What are the really unusual or weird computers?

[Dave McGuire]

On Jun 23, 2007, at 9:05 PM, Michael B. Brutman wrote:
>>> Their software is pretty unusual, but there's nothing that weird  
>>> about
>>> the hardware, is there?
>> Not anymore, with the change to PowerAS some years back. The original
>> AS/400s were more odd in the hardware sense.
>> The whole concept of single level storage is amazing in that works  
>> at all.
>
> Even the current PPC hardware is not 'standard' ..  there are some  
> extensions to support the single level store.  'Tagged  
> pointers' (ie: pointers marked as trusted by the OS) are the single  
> biggest oddity that I can think of, and that requires hardware  
> support.
>
> Sadly, the AS/400 line (iSeries) is slowly dying off ...  IBM can't  
> market it's way out of a paper bag, and the 'cash cow' status the  
> machine has had has caused it to fall too far behind.

   Last year I found myself digging around in the job market.  As  
most people know, there's just not much technical work in Florida  
compared to other areas, so I was running scared for a while.  One  
thing I noticed is that all the AS/400-related jobs in the whole damn  
world seem to be here.  I figured that was because of their extensive  
use in the health care industry, and while Florida's reputation for  
being filled to overflowing with retirees is inaccurate, it's not  
entirely unfounded.

   I wonder how quick those types of places will be to abandon their  
AS/400 gear once IBM EOLs it.

             -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL