Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site scgvaxd.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!trwrb!scgvaxd!kvc
From: kvc@scgvaxd.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: Microvax I ?
Message-ID: <209@scgvaxd.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 24-Jul-84 20:22:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: scgvaxd.209
Posted: Tue Jul 24 20:22:57 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 27-Jul-84 02:36:30 EDT
References: <277@rna.UUCP>
Reply-To: kvc@scgvaxd.UUCP (Kevin Carosso)
Organization: Hughes Aircraft Co., El Segundo, CA
Lines: 39

With regard to porting 4.2 to the MicroVAX I:

DEC is offering ULTRIX on the MicroVAX I.  Since ULTRIX is 4.2, I suspect
that it is not very difficult to port.  The instructions that are missing
are little used anyway and the processor provides some support for them,
like processing operands before taking the fault.

On performance:

As far as I've ever been able to find out, performance of the uVAX I is
somewhere between a 730 and a 750 (probably closer to 730).  I suspect
that the processor runs at a respectable speed, but I have no idea how
the QBUS would affect performance.

I have played with the uVAX a bit at DECUS.  ULTRIX on it looked just like
4.2 on anything else, and uVMS on it looked just like VMS anywhere else.
I was told by Kathleen Morse, a uVMS developer, that they use the
same binaries when they build the distribution kit for uVMS and VMS.
I suspect you could get UNIX to run as easily if you emulate the missing
instructions at some low level in the OS (this is why uVMS runs VMS binaries).
I thought ULTRIX on the uVAX seemed lots slower relative to ULTRIX on the 750
than VMS on the uVAX compared to VMS on a 750.  I suspect that a little
tuning for 4.2 in the small environment may fix it up.  This is just the way
things seemed to me.  (Please no VMS vs. UNIX flames on this but VMS really
semed faster on the uVAX.  ULTRIX may have just needed some more work.)

The diskless systems they had running VAXELN (a stand-alone, message-based,
distributed, real-time, [catch-phrase of your choice], etc. OS for VAXes
from DEC) ran real fast with all sorts of concurrent processes playing music,
moving robot arms that played towers of hanoi, and processing data from
a video camera.  In that environment the processor sure seemed to hum right
along.

Remember, this is all what I got from a few hours hands-on.  Some real
benchmarks would be a lot more useful, but I haven't seen any yet.  Does
anyone out there have any?

	/Kevin Carosso               allegra!scgvaxd!kvc
	 Hughes Aircraft Co.