slick bits in computers (WAS: VAXen Rule!)

[Dave McGuire]

Scott Quinn wrote:
> The second part was the general question, which I guess was a bit too specific. What computers have you come across that are 
> really neat and why. OK.- System/3{60,70,90,z} is neat for it's processor instruction set, PERQs for the user-microcode.
> SGI Origin 2000's are neat for their CRAYlink/NUMAlink interconnect system, AXPs for the PALcode idea (sort of a takeoff of the PERQ). 
> If you saw a computer that has a serial port implementation that is so elegant that it struck you as a thing of beauty throw that in ...
>  I'm just interested in getting a feel for what's out there that members feel is neat. I was kind of thinking hardware to start with, 
> but it could be extended to software. 

  I like the fact that, from the programmer's perspective, plugging
boards into a PDP-8 essentially adds device-specific instructions to the
CPU.  I don't think it's the cleanest or most elegant way of doing
things, but I like how different (from today's stuff) it is, and I think
it's clever.

  I like the way the A & X registers work on the CDC 6600 with regard to
auto-loading.

  I like PDP-11s because they have personality and soul.

         -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire
Cape Coral, FL