[A7C3D5]

No, F that. PiVAX 9000 incoming. We have the technology. I want a room sized replica of the computer that helped ruin the only decent employer in my state for a generation.

I need to experience the majesty of SID scalar and vector processor synthesis for myself.

[shrubble]

There is a VAX 9000 in the flesh, at the Large Scale Systems Museum near Pittsburgh, PA. The processor complex board is crazy looking ...

However, there is not enough power in that city block, to turn it on :-)

https://lssmuseum.org (you may be redirected to MACT.io which is the same people).

[PopePompus]

I think the handwriting was on the wall when the VAX 8600 was introduced. It was introduced 7ish years after the 11/780, and was only a few times faster. Today, in the twilight years of Moore's Law, a factor of a few speedup over 7 years would not be all that bad, but back then it was shocking. I felt the VAX line was a slowly sinking ship from that point on.

[sillywalk]

Also, the PRISM/MICA project got cancelled so Dave Cutler (and whomever he took with him) left for Microsoft.

Then they tried MIPS for a while, and I think(?) PRISM became the basis for the Alpha. Also the other 'minicomputers' - IBM AS/400 came out in 1988, and the HP3000 switched to PA-RISC.

[rahen]

I would choose a VAXi-11/780 if its appearance wasn't so plain and dull. In comparison, the early PDP-10s, particularly the KA-10 and KI-10, are charming. They are probably the epitome of computer aesthetic alongside the 11/40-45-70 series.