> > Hi Guys > Sitting here doing the overlays for the 8/e silk screen run. > I had a thought. Including all makes of computer old and new. > What about a front panel with lights and switches for systems > that never had one and could have done with one? > Which computer would you nominate?
The obvious ones for me would be those DEC machines that never had a real panel -- things like the 11/34 which has a keypad (toggle switches and LEDs are much nicer!) and those with 'Console ODT' and a serial terminal. I would like a real pront panel on my 11/44 and VAX11/730 machines. And the PERQ. At least front panel access to the microcode, and prefereably to the main program memory as well. > I'm not about to do anything about it. > But the answers should be interesting I don't blame you!. In most cases you can't just add a frontpanel on later, especially if you want access to internal CPU registers, etc. To add a frontpanel you would probably have to redesign bits of the CPU. Good luck in adding a panel to the PERQ main memory which does not cause problems with RasterOps... -tony