4 ms·
While the 730 and the Sun-1 were available by the time the GNU project was started, I strongly suspect that an 11/750 was the original machine. (I wasn't runni
by gonzo 12y ago
While the 730 and the Sun-1 were available by the time the GNU project was started, I strongly suspect that an 11/750 was the original machine.
(I wasn't running GNU (emacs) until 1984, and didn't contribute to GCC until 1987.)
- gumby 12y agoIndeed, now you mention it it was a 750. Good thing for my self image I put that question mark in there.
- hga 12y agoYeah, I suspected so. DEC had a problem with selling MIT and other non-profits hardware at a discount, the US Federal government demands Most Favored Customer prices (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most-Favoured-Customer_Clause https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most-Favoured-Customer_Clause), so I heard they came up with a not so desirable configuration of a Vax 11-750, a RK07 disk drive, and a VAXstation 100 display, which was a 68000 with a megabyte or so of memory and a very fast connection to the VAX. Which I was also told had an outsized influence on the X architecture, its assumptions of a fast connection to a relatively dumb display, very much the opposite of what developed in longer term. Which was a motivation for Sun's NeWS, which sent interactive PostScript to the display https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeWS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeWS We aren't using it/you've never heard of it because of the "MIT License" vs. Sun wanting $100K to even give you a taste of NeWS.