I'd say the real cost is the second or third system to get spare parts. that is why I want to replace the WD chip. the microprocessor talks to it at bus speed. the os knows it has to wait, though some waits are for the wd chip to say it is done. a SIMPLE mod to the legacy OS can eliminate those waits, thus IO as fast as a real hard disk, maybe as fast as an SSD.
I love the 1130, the only I/O instructions given to the printer are input. And the 1620 does addition and multiplication by table lookup. Again, even if somebody offered me a complete IBM model 30 with disk and tape drives, I could not afford the shipping. would probably have to take out the a window to get it inside (big expense), and it might instantly become a basement installation. I'd have to have much more power and A/C installed. And no spare parts. Now, any front panels... Even recreations of front panels would be treasured. In the 1980s the Bradford exchange had a 360/40 front panel mounted in their space with lights artificially flashing. I might even attempt to modify an emulator program to flash the lights appropriately. <pre>--Carey</pre> > On 02/27/2024 7:16 PM CST ben via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > > On 2024-02-27 3:09 p.m., Paul Koning via cctalk wrote: > > > > > >> On Feb 27, 2024, at 4:49 PM, CAREY SCHUG via cctalk > >> <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > >> > >> Religion warning: I was a mainframer. Since at any practical budget, > >> they can only be emulated, > > > > Dumpster diving is a 0 dollar budget. > People could afford the APPLE II, 8080 S-100 bus, SWTPC 6909. I assume > with careful shopping one can rebuild them for about the same price, in > small quanities. > Power supplies require harder to find parts. > > Main frame rebuilding is costly, but I suspect the real cost is I/O > that can't be duplicated. A hardware emulation using microcode to me > is real computer, a windows fly by night emulation is not, as the base > platform is too unstable. > > > > Depends on your definition of emulated. Is an FPGA version merely an > > "emulation"? You might say yes if it's a functional model. Arguably no, > > if it's a gate level model. > > > I have bad luck with FPGA's, too many timing issues with routing. > I have better luck with a 2901 4 bit alu and some support logic mounted > on a small pcb. > > > Suppose you had schematics of, say, a KA-10. You could turn those gates > > into VHDL or Verilog, and that should deliver an exact replica of the > > original machine, bug for bug compatible. That assumes the timing quirks > > are manageable, which for most machines should be true. (It isn't for a > > CDC 6600.) > > > > paul > > The IBM 1130 is also a pretty scary machine inside. > The blog is here. > https://rescue1130.blogspot.com/ > > Ben.
