HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dseal@armltd.co.uk (David Seal)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Goals, Cost, and Flexibility (was Re: "Training" of programmers)
Date: 15 Sep 92 09:31:14 GMT
Distribution: comp
Organization: A.R.M. Ltd, Swaffham Bulbeck, Cambs, UK

In article <1992Sep14.194436.6726@CS.ORST.EDU> crowl@jade.CS.ORST.EDU
(Lawrence Crowl) writes:

>In article <BuJ3qG.2FD@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>
>hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
>>I suggest you try generating non-uniform random numbers.  The fastest
>>algorithms by far are acceptance-rejection and related ones.
>
>Now we're getting somewhere.  What specific architectural features speed up
>the generation of such numbers; what do you expect to be the speed up to be;
>and what do you expect the cost to be?

And - very important - how many potential customers actually *want* to
generate non-uniform random numbers, and how much are they willing to pay
for it? Even if you can get enormous speedups for a relatively small cost,
it won't be worthwhile commercially unless the market for the feature is big
enough.

Are the specific architectural features concerned only useful for
non-uniform random number generation, or do they have other uses as well? If
they do, what speedups do you get and how big is the potential market for
these other uses?

David Seal
dseal@armltd.co.uk

All opinions are mine only...
From: zstern@adobe.com (Zalman Stern)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Multi uP P5 systems
Date: 14 Sep 92 23:39:48 GMT
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated

In article <n2vn=9h.erb@netcom.com> erb@netcom.com (Elizabeth R. Brown)  
writes:
[Rumour of 4 way '586/P5 board running an unknown operating system.]
There was a blurb in Infoworld the other day saying that Sequent has demoed  
Microsoft's NT running on one of their 8 or 16 processor 486 boxes. It isn't  
a very big leap of imagination to assume that Microsoft had early access to  
586 specs and NT ran (or will run) on fairly early 586 samples. Same holds  
true for 586 MP hardware.
--
Zalman Stern		   zalman@adobe.com		    (415) 962 3824
Adobe Systems, 1585 Charleston Rd., POB 7900, Mountain View, CA 94039-7900
  "Yeah. Ask 'em if they'll upgrade my shifters too." Bill Watterson
Newsgroups: comp.arch
From: ajedgar@quantum.on.ca (Andrew Edgar)
Subject: Re: Fault Tolerant-High Availability comp systems
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 16:01:40 GMT
Organization: Quantum Software Systems
Keywords: Fault Tolerant-High Availability

In article <7211@bigbird.hri.com.hri.com> fleurant@sparc15.hri.com (P.Fleurant) writes:
[company names and addresses deleted]
>Can someone point me to the following on the subject of Fault Tolerant
>Computer systems?
>   1) a good bibliography 
>   2) the best newsgroup 
>   3) a best trade journal
>   4) a FAQ type article 
>   5) list of companies
You could do a lot worse than to pick up a copy of A. Goscinki's
"Distributed Operating Systems -- The Logical Design".

>   
>
>Is Fault Tolerant just some marketing hype used to sell expensive low
>performance yet highly
>redundant computer?

As with most computer terms "Fault Tolerant" has real meaning until the
marketroids get their grubby paws on it... <grin>

We approach the fault tolerant and mission critical computer systems
market place from a different angle than the hardware manufacturers.
We provide a realtime fully distributed OS upon which OEMs and VARs
have built many diverse mission critical systems. More than one
company has replaced a mini or mainframe with a network of PCs
running our OS.  One company was out performing their Tandem with a
ten node QNX network. They now have a four hundred node network, a
hundred nodes of which are QNX and the remainder are Novell.

Our current generation OS provides completely transparent fault
tolerant and load-balanced networking. This is accomplished with a
network manager and distinct network drivers which support multiple
redundant links between network nodes.  For example, you could use
dual Arcnet links between your robot controllers for determinism and
dual Ethernet links from your data aquisition nodes to your data
logging file server for high speed -- all on the same logical
network.  If the new guy on the forklift takes out one of your
network links the OS instantly switches to the live link and
completes the transaction.  All network errors are logged and time
stamped. 

An important concept in the design of QNX is "the single computer"
model (or integrated model). From the novice user's point of view
the network is one large computer. The name space is fully
distributed and all OS resources are network transparent
(specifically: processes, files, signals, proxies, pipes, names,
devices, etc).

Good luck with your search.  If you could summarize I'd be interested in
your findings.

>
>Thanx
>
>-------------------------------------------------------
>P.Fleurant          Horizon Research, Inc, Waltham, MA


Andrew J. Edgar                        Quantum Software Systems, Ltd. 
R&D                                    175 Terrence-Matthews Cr.      
                                       Kanata, Ontario  K2M 1W8  Canada
From: hrubin@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Rubin Herman)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Not using integers
Date: 9 Sep 92 13:05:09 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Statistics Department

In article <1992Sep8.182423.26063@athena.mit.edu> solman@athena.mit.edu (Jason W Solinsky) writes:
>Does anybody here know of any microprocessors which did not use any integer
>units or registers, but instead modified the floating point execution units
>to inhibit the normalization pipe stage whenever an "integer" flag within
>the instruction was set.

>The idea is to use this feature for a huge savings in area in processors which
>are intended primarilly for FP operation but must still have good integer
>performance.

I do not know about any micros in this category, but there are mainframes.
The CDC 6x00 series and its successors did have integer addition and 
subtraction, but multiplication was done in the floating unit.  The
Crays are somewhat similar, but have a rather odd integer multiply.
These machines do have integer registers, however, essentially usable
only for indexing.

The Cyber 205, etc., has no separate integer registers.  There is one
additional addition and one additional subtraction for address arithmetic,
which cause the right 48 bits to be handled in normal 2's complement
form.  Since unnormalized arithmetic is supported, and exponents are
handled without bias, this provides effectively for 24 and 48 bit integers.
Double precision is reasonably handled, so that 47+sign x 47+sign ->
94+sign is no problem.  
-- 
Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907-1399
Phone: (317)494-6054
hrubin@snap.stat.purdue.edu (Internet, bitnet)  
{purdue,pur-ee}!snap.stat!hrubin(UUCP)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
From: solman@athena.mit.edu (Jason W Solinsky)
Subject: Not using integers
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 18:24:23 GMT

Does anybody here know of any microprocessors which did not use any integer
units or registers, but instead modified the floating point execution units
to inhibit the normalization pipe stage whenever an "integer" flag within
the instruction was set.

The idea is to use this feature for a huge savings in area in processors which
are intended primarilly for FP operation but must still have good integer
performance.

Thanks.

Jason W. Solinsky
Newsgroups: comp.arch
From: scott@ryptyde.cts.com (Scott McClure)
Subject: MC68020 -- how does it compare?
Organization: Ryptyde TimeSharing, San Diego, CA
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 13:40:19 GMT
Keywords: MC68020, i80386


Hi all,

	Does anyone have some kind of comparison between the 68020 and
the i386?  I'm interested in performace differences mostly.
If this is included in a FAQ somewhere, please tell me where I can find 
it and I'll go away quietly.  8-)

Thanks in advance,

Scott

-- 
INTERNET:  scott@ryptyde.cts.com                     | "Nuke the homeless gay
ARPANET:   ryptyde!scott@nosc.mil                    |  baby whales for Jesus!"
UUCP:      {crash, nosc}!ryptyde!scott               |    - bumper sticker
Newsgroups: comp.arch
From: John@boole.uucp (John Ahlstrom)
Subject: Re: Computer architects forced to change careers. NOT!
Organization: Boole & Babbage, Inc.
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 16:32:43 GMT

In <1619@idacrd.UUCP> desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins) writes:

>John Ahlstrom <John@boole.uucp> writes:
>> Seymour Cray has gone into great detail about the new (cooling)
>> technology that was required to be "invented on the spot by the
>> construction engineers" for the Cray 1.  He was not forced to change
>> careers.

>Isn't it the case that he was forced to start and run a new company in
>order to build it, because CDC didn't have the sense to do so?  Sounds
>like a pretty substantial career change to me.

>                                        David desJardins

I would distinguish between Career Change like becoming a pianist and
company change.

John Ahlstrom

"I can neither confirm nor deny that these opinions are or are
hot held by others
Newsgroups: comp.arch
From: dwk1@cec2.wustl.edu (Daniel Walter Krueger)
Subject: Intel CAD coprocessor?
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis MO
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 00:55:20 GMT

Yesterday, my girlfriend(an architect(buildings and things)) brought me a
glossy ad sent to her by Intel.  The ad was for a CAD(Autocad) coprocessor.
The exact title escapes me now, but..

Later in the ad it was mentioned that this "coprocessor" is
actually a two chip set, replacing both the 386 and 387.
The remainder of the advert raved about performance improvements.

My question: What is this "coprocessor"?
My other question: How is the 386 supposed to be replaced? 
			Aren't most if not all SMT.

Her question: At $299 is this worthwhile?

Dan
From: jet@win30.nas.nasa.gov (J. Eric Townsend)
Subject: Re: INFO Request: Delta/Paragon performance
Followup-To: comp.arch
Organization: Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation, NASA Ames
Date: 8 Sep 92 10:47:27

"greg" == Gregory D. Peterson <greg@dworkin.wustl.edu> writes:
greg> Followup-To: comp.arch
greg> Nntp-Posting-Host: dworkin


greg> Hi there!  I have been trying to get information on the Delta
greg> and Paragon, but have not been terribly successful yet.  I need

Probably has something to do with the fact that the people who have
the pre-release-Paragon beta machines can't say anything about them
publicly.   As far as the Delta machine, maybe you're just not bugging
the right people yet. :-)


--
             J. Eric Townsend --  jet@nas.nasa.gov -- 415.604.4311
                              '92 R100R, DoD# 0378
      "Heads.  Heads.  Heads.  Heads.  Heads.  Heads." -- R & G Are Dead
From: pvr@wang.com (Peter Reilley)
Newsgroups: comp.arch.storage
Subject: Re: Questions on Tape Drives
Date: 15 Sep 92 12:27:41 GMT
Organization: Wang Labs, Lowell MA, USA

uncal@talgras.UUCP (Al Amet) writes:

>Actually you never want the tape to touch the head with any of them.  The
>object is to have just a few molecules of air between the head and the tape.
>I use to have a chart that showed objects in reference to a 1/4" cartridge
>head.  A human fingerprint was several times the thickness of the distance
>between the head and the tape.  Head design is an art.  The object is to
>keep the tape wrapped around the head as close as possible without it
>touching.

	All tape drives have their heads in contact with the media.
The chart that you have describes disk heads, which do float on a 
thin layer of air.   The only flexible media system that I am aware of 
that does use floating heads is the Bernouli drive.   In tape drives 
the head does wear because of the media contact.   Hard disk
heads do not wear while the drive is running.
-- 
>>>>>>>>>>>> Peter Reilley ..... pvr@wiis.wang.com ..... KA1LAT <<<<<<<<<<<<<
                     Well, that about says it.
From: daryl@bovill.auspex.com (Daryl Starr)
Newsgroups: comp.arch.storage
Subject: Re: Need info on Perkin Elmer MSM 80 Hard disk
Date: 8 Sep 92 14:56:12 GMT
Organization: Auspex Systems

In article <1992Aug29.214608.3683@darwin.ntu.edu.au>, hoffmann@nutmeg.cs.ntu.edu.au (Arthur Hoffmann) writes:
|> Hi, 
|> I don't know if this is the right group to post this, but if it isn't could 
|> someone please give me the name of the right group?
|> 
|> The problem is: I wanted to buy a new HD for my computer, I was looking for a 
|> Quantum LPS240, when I came across those second hand Perkin Elmer MSM80 drives.
|> Now the thing is I don't know anything about them I only know they ar huge
|> and there are 5 packs of very large disk cartriges with them. They must have been
|> used on some mini or even mainframe computer. 

The MSM80 (Mass Storage Module - 80MB) was PE's name for the CDC 9762 (#?). It was used
on all of their 32 bit mini's and had an unformatted capacity of 80MB with a formated
capacity of ~ 67MB. The same disk drive was very popular throughout the industry, prior
to winchester technology.

|> And the most important thing to know is can I connect them
|> somehow to a 286 based PC or an Amiga with Scsi port, or is it plain impossible.
|> Any response would be appreciated.

Although it is possible to connect the drive to your PC through an SMD controller or an
SMD/SCSI controller, I wouldn't bother. The low capacity of the drive, the contamination/
head-crash potential, the power consumption, the noise, the space and the cost of the
removable packs all combine to make the drive unattractive for anything other than a
museum. Buy the Quantum.

Daryl
Xref: sparky comp.arch.storage:651 comp.periphs.scsi:4531
From: Bruno.Di-Gennaro@inria.fr (Di-Gennaro)
Newsgroups: comp.arch.storage,comp.periphs.scsi
Subject: INFO WANTED : CIPHER ST150S-I
Date: 15 Sep 92 14:03:03 GMT
Followup-To: bdg
Organization: INRIA * Rocquencourt BP 105 * F-78153 LE CHESNAY CEDEX* France

Hi,
I just received from a friend a tape drive CIPHER model ST150S-I.
Nobody could give me information about this product.
It has a SCSI connector and must be ( according to the model : ST150S-I )
a 150 MB tape drive.

What I'm interrested to know is :

- On what computer has you seen it already mounted ( PC/SUN/...)
- What was the controler ( Adaptec 15.., Future Domain, .....)
- Were drivers needed, and where to obtain them.

All other info should be greatly appreciate.

Please answer directly by Email.

=================================
Bruno Di Gennaro
Email : Bruno.Di-Gennaro@inria.fr
Tel : 	(33-1) 39-63-52-84  
=================================
Newsgroups: comp.arch.storage,alt.cd-rom
From: alvin@netcom.com (Alvin H. White)
Subject: Re: Jukebox for 1000 CDs minimum - does it exist ?
Date: Wed, 09 Sep 92 17:56:02 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 

jja@cs.tut.fi (Ahola Jari) writes:

>	Does anyone know if there exists a jukebox system or any other
>	method to manage at least 1000 CDROMs and better yet can be
>	expanded ?

I heard of a company in Milpitas, California, USA and I think also
in England call Plasmon Data Systems newsletter about 4 months ago
said they have a jukebox hold maybe 1000 or 2000 erasable CD's.
Maybe about 10 seconds to something. I called, said world seems
changing so fast, I think if someone offer to give me the great
pyramid in Egypt or the jukebox I take jukebox. Maybe nuts?

Also size about 5'x 2' x 8' like book shelf. I think if someone have
copy of this size and someone make some editing changes maybe good
have a copy of latest edition.


alvin@netcom.com

Alvin H. White, Gen. Sect.
G.O.D.S.B.R.A.I.N.
1505 De Rose Way #66 
San Jose, CA 95126 USA

(408) 286-2794
(408) 286-4244

Government Online Database Systems
Bureau for Resource Allocations to Information Networks
[an idea waiting to happen]

120 West 38 North

Newsgroups: comp.arch.storage
From: mc@emma.la.asu.edu (Mike Caplinger)
Subject: minimal m/o jukebox system
Organization: Mars Observer TES Project, ASU, Tempe AZ
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 16:31:14 GMT

I'm looking for a M/O jukebox of at least 50 GB capacity, *but* I
don't want an elaborate caching or file migration software package
with it; I want straight Unix filesystems, one per platter side, and
some minimal way to change platters.  Anybody know of a vendor?
Everyone I've found wants to sell me a very expensive "system" and I
just need the bare bones.  Thanks for any information.

	Mike Caplinger, Mars Observer Camera
	mc@msss.com
Newsgroups: comp.arch.storage
From: markr@sco.COM (Mark Riley)
Subject: Re: Info on flopticals?
Organization: The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.
Date: Wed, 09 Sep 1992 18:31:37 GMT


In article <1992Aug25.095728.20697@odin.diku.dk> dingbat@diku.dk (Niels Skov Olsen) writes:
>Some time ago I heard somone mention somthing called flopticals (or 
>something similar), which is a combination of a magnetic and optical
>media. The capacity was mentioned to be 20mb (even more later) with 
>access time as harddisks a few years ago, and normal 3.5" floppy 
>package.
>
>I haven't heard anything about it since, so if anyone could point
>me to articles, tests, or even pruduct information I would be most
>gratefull.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Niels

===========================================================================
The "floptical" drive is made by Insite Peripherals in San
Jose.  You can reach them at (408) 946-8080.  

The drive is a 5.25" drive that will read and write to either
a standard magnetic floppy (3.5" & 5.25") or a 3.5" optical
foppy that looks like a 3.5" standard floppy.  The optical
floppy stores 21Mb.

mark
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mark Riley					(408) 427-7117 
Storage Technologies Segment Mgr.		markr@sco.com
The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.

===========================================================================
Xref: sparky comp.arch.storage:641 comp.databases:6641
From: lupe@ukw.uucp (Lupe Christoph)
Newsgroups: comp.arch.storage,comp.databases
Subject: Re: Info on large, slow storage wanted (jukeboxes, etc.)
Date: 5 Sep 92 15:40:49 GMT
Organization: cic

randy@psg.com (Randy Bush) writes:

>vhs@rhein-main.de (Volker Herminghaus-Shirai) writes:

>> I need to design a retrieval system for ~15TB of data, of which ~5TB are
>> retrieved with a high frequency (25 requests/second) and an access time
>> of avg. 30 seconds (max. 120 seconds). Retrieval lacks any locality, so the
>> 5TB are real random-access. The rest of the data is still accessed at a
>> rate of 5 requests/second.

>Optical RW store, a la HP.

He's talking *Tera*byte, not Gigabyte. The largest hp jukebox accomodates
roughly 100 GB. This project would require 150 jukeboxes for capacity
alone. But having 5 TB on MO disks in online access would mean no less
than 16000 drives! Assuming an MTBF of 20000 hours (data is for Sony
SMO-E501) means that you have to replace a drive almost every hour!

BTW, I believe the Subject: is somewhat off the mark. For a capacity
in the TB range, 25 requests/second requires extremely fast devices
(i.e. compared to jukeboxes taking a few second to exchange media).
-- 
| ...!unido!ukw!lupe  (German EUNet, "bang")     |  Disclaimer:            |
| lupe@ukw.UUCP       (German EUNet, domain)     |  As I am self-employed, |
| suninfo!alanya!lupe (Sun Germany)              |  this *is* the opinion  |
| Res non sunt complicanda praeter necessitatem. |  of my employer.        |
From: jack@admin.mport.COM (Jack Craig)
Newsgroups: comp.arch.storage
Subject: Re: R/W Optical Drive file system compatibility
Date: 4 Sep 92 19:43:01 GMT
Organization: Microport Inc., Scotts Valley, CA 95066 US of A

hi rawn,

you should be aware that iso x3b11.1 is an optic filesystems architecture
for spanning all os's, single drives, autochangers, worms, erasable,
and cd-wo. it has been proposed/approved to ecma this summer and is 
due to be approved by iso sometime next year. 

i dont know anyone besides myself that is working toward a commercial
offering, but ed bayshore(edb@hpgrla.gr.hp.com) can tell you more.

jack...
=============================================================================
 Jack Craig  Microport         SVR4 408-438-UNIX   uunet!mport.com!jack
             Software Horizons SVR3 408-684-1375   uunet!sco.com!blznrzn!jack
=============================================================================
From: jack@admin.mport.COM (Jack Craig)
Newsgroups: comp.arch.storage
Subject: Re: Information for mass storage systems.
Date: 4 Sep 92 19:31:16 GMT
Organization: Microport Inc., Scotts Valley, CA 95066 US of A

comtec in houston texas specializes in tape jukeboxes and supports
unitree. sorry i dont have their number.

jack...
=============================================================================
 Jack Craig  Microport         SVR4 408-438-UNIX   uunet!mport.com!jack
             Software Horizons SVR3 408-684-1375   uunet!sco.com!blznrzn!jack
=============================================================================
From: jack@admin.mport.COM (Jack Craig)
Newsgroups: comp.arch.storage
Subject: Re: R/W Optical Drive file system compatibility
Date: 8 Sep 92 19:43:48 GMT
Organization: Microport Inc., Scotts Valley, CA 95066 US of A

rawn@manduca..neurobio.arizona.edu (Rawn Shah) writes:

>    So can we get a little more detail as to this proposed standard? And
>would it mean hardware changes (either simple changes or a complete overhaul
>of the technology)??

the detail here is quite lengthy. i suggest you contact ed bayshore
with hp. (edb@hpgrla.gr.hp.com) for more. he knows it much better than
i. i am just focusing on one small os(svr4). ed's focus is much broader.

jack...
=============================================================================
 Jack Craig  Microport         SVR4 408-438-UNIX   uunet!mport.com!jack
             Software Horizons SVR3 408-684-1375   uunet!sco.com!blznrzn!jack
=============================================================================
Newsgroups: comp.arch.storage
Subject: Info request on 3.5" M/O R/W drives
From: nwchritton@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu
Date: 6 Sep 92 14:17:38 -0500
Organization: Miami University Academic Computer Service"

Anyone have any addresses (US mail or bitnet/internet) on companies that
manufacture 3.5" R/W M/O drives?

The drives with 21Meg-40 Meg capacity.

Thanks for your help,

Neil

Newsgroups: comp.arch.storage,comp.periphs.scsi,comp.sys.atari.st.tech