, way to respond to this kind of unpleasantness. I hope the netnews community (which I have just joined) will condemn and discourage these unwarranted attacks. Anyway, CDC is struggling to remain in the computer mainframe business. They just signed a deal to OEM MIPS machines, and sell them with a CDC label. So who's the Gurus now? Steve Jay Ultra Network Technologies Domain: shj@ultra.com 101 Dagget Drive Internet: ultra!shj@ames.arc.nasa.gov San Jose, CA 95134 uucp: ...ames!ultra!shj (408) 922-0100
khb@chiba.Sun.COM (chiba) (12/13/89)
There are important historical facts missing from this name calling:
1) 6 bit chars come from before there were ANY 8-bit chars. Univac
days, in fact.
2) Related to (1), in olden times we didn't have mixed case I/O
devices.
3) Until S/360, computer words weren't typically 32-bits long. On the
Univac 11xx machines, for example, we had (have) 36-bit words.
This makes 6-bit chars attractive. Unless your wordlength is a
multiple of 8, 8-bit chars are non-obvious.
The early CDC machines had 60-bit words.
4) ASCII was originally a 7 bit code. IBM saved us from 49-bit words.
6 was neither stupid, nor as forward looking as to assume that 8 would
someday be normal, but 6 would buy some extra speed. Given that 6 was
relied on by large bodies of existing code, one can understand a
certain reluctance on the part of CDC and UNIVAC to change to 8. Users
really dislike their existing codes breaking....
CDC management has blundered badly over the last N years ... but that
would be a totally different discussion.
cheers all.
Keith H. Bierman |*My thoughts are my own. !! kbierman@sun.com
It's Not My Fault | MTS --Only my work belongs to Sun*
I Voted for Bill & | Advanced Languages/Floating Point Group
Opus | "When the going gets Weird .. the Weird turn PRO"