Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!pa.dec.com!bacchus!mwm From: mwm@pa.dec.com (Mike (My Watch Has Windows) Meyer) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: SAGE II info wanted Message-ID: Date: 8 Apr 91 19:50:59 GMT References: <1991Apr5.052058.24732@iitmax.iit.edu> Sender: news@pa.dec.com (News) Organization: Missionaria Phonibalonica Lines: 36 In-Reply-To: tih@barsoom.nhh.no's message of 5 Apr 91 16:39:15 GMT In article tih@barsoom.nhh.no (Tom Ivar Helbekkmo) writes: 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. I thought about buying one of these two systems, with the alternative OS. That OS was TriPOS, yet another Unix-like OS. There are interesting problems running it on a 68000, as it's written in BCPL, which assumes that an address unit is big enough to hold an address. When I talked to them, they were willing to sell one of two boxes. The single-user system, with 512K and one serial port, and the server system, with multiple megabytes and a dozen serial ports. I wanted the megabytes, but only one (or maybe 2) serial ports. Since it didn't exist, I didn't buy one. Pinnacle systems went into competition with them a few years later, but didn't offer the platform I wanted either.