[rescue] ECC [was: Re: WOT: Ebay changes to IBM from Sun

[r.stricklin]

On Sunday, July 13, 2003, at 01:29  PM, Scott Newell wrote:

>> Then wait till I tell you about my IRIS 1000 CPU and graphics 
>> boards...
>> SGI engineering prototype #4.
>
> Stupid question: how do you know it's a proto?
>

It's a best guess based on a number of factors. Perhaps a better term 
might be "engineering sample".

1. handwritten labels on the CPU board---one designating it "Board 4", 
one on each of the four ROMs, and additional handwritten labels on each 
of the four other chips which are deviations from the SUN 68000 CPU 
board.

2. handwritten labels on the PALs on the graphics board with somebody's 
initials (djb), dated 9/26 and an engineer's label in the corner dated 
9/28/82. The IRIS 1000 didn't hit the market until sometime in 1983. 
The graphics engine in the IRIS 1000 was also a four-board color 
pipeline, and this is a single board monochrome framebuffer which is 
clearly very closely related to the one in the SUN.

I have no direct information on what these were doing at SGI, but it 
would seem like they were used to develop the hardware and software 
that ultimately ended up in the IRIS 1000.


ok
bear