R.A. Cantrell wrote: > Could one of you more erudite listers draw a modern day comparison to the > IBM 7094 and the IBM 360/50 in terms that I am used to hearing, i.e. CPU > speeds and ram capacities and so forth?
The 7094 did about .35 MIPS (millions of instructions per second), the 360/50 about 0.7 MIPS. Memory is low on these, since it was ghastly expensive and hard-to-make ferrite core memory...32 and 64K respectively, though that's K's of 36 bit words, not 8-bit bytes. CPU speed is related, but not directly translatable to MIPS, (yes, the megahertz myth existed even then ;-) it depends on how many registers you've got going. It's really hard to dirctly compare them, for example, they didn't HAVE disk drives, though you could attach a bunch of IBM's old washing machine sized Winchester drives to them for fast storage, and in later models, virtual memory. They used tape and punchcards for storage. The Big Deal about the 360 series is that it was the first series of scalable, interchangeable processors. You no longer had to rewrite all your software and buy all new peripherals when you upgraded your systems. They were also powerful and affordable for the time. IBM sold a *boatload* of 360 systems...I'd not be surprised if there weren't some of them still running, somewhere. -- Bruce Johnson University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Information Technology Group Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs -- PCI-PowerMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Sonnet & PowerLogix Upgrades - start at $169 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PCI-PowerMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/pci-powermacs.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/pci-powermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
