The ECN No Name Newsletter is no longer being published. This is an archived issue.
[previous article] [next article]This summer several of the ECN VAX 11/780 systems will be retiring. These systems are being replaced with faster, more reliable systems. People who currently use the effected systems may contact their site specialist with questions/concerns about the retirement scheduling and other changeover questions.
The PC machine will be retired on July 1, 1990. Its functions will be moving to workstations and the IIES and HUMAN machines. The IIES machine is a SUN 4/280 system with 32 Megabytes of memory. It has 64 serial ports attached via a Unibus adapter. Actually the old VAX serial port hardware is being adapted to the Sun system with hardware designed and built at Purdue. The HUMAN machine is currently a SUN 3/280 system with 8 Megabytes of memory; but in order for it to handle some of PC's functions, it is being upgraded to a SUN 4/390 system with 32 Megabytes of memory and an IPI (high performance) disk controller with a 1.2 Gigabyte disk drive. We are also adding a Unibus adapter to the HUMAN machine to permit some of the current PC serial ports to be connected.
The KA machine will be retired on May 13, 1990. Most of the functions of KA will be distributed between CB, CN, and workstations.
The GB machine will be retired on May 14, 1990. The functions of the GB machine will be assumed by the RAINBOW machine (currently called GC). RAINBOW is presently a SUN 3/180 system with 16 Megabytes of memory, but will be upgraded to a SUN 4/390 machine with 32 Meg of memory, a IPI disk controller, and a 1.2 Gigabyte disk drive. The upgrade will improve system reliability and will increase CPU speed to 16 times the current GC machine levels.
The EE machine will be retired on July 1, 1990. The functions of the EE machine will be phased unto workstations. EE machine users who do not have a workstation will use the Sun file server DYNAMO in the interim. DYNAMO is a SUN 4/490 system with 64 Megabytes of memory and two 1.2 Gigabyte IPI disk drives. The integer performance of DYNAMO should be 22 times better than that of a VAX 11/780 system. Disk throughput and network throughput are also much improved. Needed EE serial ports will be connected to the DYNAMO machine through a Unibus adapter.
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