Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!encore!pinocchio.encore.com
From: jkenton@pinocchio.encore.com (Jeff Kenton)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Multics
Message-ID: <11208@encore.Encore.COM>
Date: 22 Feb 90 17:53:45 GMT
References: <20153@netnews.upenn.edu>
Sender: news@Encore.COM
Lines: 19

From article <20153@netnews.upenn.edu>, by farber@pcpond.cis.upenn.edu. (David J. Farber):
> I hate to spoil the dreaming of people with the truth but.
> 
> Multics was indeed tied to the hardware of the GE 645 because the 645
> was a major modication of the GE 635 (a 7090 look-a-like) to support
> the ideas being explored in multics. 
> 

I heard a story (third hand, and 15 years ago) which might even be true.
Apparently, Rome AFB ordered a 645 with Multics quite early, when development
was being done on a 635 with a simulator for the new 645 instructions.
When the got their Multics it didn't run, because they had received a 635 tape.
So they were given a 635 simulator for their 645, and ran that way for a
year (slowly) before they discovered what was going on.


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      jeff kenton  ---	temporarily at jkenton@pinocchio.encore.com	 
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