Re:PiDP-11
by PopePompus on Tuesday November 28, 2023 @02:33PM
(#38450139)
I think the handwriting was on the wall when the VAX 8600 was introduced. It was introduced 7ish years after the 11/780, and was only a few times faster. Today, in the twilight years of Moore's Law, a factor of a few speedup over 7 years would not be all that bad, but back then it was shocking. I felt the VAX line was a slowly sinking ship from that point on.
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I would choose a VAXi-11/780 if its appearance wasn't so plain and dull. In comparison, the early PDP-10s, particularly the KA-10 and KI-10, are charming. They are probably the epitome of computer aesthetic alongside the 11/40-45-70 series.
Do you happen to know what the KA and KL prefixes stand for?
I'm uncertain about the 'A' in KA, it might suggest that it was the initial release.
'I' stands for 'Integrated', as it was the first PDP-10 CPU to utilize ICs, and 'L' stands for 'LSI'.
There was also the ill-fated KC-10, which was unfortunately killed for various reasons, both technical and strategic as it was competing with the 11/780. It was to use integrated NAND chips like the 11/750 (or even the Cray 1). I'm not sure what the 'C' stood for.
Oh, I should also mention the small KS-10, which had a mini form factor (the DEC10-20 was a mainframe). I guess you can figure what the 'S' stood for.
Also, the PRISM/MICA project got cancelled so Dave Cutler (and whomever he took with him) left for Microsoft.
Then they tried MIPS for a while, and I think(?) PRISM became the basis for the Alpha. Also the other 'minicomputers' - IBM AS/400 came out in 1988, and the HP3000 switched to PA-RISC.