Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!yale!lisper-bjorn
From: lisper-bjorn@CS.YALE.EDU (Bjorn Lisper)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Cray architecture
Message-ID: <25959@yale-celray.yale.UUCP>
Date: 28 Mar 88 16:54:50 GMT
References: <7762@alice.UUCP> <418@ole.UUCP> <3216@phri.UUCP> <1574@osiris.UUCP>
Sender: root@yale.UUCP
Reply-To: lisper-bjorn@CS.YALE.EDU (Bjorn Lisper)
Organization: Yale University Computer Science Dept, New Haven CT  06520-2158
Lines: 20

In article <1574@osiris.UUCP> mjr@osiris.UUCP (Marcus J. Ranum) writes:
>In article <3216@phri.UUCP> roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes:
>>
>>	There seems to be a lot of concern about the shape of the box the
>>Cray-3 comes in.  Maybe, now with Chen gone, Cray's next computer architect
>>should be I.M. Pei?
....
>	Another option is the Detroit principle:
>"If it isn't really fast - make it LOOK and SOUND fast"
>
>	Maybe computers could issue an impressive spine chilling whine when
>the load average gets high ....

Some historic computer trivia: the Swedish late-fifties computer BESK at
some stage of its lifecycle had a loudspeaker connected to its instruction
register. Different instructions gave a different sound, so you could hear
it compute. A skilled operator could actually hear if the computer had got
stuck in an infinite loop!

Bjorn Lisper