[HECnet] [Simh] Pi VAX Cluster

[hvlems at zonnet.nl]

My Multia runs VMS. With 128 MB and a 2.5" disk it runs for two hours and after that it   crashes. Yes it runs too hot. The pedestal broke some time ago and I"d rather not operate it horizontally. 
Initially the system just had 40 MB and I wouldn't recommend that for VMS.   
My Alpha Server 300 runs at the same clock speed and that system is a lot faster. Off hand I can't recall whether the systems have the same cpu and board logic.
Hans
-----Original Message-----
From: Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com>
Sender: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE
Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2012 15:52:44 
To: <hecnet at Update.UU.SE>
Reply-To: hecnet at Update.UU.SESubject: Re: [HECnet] [Simh] Pi VAX Cluster


  Yes it was.   I had several of them, and I had fun with them.   Until I
learned of the 21066's performance issues and UDB design's thermal
problems, I had high hopes of replacing half of our datacenter
(thousands of machines) with these little boxen.

  Fortunately I was able to take one or two home after we decided not to
do that. :)   I never ran VMS on them, but I did run Digital Unix, which
worked well.   I later tried Linux, but in those days, on Alphas, half of
the processor cycles were spent in the alignment fixup trap handler, so
even waiting for keystroke echo was painful...not a good sign for a
processor clocked at 166MHz or 233MHz!   I went back to Digital Unix in a
hurry!

                        -Dave

On 06/16/2012 03:46 PM, Kari Uusim  ki wrote:

I agree absolutely. It was a good beginning though.

Kari




On 16.6.2012 21:33, Dave McGuire wrote:
On 06/16/2012 02:31 PM, Kari Uusim  ki wrote:
Unfortunately the Multia was way too early for the customers. Nobody
seemed to understand the the point with a minimal design.
A few years later it would have been a real success.

    Well...a few years later, with better cooling, and with something
other than the 21066 as its CPU.   That chip had a memory controller
designed by the "NEW GUY!" and it was slower than pissing tar.   The
21064's memory bandiwdth is far superior.

                          -Dave





-- 
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA