4 ms·

Interesting the IBMK ROMP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_ROMP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_ROMP Was a spin-off from the 801 project and was the CPU used

by Zenst 4y ago

Interesting the IBMK ROMP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_ROMP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_ROMP Was a spin-off from the 801 project and was the CPU used in the IBM RT range and saw the birth of AIX.

wrs 4y ago
For those who haven’t heard of the RT, Bitsavers has a large hoard of docs. [0] I was at CMU when the Andrew project got early-access PC RTs and it was crazy secretive due to IBM’s requirements. Special badge access, NDAs, machines chained to desks…very weird in a university environment. So it’s not surprising there isn’t a ton of public documentation of the 801. [0] http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/pc/rt/ http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/pc/rt/
- BirAdam 4y ago
  Thank you so much for posting! I have an old Byte magazine issue with an article about the PC RT and I’d been searching for more information about it! You just made my day m8!
  - Zenst 4y ago
    It came out around time of the XT and AT, XT - being EXtended Technology, AT being Advanced Technology and both x86 PCs in effect. RT being Risc Technology and the birth of AIX, which I worked on back then. Was used in buisness, and I worked in reinsurance in which it was used. EVentually it got replaced by the RS/6000 line which was a the birth of the Power CPU, which we still have today. One thing though, 5 1/4 in floppy OS installations on the RT was a real PITA, more so if you found a later disc was corrupted, get new one from supplier only to find their master copy was corrupted so you just got another corrupted disc, really chocolate teapot waiting for kettle to boil moment that. They did well in finance, as they had good communication interfaces and things like SNA was a seller for linking to their mainframes and AS/400's systems, then then there was good serial handling via multiple ports. The IBM RS/6000's came out around time of the PS/2 phase in IBM's life for a timeline comparison. AIX2 was also a rewrite, as iirc AIX1 was written in prolog! Something like that. Back then for comparison, there was no Sun, you had VAX, and main alternative UNIX box of that time I encountered was the NEC Tower sorry not much more details but another common Unix platform of the time, though a little later on. Then around the RS/6000 time you had HP with it's HPUX come about and then Sun. Interesting times, but darn nobody wants to ever have to worry about termcap or terminfo, let alone link two different systems up for UUCP. Alas no old documents left of that era my end, some later RS/6000 stuff, but buried. BYTE was great, loved that, also UNIX World was another good mag of that early era that I lamentably miss.

by Zenst 4y ago

wrs 4y ago

For those who haven’t heard of the RT, Bitsavers has a large hoard of docs. [0] I was at CMU when the Andrew project got early-access PC RTs and it was crazy secretive due to IBM’s requirements. Special badge access, NDAs, machines chained to desks…very weird in a university environment. So it’s not surprising there isn’t a ton of public documentation of the 801. [0] http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/pc/rt/ http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/pc/rt/

BirAdam 4y ago
Thank you so much for posting! I have an old Byte magazine issue with an article about the PC RT and I’d been searching for more information about it! You just made my day m8!
- Zenst 4y ago
  It came out around time of the XT and AT, XT - being EXtended Technology, AT being Advanced Technology and both x86 PCs in effect. RT being Risc Technology and the birth of AIX, which I worked on back then. Was used in buisness, and I worked in reinsurance in which it was used. EVentually it got replaced by the RS/6000 line which was a the birth of the Power CPU, which we still have today. One thing though, 5 1/4 in floppy OS installations on the RT was a real PITA, more so if you found a later disc was corrupted, get new one from supplier only to find their master copy was corrupted so you just got another corrupted disc, really chocolate teapot waiting for kettle to boil moment that. They did well in finance, as they had good communication interfaces and things like SNA was a seller for linking to their mainframes and AS/400's systems, then then there was good serial handling via multiple ports. The IBM RS/6000's came out around time of the PS/2 phase in IBM's life for a timeline comparison. AIX2 was also a rewrite, as iirc AIX1 was written in prolog! Something like that. Back then for comparison, there was no Sun, you had VAX, and main alternative UNIX box of that time I encountered was the NEC Tower sorry not much more details but another common Unix platform of the time, though a little later on. Then around the RS/6000 time you had HP with it's HPUX come about and then Sun. Interesting times, but darn nobody wants to ever have to worry about termcap or terminfo, let alone link two different systems up for UUCP. Alas no old documents left of that era my end, some later RS/6000 stuff, but buried. BYTE was great, loved that, also UNIX World was another good mag of that early era that I lamentably miss.