At 9:35 AM -0700 6/19/2010, Peter Haas wrote:
However, addressing was 24-bit, and as storage then cost about
$1,000,000 per megabyte, so a 6-megabyte machine was about all
anyone could afford. Plus, such a machine consumed about 140
kilo-volt-amperes (about 140,000 watts) of power, almost all of it
rejected as heat, which, therefore mandated an equivalent cooling
load.
Mainframe vs Microprocessor.
Yes, the IBM mainframe type world was stuck with 24 bit addressing
and 32 bit CPUs. Companies such as Digital were doing other things
tho - 36 bit.
The microprocessor world was totally different. That's where the
wide stuff was being done.
WRT the cooling... I always found it interesting that companies like
Amdahl had air-cooled mainframes that were faster than IBM's twitchy
chilled water systems. That mess was all about power and heat sink
patents and licensing, and the bad blood between the two companies...
Personally, I was quite happy with the heat that our IBM 3083J
"leaked". It kept our machine room at a reasonable temperature, so
my fingers didn't freeze up! Never did get over that unclean feeling
tho - worrying about how the cooties would transfer from the IBM to
the DEC side of the machine room.
- Dan.
--
- Psychoceramic Emeritus; South Jersey, USA, Earth.
--
You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for
those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs.
The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette
guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
