[Info-vax] VAX 6000 on Young Sheldon

[Dave Froble]

On 2/12/2023 6:44 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> On 2/12/2023 6:08 PM, Dave Froble wrote:
>> On 2/12/2023 3:14 PM, Steven Schweda wrote:
>>>> The difference in floating point performance between a straight 11/780
>>>> and a Sparcstation I was absolutely staggering. [...]
>>>
>>>    Well, duh.  "absolutely staggering" is how I might describe the _age_
>>> of a VAX-11/780 when the SPARCstation 1 was released (1989).  A decade
>>> later, the SPARCstation 1 might have been less impressive, too.  (As I
>>> recall, it was.)
>>
>> Perhaps cost is an issue?  The cost of a VAX 11/780 back then, even after 11
>> years, might still be on one's mind, and the reason it still might be in use.
>
> I think you are on to something.
>
> What did a SPARCstation 1 cost in 1989?
>
> What did a VAX 780 (let us say maxed out with memory)
> cost in 1979?

Most likely in the neighborhood of half a million ...

Some of that will be the disk drives, which were over 20K, each ..

> The cost of the VAX 780 may have give expectations of the
> system running for 10-20 years and not the 5 years
> that has become custom for the "cheap" stuff.
>
> Arne
>
>


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