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I'm very excited by the recent CADR revival, but the original MIT system does feel primitive compared to the later Symbolics releases.

eschaton 3y ago
Yeah, it’s like comparing a Lisa running the Office System to a PowerMac G3 running Mac OS 8. The family resemblance is certainly there, but one is way more advanced than the other.
- lispm 3y ago
  The Lisa was at least made into a product. The CADR was a research prototype of a University research lab for a new type of computer, with Lisp hackers developing an early OS and a few research applications. Of the Apple Lisa roughly 80,000 machines for $10,000 per machine were sold. The CADR would have cost around 8 times more and only 200 had been built. Nothing which had reached the level of a product which one would like to ship to a customer. About the LM-2, Symbolics' version of the CADR: https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/X995.89C https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/X995.89C "The LM-2 was a popular AI (Artificial Intelligence) machine when it was introduced in 1981. It had a 32-bit CPU with a 12K writable control store, 1MB of main memory and an 80MB hard disk. It also came with a bit-mapped display, mouse, and LISP programming environment. Symbolics introduced the Symbolics LM-2 in 1981. The LM-2 was basically an M.I.T. CADR, repackaged for higher reliability and easier servicing. Symbolics made numerous improvements to the system software and offered options such as Fortran-77, color graphics hardware, and the LGP-1 laser graphics printer. Alternative label copy: Symbolics LM-2 Symbolic Processing System, 1981 The LM-2 was a popular AI (Artificial Intelligence) machine when it was introduced in 1981. It had a 32-bit CPU with a 12K writable control store, 1MB of main memory and an 80MB hard disk. It also came with a bit-mapped display, mouse, and LISP programming environment."
  - eschaton 3y ago
    Both LMI and Symbolics sold the CADR commercially though.
    - lispm 3y ago
      Yes, they sold slightly improved versions in very low volumes (~ 100 LM-2 were sold by Symbolics, see above), until they had a machine that was a bit more designed to be a commercial product - machines which were still very fragile -> the Symbolics 3600 and the LMI LAMBDA.

eschaton 3y ago

Yeah, it’s like comparing a Lisa running the Office System to a PowerMac G3 running Mac OS 8. The family resemblance is certainly there, but one is way more advanced than the other.

lispm 3y ago
The Lisa was at least made into a product. The CADR was a research prototype of a University research lab for a new type of computer, with Lisp hackers developing an early OS and a few research applications. Of the Apple Lisa roughly 80,000 machines for $10,000 per machine were sold. The CADR would have cost around 8 times more and only 200 had been built. Nothing which had reached the level of a product which one would like to ship to a customer. About the LM-2, Symbolics' version of the CADR: https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/X995.89C https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/X995.89C "The LM-2 was a popular AI (Artificial Intelligence) machine when it was introduced in 1981. It had a 32-bit CPU with a 12K writable control store, 1MB of main memory and an 80MB hard disk. It also came with a bit-mapped display, mouse, and LISP programming environment. Symbolics introduced the Symbolics LM-2 in 1981. The LM-2 was basically an M.I.T. CADR, repackaged for higher reliability and easier servicing. Symbolics made numerous improvements to the system software and offered options such as Fortran-77, color graphics hardware, and the LGP-1 laser graphics printer. Alternative label copy: Symbolics LM-2 Symbolic Processing System, 1981 The LM-2 was a popular AI (Artificial Intelligence) machine when it was introduced in 1981. It had a 32-bit CPU with a 12K writable control store, 1MB of main memory and an 80MB hard disk. It also came with a bit-mapped display, mouse, and LISP programming environment."
- eschaton 3y ago
  Both LMI and Symbolics sold the CADR commercially though.
  - lispm 3y ago
    Yes, they sold slightly improved versions in very low volumes (~ 100 LM-2 were sold by Symbolics, see above), until they had a machine that was a bit more designed to be a commercial product - machines which were still very fragile -> the Symbolics 3600 and the LMI LAMBDA.