Re:Rereading: The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder
by zabzonk on Tuesday November 29, 2022 @07:19PM
(#33795252)
DG was never a mainframe company. west was trying to transform a small 16-bit mini into a 32-bit mini. De Castro, the CEO of DG at the time said he wanted that, but "no mode-bit", which shows him as being not being disconnected from his engineers. All in the book.
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Re:Rereading: The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder
by larsbrinkhoff on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @05:55AM
(#33799125)
I'm curious about what various people think defines a mainframe. IBM people clearly have something in mind, and DEC people something else. Maybe DG had yet another definition.
Re:Rereading: The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder
by dsr_ on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @08:35AM
(#33800468)
I'll take a stab at a current definition.
A mainframe is a high-RAS (reliability, availability, serviceability), high-performance, high-cost, modular multiprocessor machine with specialized coprocessors; running a hypervisor-style operating system that is largely concerned with allocating resources and managing security partitions. Interconnections among modules happen at system bus latencies and bandwidths.
Re:Rereading: The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder
by felixgallo on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @10:48AM
(#33802383)
zabzonk is technically correct, which is the best kind of correct. I was using 'mainframe' colloquially and lazily. DG's mini line was used for the same kinds of things as mainframes, but they were formally minis at the time.