5 ms·

Apple Computer: Scorpius Architectural Specification (1988)

63 points by kick 7y ago

kick 7y ago
The archive (seemingly erroneously) says this was created in 1989. The text itself, however, says it was from 10/88.
zzo38computer 7y ago
You should probably link to this instead: https://archive.org/details/scorpius_architecture https://archive.org/details/scorpius_architecture (This way has more compatibility with various computers and software that you try to view it. Also, for some reason the "FULL TEXT" link does not link directly to the file, nor does there seem to be a link from there as far as I can find, but if you change "stream" in the URL to "download" then it will access the file.)
- kick 7y ago
  I disagree with that. You can hit "← Back to item details" to trivially get to the more information panel, while this presents content in a better way than linking to that link.
- drudru11 7y ago
  Thanks for this. I couldn’t really read it on my iPhone otherwise
karmakaze 7y ago
Coincidentally (or not?), Power Mac G5's later used the PowerPC 970MP (a dual-core part) which also carried the code name 'Antares'.
DonHopkins 7y ago
Did it have wicked glowing cooling rods? https://farscape.fandom.com/wiki/Cooling_rod https://farscape.fandom.com/wiki/Cooling_rod
duskwuff 7y ago
So... how soon can we expect a HDL implementation of this architecture? :)
phs318u 7y ago
I can't believe the paucity of comments on this article. Surely, this is of interest to HNers? Am I just the only one that's never heard of this? It sounds awesome, and confirms my personal bias that an Apple+Sun merger (prior to the Oracle acquisition) could have been terrific. We all complain about Apple's slipping quality these days, but they used to (?) have some amazing engineers. Edited to add: Does anybody know why this got nixed? Would love to know the backstory to this.
- NikkiA 7y ago
  1988 would put this squarely in the 'Apple trying to convince Motorola to develop the 88k' era, most likely this was a backup plan in case they failed (they did, but by the time the 88k was killed off, they'd managed to get AIM founded and the 601 was 'in the pipeline')
  - doctor_eval 7y ago
    I didn’t know that apple considered the M88K. I used DG Aviion servers with DG/UX, which were all multi cpu 88ks, and they were awesome, a staple of the industry I was in at the time (medical laboratories).
    - Lammy 7y ago
      The rumor mill of 1990 has our back :) https://tidbits.com/1990/05/07/68040-macintosh/ https://tidbits.com/1990/05/07/68040-macintosh/
      - joezydeco 7y ago
        Wow, now there's a name I haven't seen in a long long time... =)
  - allenbaum 7y ago
    There was an AMD 29000 Macintosh. But Apple execs were afraid that would piss off Motorola too much, and they still needed their parts. So then there was an 88k Macintosh. Execs decided that Moro didn’t have the volume to compete with Intel, so they put them together with IBM to form AIM and develop PPC (they considered HPs Precision RISC as well) and went with that until it was clear even those two couldn’t keep up with Intel- or with Apples direction.
drudru11 7y ago
Really interesting architecture. The way they tried to make the processor units flexibly become SIMD or MIMD is thought provoking. Thanks for sharing this.
person_of_color 7y ago
What was it?
- Lammy 7y ago
  Late-1980s Apple’s plan for architecting their own RISC CPU. Never made it to production Macs.

63 points by kick 7y ago

kick 7y ago

The archive (seemingly erroneously) says this was created in 1989. The text itself, however, says it was from 10/88.

You should probably link to this instead: https://archive.org/details/scorpius_architecture https://archive.org/details/scorpius_architecture (This way has more compatibility with various computers and software that you try to view it. Also, for some reason the "FULL TEXT" link does not link directly to the file, nor does there seem to be a link from there as far as I can find, but if you change "stream" in the URL to "download" then it will access the file.)

kick 7y ago
I disagree with that. You can hit "← Back to item details" to trivially get to the more information panel, while this presents content in a better way than linking to that link.
drudru11 7y ago
Thanks for this. I couldn’t really read it on my iPhone otherwise

karmakaze 7y ago

Coincidentally (or not?), Power Mac G5's later used the PowerPC 970MP (a dual-core part) which also carried the code name 'Antares'.

DonHopkins 7y ago

Did it have wicked glowing cooling rods? https://farscape.fandom.com/wiki/Cooling_rod https://farscape.fandom.com/wiki/Cooling_rod

duskwuff 7y ago

So... how soon can we expect a HDL implementation of this architecture? :)

phs318u 7y ago

I can't believe the paucity of comments on this article. Surely, this is of interest to HNers? Am I just the only one that's never heard of this? It sounds awesome, and confirms my personal bias that an Apple+Sun merger (prior to the Oracle acquisition) could have been terrific. We all complain about Apple's slipping quality these days, but they used to (?) have some amazing engineers. Edited to add: Does anybody know why this got nixed? Would love to know the backstory to this.

NikkiA 7y ago
1988 would put this squarely in the 'Apple trying to convince Motorola to develop the 88k' era, most likely this was a backup plan in case they failed (they did, but by the time the 88k was killed off, they'd managed to get AIM founded and the 601 was 'in the pipeline')
- doctor_eval 7y ago
  I didn’t know that apple considered the M88K. I used DG Aviion servers with DG/UX, which were all multi cpu 88ks, and they were awesome, a staple of the industry I was in at the time (medical laboratories).
  - Lammy 7y ago
    The rumor mill of 1990 has our back :) https://tidbits.com/1990/05/07/68040-macintosh/ https://tidbits.com/1990/05/07/68040-macintosh/
    - joezydeco 7y ago
      Wow, now there's a name I haven't seen in a long long time... =)
- allenbaum 7y ago
  There was an AMD 29000 Macintosh. But Apple execs were afraid that would piss off Motorola too much, and they still needed their parts. So then there was an 88k Macintosh. Execs decided that Moro didn’t have the volume to compete with Intel, so they put them together with IBM to form AIM and develop PPC (they considered HPs Precision RISC as well) and went with that until it was clear even those two couldn’t keep up with Intel- or with Apples direction.

drudru11 7y ago

Really interesting architecture. The way they tried to make the processor units flexibly become SIMD or MIMD is thought provoking. Thanks for sharing this.

person_of_color 7y ago

What was it?

Lammy 7y ago
Late-1980s Apple’s plan for architecting their own RISC CPU. Never made it to production Macs.