FPGA VAX update

[Peter C. Wallace]

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005, Chuck Guzis wrote:

> On 10/23/2005 at 9:07 PM John Allain wrote:
>
>> My simple answer...
>> On a 200Mhz Pentium, SimH running VMS feels like a MicroVAX II
>> (close to a 750).  At 700Mhz, it feels like a MicroVax 3500.  Basically
>> a directly proportional increase.
>
> Okay, then how fast would one suppose that a Transmeta VLIW implementation
> would run (replace the "X86 Code Morphing" ROM with your own version of a
> "VAX emulation" ROM)?  Would it most likely run faster than an FPGA
> implmentation?  If so, why bother with the FPGA?   Given that there was no
> single VAX implemenation by DEC, how could this even offend the purists?
> It would let one use a commodity product (I believe you can  buy TM
> motherboards) and more significantly, allow one to easily repair problems
> in compatibility.

Transmeta is gone....

>
> ...just trying to suss out the advantages of using an FPGA version of a
> relatively complex machine...
>
> Cheers,
> Chuck
>
>

Peter Wallace
Mesa Electronics