Smithsonian gets it wrong

[Julian Wolfe]

You'd think a place like the Smithsonian would have a nice 11/780 with lots
of disk drives and terminals and things.

And geez, they could have at least got the date right.

-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of Vassilis Prevelakis
Sent: Saturday, November 12, 2005 12:30 PM
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
Subject: Smithsonian gets it wrong


Pictures from the Smithsonian
        http://users.starpower.net/dj.taylor/Vax1.JPG

    VAX MINICOMPUTER

    Digital Equipment Corporation's VAX minicomputer, first introduced
    in 1976, provided enough processing power for complex design problems,
    but at a much lower cost than had previously been available. This
    meant that individuals engineers could have the fill use of a
    computer without having to share it with their colleagues. The VAX
    became the workhorse or aerospace engineering. The model displayed
    here, a MicroVAX II was introduced in 1985.
   
 
Museum people! Oh well! They can obviously read, but cannot understand. 
Hello?? The label says its a *MICRO*VAX, and if its a uVAX, then
its not a mini.  Also, calling the baby-sized uVAX a mini gives
visitors who may have never seen a mini-computer the wrong idea as to
what a mini-computer looks like. Sure I'll accept that its *compatible*
with a VAX (I'll even ignore the minor business of emulating a small
part of the instruction set :-), but is not a VAX.

At the University of Pennsylvania here in Philadelphia they have a VLSI
version of the ENIAC (some student project) but no-one in their right
mind would show that microprocessor next to a sign that says here is a
picture of ENIAC.

**vp