Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!apple!agate!ucbvax!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!ugle.unit.no!barsoom!barsoom!tih From: tih@barsoom.nhh.no (Tom Ivar Helbekkmo) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: SAGE II info wanted Message-ID: Date: 5 Apr 91 16:39:15 GMT References: <1991Apr5.052058.24732@iitmax.iit.edu> Sender: news@barsoom.nhh.no (USENET News System) Organization: Norwegian School of Economics Lines: 71 ed@iitmax.iit.edu (Ed Federmeyer) writes: >Has anyone ever heard of a "SAGE II" computer? It seems to be some kind >of 68000 based system, with 2 5.25" floppies in the front. What operating >system did it run, who made them, what were they used for, etc. The following is based on my notes from a short talk given by a company representative in 1988. I'm sure to have some of this wrong, so if anyone can correct me, please do so. Also, if anyone from Stride is listening out there, perhaps you'd care to fill in the picture of the SAGE? It all began in Reno in 1981. Four electronics engineers whose names I don't remember agreed that IBM had chosen the wrong processor for the PC, and figured they could do better. They sat down and designed the SAGE II. At the West Coast Computer Fair in 1982, they launched the computer under the company name of MicroSAGE Computer Systems. It ran the p-System, on which they'd decided because of its simplicity and easy portability. As you say, the II had 2 floppy drives and a 68000. I believe 512Kb was the standard (only?) memory configuration. The next year they had the SAGE IV ready, which had one floppy drive and one hard disk, more memory than the II (if *my* memory serves me right), and the option to run other operating systems -- although p-System was still the default. What these other systems where I can't recall. The big jump (in my opinion) came in September 1984, when MicroSAGE introduced the Stride 400 series. This new computer was still 68000 based, still used the p-System as its preferred OS, but it was much more expandable than the old SAGE machines. It used the industry standard VME bus, and came with a winchester controller that could handle up to four disk drives, in addition to one or two floppy drives and a QIC tape drive. Other options included an NS32081 floating point coprocessor. An important new feature was the built-in Omninet interface, which meant that you could network up to 63 computers. For terminals and modems, you could extend the standard 8 serial ports in 8-port increments to 40. Clock rate was 12MHz, standard memory 2Mb, expandable to 12Mb. I think this was when they changed their name to Stride Micro. Unix wasn't there yet, but among the OSes that could run on the 400-series we find Idris (from Whitesmith), which is sort of a simple Unix lookalike, PDOS (whatever that was), and a real-time OS whose name escapes me... Then they introduced the 68010 processor option and Unix. Using a new processor card that piggybacked into the 68000 socket, you got the 68010 and a proprietary MMU that they'd designed themselves (Motorola didn't have theirs ready yet at that time). The 68020 option came in 1986, shortly followed by the 600-series, which were modern, powerful Unix systems with multiprocessor ability, ethernet, and NCR Tower compatibility. The idea was to try to beat NCR at their own game, selling a (much cheaper) machine that could run all NCR software. Price examples quoted to me in 1988 included a multiprocessor system at $30.000, where the comparable NCR ran to $100.000. What I like best about the 600 is the power supply. Feed that sucker anything between 60 and 400 volts, oscillating at between 30 and 90 hz, and it'll be happy. Need UPS? Hook up a 12 volt car battery or several, and the power supply will charge them when the mains is there, run off them when it isn't. Neat! I hear Stride has gone out of business, which, if true, is kind of sad. Oh yeah, the box sitting here underneath my desk is a 460 with Idris. Anyone got a 68010 MMU card and Unix floppy distribution they'd like to get rid of? :-) -tih -- Tom Ivar Helbekkmo, NHH, Bergen, Norway. Telephone: +47-5-959205 tih@barsoom.nhh.no, thelbekk@norunit.bitnet, edb_tom@debet.nhh.no