[ih] BBN C-series computers

[Dave Walden]

There are about 5 reports in the BBN/BBNCC reports list that have "C/70" 
in their title. This are about operations, specialized applications of 
the C/70, and one about "Gastronomie of Power Consumption".  None of the 
titles indicate anything bout detailed design.


On 10/23/2017 6:42 PM, Paul Ruizendaal wrote:
> Many thanks all for that C30/60/70 background! It lets a few more puzzle pieces fall into place.
>
> By the way, I found this Computer World advert for the C60 from December 1981:
> https://books.google.nl/books?id=87IzRZnd_UYC&pg=RA1-PA63&lpg=RA1-PA63&dq=c/60+bolt+beranek+introducing&source=bl&ots=k9-3aJZiCL&sig=pwEkQyHF6spDLmPJppvmFe8mA80&hl=nl&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiOurum1ofXAhUMDMAKHat7C1EQ6AEILTAB#v=onepage&q=c%2F60%20bolt%20beranek%20introducing&f=false
>
> My interest in these machines is merely retro hobby and was triggered again by some comments in the Gurwitz TCP/IP code. Apparently the code was written to target both the VAX and the C70, perhaps as an aid in finding unintended machine dependencies quickly (having different word sizes and being little vs. big endian helps with that sort of thing).
>
> Sections for the C70 are "#ifdef MBB” and now I finally know what that MBB acronym means. I suppose the “Design of a User-Microprogrammable Building  Block” paper will explain more (have not read it yet).
>
>
> Bernie, a few follow-up questions on the C70 and its C/Unix environment if I may:
>
> - Can you confirm that the C/70 indeed ran the TCP/IP stack?
>
> - The advert says the C/60 was running V7 Unix, I assume this was true of the C/70 as well? Before now, I did not realise that the TCP/IP stack integrated with V7 as well.
>
> - Would you at this remove still remember the main features of the C/70 MMU? This detail is relevant to me as it has a connection to the evolution of network buffer management in Unix, and also to the organisation of network code in the kernel.
>
> - How should I understand "There was never an assembler for the MBB-Unix”? If I read your notes correctly the compiler did not generate microcode, but instructions on a traditional instruction set architecture level. In that context, wouldn’t the last phase of the (native) compiler be an assembler of sorts? Wouldn’t you need some sort of assembler to write libraries for system calls, signal handling, making longjmp's, etc.?
>
>
>
>
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