FPGA VAX update

[woodelf]

Chuck Guzis wrote:

>Slightly OT:  How fast (in comparison to the original 11/780) do PC-based
>emulators run?  My only close-up exposure with this line was a couple of
>years with an 11/750.  It didn't seem like a speed demon then.
>
>  
>
The emulators run alot faster, but the problem is the 11 is still a 
commerical product
so I don't think we will get better new hardware out.

>If PC-based emulators are fast enough, why bother with the IC version?  An
>intellectual exercise?  Or will the FPGA version run an order of magnitude
>faster than the original?
>  
>
I suspect about the same speed  as PC's 15 years ago or 74Sxx speeds.  
The real speed limit on computers
now days is the cache memory.  A external bus depending on memory used  
is the factor.
Most common memory is  about 120 ns to 70 ns access time unless you want 
to use the latest
chips.

>The marketeers didn't have a clue ("Do we make that?").  Apparently, if I'd
>wanted to buy a 6300, they'd put a dozen on a truck headed my way the next
>day.  But one of their minis?  A wall of ignorance.  After absolutely no
>luck, I picked up the phone, talked to the local DEC marketer and had an
>11/750 the next week.
>  
>
Ben alias woodelf.