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Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection

From Stephen Fuld <sfuld@alumni.cmu.edu.invalid>
Newsgroups comp.arch
Subject Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection
Date 2026-10-25 22:43 -0700
Organization A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID <11bmp98$9jog$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References <6adbf8ee.10622140@news.eternal-september.org> <memo.20261025060056.2644D@jgd.cix.co.uk> <6ade3c57.66203562@news.eternal-september.org>

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On 10/25/2026 10:38 AM, John Savard wrote:
> On Sun, 25 Oct 2026 06:00 +0000 (GMT Standard Time), jgd@cix.co.uk
> (John Dallman) wrote:
>> In article <6adbf8ee.10622140@news.eternal-september.org>,
>> quadibloc@invalid.com (John Savard) wrote:
>>
>>> if the world can have only one computer architecture, then, in
>>> order for the world not to be impoverished thereby, that one
>>> surviving computer architecture must be able to "do everything",
>>> where "everything" includes, say, being able to run PDP-10 code
>>> at nearly native speeds.
>>
>> However, an architecture of extreme complexity, burdened with lots of
>> rarely used features, is most unlikely to become the world's sole
>> architecture.
> 
> True, but I haven't been able to figure out an alternative.
> 
> Also, fortunately, my sole competition happens to be struggling under
> a burden of its own which seems to be just as great or greater. (That
> is, if you don't count ARM and RISC-V...)
> 
>> Have you tried running PDP-10 code in an emulator on a modern 64-bit
>> machine? I'd bet that it significantly exceeds the speed of the native
>> hardware.
> 
> But it doesn't exceed the speed of the modern 64-bit machine.
> 
> And? Why does that matter?
> 
> It's not enough for people to be able to emulate a PDP-10 for merely
> _sentimental_ reasons. I want to breathe life into those dusty decks!

What exactly does that mean?  You aren't providing an exact match for 
the PDP-10 ISA, so you need some kind of emulator.  Surely no one is 
writing new PDP-10 code, so there isn't a market for that.

> I want there to be other ways of computing!

Again, what does that mean?  If you mean different ISA, there are two 
currently popular ones, RISC 5 seems to be gaining, and I expect that 
Mitch hopes to add to the list.  I suppose you could mean some sort of 
AI/neural net thing, but your architecture shows no signs of that.



-- 
  - Stephen Fuld
(e-mail address disguised to prevent spam)

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Combining Practicality with Perfection John Savard <quadibloc@invalid.invalid> - 2026-01-31 18:28 +0000
  Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection jgd@cix.co.uk (John Dallman) - 2026-01-31 22:36 +0000
  Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection MitchAlsup <user5857@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-02-05 01:57 +0000
    Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-05 06:06 +0000
      Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection Robert Finch <robfi680@gmail.com> - 2026-02-05 08:10 -0500
      Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-02-05 14:50 +0000
      Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-05 23:58 +0000
        Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection jgd@cix.co.uk (John Dallman) - 2026-02-06 16:37 +0000
          Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-06 22:32 +0000
            Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-06 22:34 +0000
            Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection MitchAlsup <user5857@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-02-07 00:57 +0000
              Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-07 02:45 +0000
          Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-06 22:40 +0000
        Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-09 22:46 +0000
          Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-10 03:49 +0000
            Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection MitchAlsup <user5857@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-02-10 19:10 +0000
              Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-11 23:04 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection MitchAlsup <user5857@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-02-11 23:55 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-12 06:04 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadibloc@invalid.com (John Savard) - 2026-10-24 00:22 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection MitchAlsup <user5857@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-10-24 19:32 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection jgd@cix.co.uk (John Dallman) - 2026-10-25 06:00 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadibloc@invalid.com (John Savard) - 2026-10-25 17:38 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection Stephen Fuld <sfuld@alumni.cmu.edu.invalid> - 2026-10-25 22:43 -0700
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection jgd@cix.co.uk (John Dallman) - 2026-10-26 09:35 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2026-10-26 19:53 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection MitchAlsup <user5857@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-10-26 13:40 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadibloc@invalid.com (John Savard) - 2026-10-26 22:05 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadibloc@invalid.com (John Savard) - 2026-10-26 22:12 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection Stephen Fuld <sfuld@alumni.cmu.edu.invalid> - 2026-10-26 20:13 -0700
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadibloc@invalid.com (John Savard) - 2026-10-27 14:30 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadibloc@invalid.com (John Savard) - 2026-10-26 22:09 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection EricP <ThatWouldBeTelling@thevillage.com> - 2026-10-26 18:20 -0400
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadibloc@invalid.com (John Savard) - 2026-10-27 03:00 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection antispam@fricas.org (Waldek Hebisch) - 2026-10-26 22:51 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2026-10-25 18:47 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection David Schultz <david.schultz@earthlink.net> - 2026-02-11 17:57 -0600
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2026-02-12 00:04 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection MitchAlsup <user5857@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-02-12 02:04 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2026-02-12 03:31 +0000
                Hex floating point (was: Combining Practicality with Perfection) Thomas Koenig <tkoenig@netcologne.de> - 2026-02-15 16:53 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2026-02-12 08:45 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection MitchAlsup <user5857@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-02-12 17:09 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection Terje Mathisen <terje.mathisen@tmsw.no> - 2026-02-14 18:03 +0100
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection BGB <cr88192@gmail.com> - 2026-02-19 02:10 -0600
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection MitchAlsup <user5857@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-02-19 17:30 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-02-19 20:15 +0200
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection MitchAlsup <user5857@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-02-19 19:55 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection BGB <cr88192@gmail.com> - 2026-02-20 05:08 -0600
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection Terje Mathisen <terje.mathisen@tmsw.no> - 2026-02-20 15:22 +0100
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection BGB <cr88192@gmail.com> - 2026-02-20 15:26 -0600
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection Paul Clayton <paaronclayton@gmail.com> - 2026-02-21 20:27 -0500
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-02-12 10:49 +0200
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection MitchAlsup <user5857@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-02-12 17:10 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-02-12 23:38 +0200
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection Terje Mathisen <terje.mathisen@tmsw.no> - 2026-02-12 14:28 +0100
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-12 05:51 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-02-12 10:53 +0200
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-12 18:40 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection MitchAlsup <user5857@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-02-12 20:02 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection MitchAlsup <user5857@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-02-12 20:33 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection Stephen Fuld <sfuld@alumni.cmu.edu.invalid> - 2026-02-11 19:50 -0800
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-12 05:55 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection Stephen Fuld <sfuld@alumni.cmu.edu.invalid> - 2026-02-12 08:40 -0800
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-02-12 16:51 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-12 18:49 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-02-12 15:54 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection Stephen Fuld <sfuld@alumni.cmu.edu.invalid> - 2026-02-12 08:52 -0800
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-12 18:37 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection antispam@fricas.org (Waldek Hebisch) - 2026-02-14 16:33 +0000
                Re: floating pain, Combining Practicality with Perfection John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2026-02-14 18:12 +0000
                Re: floating pain, Combining Practicality with Perfection antispam@fricas.org (Waldek Hebisch) - 2026-02-17 01:16 +0000
                Re: floating pain, Combining Practicality with Perfection John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2026-02-17 01:24 +0000
                Re: floating pain, Combining Practicality with Perfection antispam@fricas.org (Waldek Hebisch) - 2026-02-17 16:21 +0000
                Re: floating pain, Combining Practicality with Perfection John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2026-02-17 19:20 +0000
                Re: floating pain, Combining Practicality with Perfection antispam@fricas.org (Waldek Hebisch) - 2026-02-17 19:52 +0000
                Re: floating pain, Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-17 19:09 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection jgd@cix.co.uk (John Dallman) - 2026-02-15 14:37 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-17 18:57 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection antispam@fricas.org (Waldek Hebisch) - 2026-02-17 20:43 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection MitchAlsup <user5857@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-02-18 00:50 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-18 08:52 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection Robert Finch <robfi680@gmail.com> - 2026-02-18 08:40 -0500
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection quadi <quadibloc@ca.invalid> - 2026-02-20 08:14 +0000
                Re: Combining Practicality with Perfection Thomas Koenig <tkoenig@netcologne.de> - 2026-02-19 18:49 +0000

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