[Info-vax] rx2800i2 sales/support window changes

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <ldk3le$47h$1 at dont-email.me>,
	David Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> writes:
> Johnny Billquist wrote:
>> On 2014-02-14 00:03, JF Mezei wrote:
>>> On 14-02-13 11:14, Shael Richmond wrote:
>>>
>>>> The bigger issue is whether we can get the required performance from 
>>>> the emulator when stepping back from Integrity.  Also we have to deal 
>>>> with license issues.
>>>
>>> Considering VMS is limited to Tukwila tech (which is already a few years
>>> old), I suspect that x86 emulated solutions will be competitive quite
>>> soon in terms of performance (if not already).
>> 
>> Good point about emulators maybe targeting newer than Tukwila.
>> However, speedwise it might take a while. Have you seen much speed bumps 
>> in x86 in the last five years?
>> 
>>> The danger is that if an IA64 emulator is done, it will emulate Poulson
>>> which is not compatible with VMS. We know that existing Alpha emulators
>>> are compatible with VMS.
>>>
>>> That leaves the rethorical question of whether a x86 emulating Alpha
>>> instruction set would yield better/equal/worse performance than the same
>>> x86 emulating the IA64 instruction set.
>> 
>> IA64 will probably be worse, because the frickin' instruction set is 
>> horrible. Alpha is way cleaner, which will allow an emulator to spend 
>> less time pretending to do weird shit.
>> 
>>     Johnny
>> 
> 
> That's sort of how I felt, but I don't know enough about it to actually 
> "know".
> 
> I also asked a while back whether VAX emulation might be faster or 
> slower than Alpha emulation.  Regardless, VAX is 32 bits, and 
> development of VMS for VAX ended in the V7.2 timeframe.

Speaking of VAX.....

I assume by now everyone has seen the news about Google taking
over Moffett Field in California.  Many moons ago when we were
discussing government use of VMS and people were convinced I
was VMS' main detractor I pointed out that there was a simulation
project running on the VAX (I assume because of hardware constraints)
headquartered out of Moffett Field with a (small) number of remote
sites including Huntsville, AL.  Well, it looks like this has also
gone the way of the dodo as the governemtn is abandoning Moffett
Field.  Wonder what happened to the equipment?  Does our resident
NASA rep know anything about this?

bill

-- 
Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
billg999 at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton   |
Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>