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Exceedingly interesting! Say, I have a board from back in the 80s that you may know about - nobody else I've asked has any idea. It's a "Parallon" ISA card from

Exceedingly interesting! Say, I have a board from back in the 80s that you may know about - nobody else I've asked has any idea. It's a "Parallon" ISA card from a company called Human Devices, that has something like 8 NEC V20s on it. I think it's an early attempt at an accelerator card, maybe for neural networks, not sure. Some reference about its existence here, in a magazine that (ironically? serendipitously?) features a fractal on the cover: http://www.bitsavers.org/magazines/Micro_Cornucopia/Micro_Cornucopia_%2339_Jan88.pdf http://www.bitsavers.org/magazines/Micro_Cornucopia/Micro_Co... Ever heard of such a thing? I think at this point, I'm trying to find someone who wants it, whether for historical purposes or actually to use.

morphle 2y ago
Yes I've heard of such a thing [1], it is probably worth $50. This PCB board is just a cluster of 8 V20 (Intel 8088) compatible 16 bit processor, nothing to write home about. It is not considered an early attempt at an accelerator card. Depending on your definition many were done earlier [2] going back to the earliest computers 2000 years ago. My favorite would be the 16 processor Alto [3]. In 1989 I build my 4th Transputer supercomputer for a customer who programmed binary neural networks. In those early days everyone would use Mandelbrot and Neural Networks as simple demo's and benchmarks of any chip or computer, especially supercomputers. So it is not ironical or serendipitous that a magazine would have a Mandelbrot and an article on a microprocessor in the same issue. My Byte Magazine article on Transputer and DIY supercomputers also described both together. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEC_V20 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEC_V20 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_supercomputing#:~:text=The%20history%20of%20supercomputing%20goes,generally%20considered%20the%20first%20supercomputer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_supercomputing#:~:t.... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto
- mikestorrent 2y ago
  Thanks for answering, appreciated. I suppose I will just hang onto it as an interesting piece of history, though I never thought it would be worth much - more I'm just hoping to find someone out there who wants it for some personal reason so I can "send it home", so to speak. Is anyone doing anything with transputer technology now? Do you think it has a chance at resurgence? > the earliest computers 2000 years ago Typo, exaggeration, or a reference to something like the Antikythera Mechanism?
  - morphle 2y ago
    >Is anyone doing anything with transputer technology now? Yes, our Morphle Engine Wafer Scale Integration and our earlier SiliconSqueak microprocessor designs and supercomputers borrows many special features of the Transputer designs by David May. Also of the Alto design by Chuck Thacker, SOAR RISC by David Ungar and a few of the B5000-B6500 designs by Bob Barton. Most of all they build on the design of the Smalltalk, Squeak and reflective Squeak VM software designs by Alan Kay and Dan Ingalls. >reference to Antikythera Mechanism[5]? Yes. I could have referenced the Jacquard Loom [1], Babbage Analytical Engine or the later Difference engine [2], Alan Turing, Ada Lovelace and dozens of other contestants for 'first' and 'oldest' computational machines, they are all inaccurate, as are these lists[3][4]. Or I could have only referenced the ones from my own country [6]. >Do you think it has a chance at resurgence? Yes, I hope my chips and WSI is that resurgence of European microprocessor chips. I just need less than a million euros in funding to start production of prototype WSIs. Even just a single customer buying a $130 million supercomputer is enough. YCombinator should fund me. A science grant or a little support from ASML R&D might also be enough to complete our resurgence. It will take 2-3 years from the moment of funding to go into mass production [5]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_machine [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine [3] https://www.oldest.org/technology/computers/ https://www.oldest.org/technology/computers/ [4] http://www.computerhistories.org/ http://www.computerhistories.org/ [5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDhnjEQyuDk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDhnjEQyuDk [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism [6] Oldest Dutch computers? https://www.cwi.nl/en/about/history/#:~:text=CWI%20developed%20the%20first%20computers,A%20pioneer%20in%20Dutch%20computing https://www.cwi.nl/en/about/history/#:~:text=CWI%20developed.... [7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbqKClBwFwI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbqKClBwFwI or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDhnjEQyuDk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDhnjEQyuDk or https://www.uksmalltalk.org/2022/06/smalltalk-and-self-hardware-29-june-2022.html https://www.uksmalltalk.org/2022/06/smalltalk-and-self-hardw...

morphle 2y ago

Yes I've heard of such a thing [1], it is probably worth $50. This PCB board is just a cluster of 8 V20 (Intel 8088) compatible 16 bit processor, nothing to write home about. It is not considered an early attempt at an accelerator card. Depending on your definition many were done earlier [2] going back to the earliest computers 2000 years ago. My favorite would be the 16 processor Alto [3]. In 1989 I build my 4th Transputer supercomputer for a customer who programmed binary neural networks. In those early days everyone would use Mandelbrot and Neural Networks as simple demo's and benchmarks of any chip or computer, especially supercomputers. So it is not ironical or serendipitous that a magazine would have a Mandelbrot and an article on a microprocessor in the same issue. My Byte Magazine article on Transputer and DIY supercomputers also described both together. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEC_V20 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEC_V20 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_supercomputing#:~:text=The%20history%20of%20supercomputing%20goes,generally%20considered%20the%20first%20supercomputer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_supercomputing#:~:t.... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto

mikestorrent 2y ago
Thanks for answering, appreciated. I suppose I will just hang onto it as an interesting piece of history, though I never thought it would be worth much - more I'm just hoping to find someone out there who wants it for some personal reason so I can "send it home", so to speak. Is anyone doing anything with transputer technology now? Do you think it has a chance at resurgence? > the earliest computers 2000 years ago Typo, exaggeration, or a reference to something like the Antikythera Mechanism?
- morphle 2y ago
  >Is anyone doing anything with transputer technology now? Yes, our Morphle Engine Wafer Scale Integration and our earlier SiliconSqueak microprocessor designs and supercomputers borrows many special features of the Transputer designs by David May. Also of the Alto design by Chuck Thacker, SOAR RISC by David Ungar and a few of the B5000-B6500 designs by Bob Barton. Most of all they build on the design of the Smalltalk, Squeak and reflective Squeak VM software designs by Alan Kay and Dan Ingalls. >reference to Antikythera Mechanism[5]? Yes. I could have referenced the Jacquard Loom [1], Babbage Analytical Engine or the later Difference engine [2], Alan Turing, Ada Lovelace and dozens of other contestants for 'first' and 'oldest' computational machines, they are all inaccurate, as are these lists[3][4]. Or I could have only referenced the ones from my own country [6]. >Do you think it has a chance at resurgence? Yes, I hope my chips and WSI is that resurgence of European microprocessor chips. I just need less than a million euros in funding to start production of prototype WSIs. Even just a single customer buying a $130 million supercomputer is enough. YCombinator should fund me. A science grant or a little support from ASML R&D might also be enough to complete our resurgence. It will take 2-3 years from the moment of funding to go into mass production [5]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_machine [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine [3] https://www.oldest.org/technology/computers/ https://www.oldest.org/technology/computers/ [4] http://www.computerhistories.org/ http://www.computerhistories.org/ [5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDhnjEQyuDk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDhnjEQyuDk [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism [6] Oldest Dutch computers? https://www.cwi.nl/en/about/history/#:~:text=CWI%20developed%20the%20first%20computers,A%20pioneer%20in%20Dutch%20computing https://www.cwi.nl/en/about/history/#:~:text=CWI%20developed.... [7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbqKClBwFwI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbqKClBwFwI or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDhnjEQyuDk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDhnjEQyuDk or https://www.uksmalltalk.org/2022/06/smalltalk-and-self-hardware-29-june-2022.html https://www.uksmalltalk.org/2022/06/smalltalk-and-self-hardw...