[Info-vax] CRTL and RMS vs SSIO

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 10/12/2021 2:14 PM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> On 10/12/21 1:29 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>> I suspect that you are again talking about the fact
>> that address fields did not increase from 32 to 64 bit
>> when moving from VAX to Alpha.

>> FAB/RAB blocks could have been changed back then. But DEC
>> decided not to.
> 
> Yea, why would anyone ever need more than 32bits of addressable
> data.  :-)

Well this was when they switched from 32 bit addresses
to 64 bit addresses (well at least architecturally - actual
support arrived later over time), so ...

But allowing VAX code to build on Alpha with minimum changes
was obviously a top priority.

Was that a good or bad decision?

I don't know.

But even if everybody agrees that it was a bad decision, then
it does not change that it was the decision back then.

Arne