Author: Pete Galati
Date: 14:32:07 04/16/00
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On April 16, 2000 at 03:04:44, David Blackman wrote: >On April 15, 2000 at 14:47:40, Pete Galati wrote: > >>On April 15, 2000 at 14:03:04, Robert Hyatt wrote: > >>>In the early 70's _everybody_ used a mainframe, or at least a big >>>minicomputer... >> >>I would think that if you had the know-how to work with one (I don't) and could >>find a working example for sale, that the average mainframe computer from the >>'60s would sell for dirt cheap by now. That would probably have more >>entertainment value than it would be practical. And finding replacement parts >>for a 10 year old PC would probably be easy in comparison to finding replacement >>parts for a 40 year old mainframe. >> >>Pete > >The other thing is that old mainframes had huge requirements for power and >air-conditioning, and if you have to move them you need a large truck. In >addition moving old computers has a tendency to make them stop working. I have >heard of a group of hobbyists in Sweden who have a Dec KA-10 in mostly working >condition, but they can hardly ever afford to fire it up. Some of the >mini-computers are more feasible for hobbyists. A few people have working >PDP-11s and Vaxes. > >If you want to get old mainframe programs running, there are two options worth >trying if you are serious enough. > >1. Some of the mainframe companies later made mini-computer or micro-computer >sized machines that were compatible with their older mainframes (and often >faster!). These smaller machines are themselves mostly obsolete now and might be >available free as companies throw them out. Examples are the Dec KS-20 of the >late 1970s and the S390 that IBM is still selling now to anyone weird enough to >want one and rich enough to pay. > >2. Run a software simulator on your PC. These are available for a few of the old >computers now. In some cases they actually run faster than the real hardware >did. I have seen a version of Ken Thompson's Belle running on a simulated PDP-11 >with 7th edition Unix(*), on a 486. This was presumably a very early version of >Belle before the special chess hardware was added. The biggest problem with this >approach is getting programs and data off old punched cards or proprietry tape >formats and onto your PC's hard disc. > >[ * Unix is a trademark, but i'm not sure who owns it this week. ] Having a large computer would not be an option for me (and probably most other people) just because of the space involved, so huge power requirements just wouldn't ever enter the picture actually. Probably _my_ only real option would be a "software simulator" (emulator?) but I don't have any software to need it. Pete
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