[rescue] Rescue Challenge..?

[Carl R. Friend]

    On Sat, 1 Aug 2009, Lionel Peterson wrote:

> My Gigapound Cycles metric was designed to be platform agnostic (PowerPC vs. 
> SPARC vs. MIPS would be considered equal, save clock speed and core count).

    DECsystem 1090, KL-10D at about 1,900 pounds, ~600 pounds per
256 k-words of mainstore, and about 2.4 pounds per megaword of
disk space.  All of this good for a reasonable maximum of 1.2 MIPS
assuming one can stay within the cache; < 1 MIPS if not (1 uS memory
cycle) -- but, it does things 36 bits at a time, respects niceties
like halfwords, and has programmer-specified byte sizes.

    The CPU is good for about 22 kW of 3-phase power (most being
radiated as waste heat from the linear power supplies), each memory
box about 2 kW (it's core, after all), and the disks about 3 kW
(much more at startup).

    The all-up configuration occupies almost 400 square feet of
space.  (Note: all the comms gear and ancillary processors are
not included in the above numbers.)

    Let's just say that this thing is not "Energy Star" compliant.

>> no PEECEES need apply...
>
> Their weight works against them, silly flimsy chassis...

    Why bother even counting them?  Even Beowulf clusters can't compete
with real "heavy metal".

+------------------------------------------------+---------------------+
| Carl Richard Friend (UNIX Sysadmin)            | West Boylston       |
| Minicomputer Collector / Enthusiast            | Massachusetts, USA  |
| mailto:crfriend at rcn.com                        +---------------------+
| http://users.rcn.com/crfriend/museum           | ICBM: 42:22N 71:47W |
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