[Info-vax] N-VAX processors and alternative architectures, was: Re: date comparison format from a program

[Dave Froble]

On 5/21/2019 2:05 PM, Simon Clubley wrote:
> On 2019-05-21, Dave Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
>>
>> The N-VAX chip could have evolved into a system-on-a-chip and been dirt
>> cheap to produce in the millions.  That would have been plenty good for
>> many things.  Better than that x86 POS.
>>
>>
>
> How would the pricing/performance/functionality have compared to
> something (for example) from Motorola (PowerPC or earlier) or MIPS
> or similar ? How would it have compared to Alpha ?
>
> To be produced as cheaply as you think it could be, it would have to
> be usable with a good range of operating systems, and at comparable
> or better performance than the alternative architectures, in order to
> be produced and used in sufficient quantity to reduce the per-unit cost.
>
> For the non-Alpha alternatives, you would have to tackle the 4-mode
> problem, but that was VMS specific and other operating systems would
> not have had that problem to deal with.
>
> IIRC, wasn't PRISM going to be a 2-mode architecture ?
>
> Simon.
>

This is all speculation about what will never be.

Unix ran on VAX.

If Microsoft wanted to, they could have run WEENDOZE on VAX.

There are many jobs today that could be satisfied by a 100 MHz N-VAX. 
It might have been that VAX could have done the jobs ARM is doing today.

Process shrinks alone would have increased performance.

I'm not suggesting that it would satisfy all requirements.  But we're 
talking 1990 aprox technology, and back then, there may have been a few 
RISC CPUs that were faster, but performance isn't everything.

Alas, DEC didn't have the foresight to go for the low cost volume market.

If I can cobble together a $200 PC today, I'd think DEC could have done 
so with the VAX back in the day, and it might have ruled the world.  But 
they would not consider anything that would jeprodize their high margin 
products.  And then when Alpha came along, they wanted those who might 
purchase a VAX to purchase an Alpha.  Instead of promoting VAX, they 
killed it.  Look how that ended.

-- 
David Froble                       Tel: 724-529-0450
Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc.      E-Mail: davef at tsoft-inc.com
DFE Ultralights, Inc.
170 Grimplin Road
Vanderbilt, PA  15486