CADR (was [rescue] Crays, etc._

Tue Apr 27 12:43:24 CDT 2004

On Tue, Apr 27, 2004 at 01:22:09PM -0400, Dave McGuire wrote:
> > the microcode and that would be the killer... But that core logic in 
> > FPGA with a modern disk controller, vga compatible video, ethernet and 
> > perhaps USB for the keyboard/mouse? Yeah, that could be a whole heck 
> > of allot of fun...
> 
>    Oh, it's a microcoded processor?  (I haven't looked at it)  That 
> kinda kills the idea, unless we can get access to a functional one to 
> snatch the microcode ROM contents.

No, to figure out the microcode you just need a copy of the sources to
the Lisp compiler for that machine.  The Lisp compiler generated the
microcodes directly, then ran them, IIRC.

There are cheap to free modules for implementing the ethernet, USB and
drive controllers on the FPGA.  And interfacing to a graphics head
could be done over X11.

--Patrick