From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.1 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_05,INVALID_MSGID, LOTS_OF_MONEY autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,bcdac28207102750 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: "David C. Hoos, Sr." Subject: Re: Ada95 speed Date: 1999/06/06 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 486273820 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <7jd72e$fja@lotho.delphi.com> X-Priority: 3 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1999-06-06T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: wrote in message news:7jd72e$fja@lotho.delphi.com... > >The 5100 was an 8-bit microcomputer which came out in 1975. You could get > >a model which ran BASIC or APL (selectable with a rocker switch). > >It ran Syatem 370 microcode, and cost about $25,000. > I'm inclined to think 'microcomputer' meant 'built around a > single chip CPU', eg, like the 8080 et al. If the CPU was a board, > I'd call it a minicomputer. Granted, the 5100 was small enough > to easily carry, but a lot happened between 1971 and 1975. Well, IBM's own literature (which I no longer have) called it a microcomputer. I remember well, because I was building equipment for automation of some manufacturing and testing processes for analog electronic components, using the available technology of the time, so I was studying all on which I could get my hands. The systems I built used what DEC called PDP-16, a family of hardware components with which you could build customized systems. We used binary data to drive this equipment which was read from a Mylar 8-channel punched tape which was generated by the 5100 via its RS-232 port. In those days, I was as big a fan of APL for the kind of work I was doing as I am of Ada today.