Hi Chris,
Post by Skeezics BoondoggleAnd hey, didn't I contribute a good percentage of the answers in the FAQ? :-)
No. Nah. Nope. :-) The vast majority of content in the PERQ General
FAQ, unless stated otherwise, came from notes that I made of what I
did with my PERQs, with lots of comments added to help make it easier
for others to do these things with their PERQs.
Some additional information, as noted in the FAQ, came from others,
although that made up a very small portion of the FAQ - e.g., the list
of systems types at the end of the FAQ which Bill von Hagen supplied.
If you need more clarification on all this, just ask, and I can
present you with it.
Post by Skeezics BoondoggleActually, I dug up some reeeally old emails and a file with a huge, long list
of questions that I'd partially answered; do you remember sending out a survey
Yes, I recall that quite clearly. However, that wasn't used in the
creation of the PERQ Genearal FAQ. Below, I believe, is the list of
questions that you're referring to, and I don't recall---although I
could be mistaken about this, having ever received any answers from
you regarding them, alas.
The following questions are from that questionnaire back in 1991:
Please answer the questions in sections I and III below. The questions
in section II are optional, but your response to however many of them you
can answer, or comment on, is _*greatly*_ appreciated. Thank you!
When you answer any of the questions, please indicate the number, or
letter, of the question next to your answer.
If you received a copy of this form through e-mail, you may just use a
text editor on this questionnaire to add your answers below the questions.
If you did not receive a copy of this through e-mail, and it would be
easier for you to have a copy of it in an computer editable form, I will be
glad to either send you a copy through whatever form of e-mail I can reach
you, or I will send you a copy of this questionnaire on a 5-1/4" floppy,
formatted for an IBM-PC (MS-DOS).
Section I
---------
A. Your name?
B. A telephone number where you may be reached?
C. A postal address where you may be reached?
E. Your Internet, or other, e-mail address (if you have one)?
F. Which PERQ model(s) did you use, or are familiar with?
G. Which operating system(s) for the PERQs have you used, or are
familiar with?
H. What size and type of hard-disc did you use?
I. Did you use a streamer tape drive with your system?
Section II
----------
1. Was a color display for the PERQs ever produced and sold (one of the
PERQ's manuals listed a 1024 x 1280 x 8 color display as an option)?
If so, did you ever use one? (please comment)
2. Were there ever any plans to make POS into an operating system which could
perform multitasking, allow terminals to log in via serial ports, and/or
access a hard-disc larger than 32 megabytes? If so, please explain.
3. Have you ever used any versions of POS which were more recent than version
G6.0? If so, can you comment on amy major differences/added features,
between the later versions and G6.0 and earlier?
4. Were there ever any plans to expand the PERQ's basic architecture, such
as the CPU, I/O, etc., beyond a single user workstation? That is, were
there plans to use similar architecture to create s minicomputer which
would support multiple users through serial ports, or which would act
primarily as a server to other systems?
5. In relation to the above question, would an extended POS operating system
have played any role in such a system?
6. What was the reason that PERQs running POS were limited to accessing no
more than 32 megabytes of mass storage?
7. Did any questions about such matters as the Perq being able to support more
that three users at a time ever come up when ICL was implementing PNX to
run on it? Granted, the PERQ was intended for use primarily as a single
user workstation, but given its CPU power and memory size, it seems that
it should have been able to support more than two additional users, at
terminals, if necessary for some applications. Do you believe that this
was part of its failure in the marketplace?
8. Why were so few terminal types supported by PNX? Was this an attempt to
discourage multiuser operation?
9. Have you ever done any hardware modifications to a PERQ which were not
supported by its manufacturer? If so, what did you do?
10. Did you ever add any non-manufacturer-supported boards to the PERQ, of
your own (or of others) design, which were hooked into the PERQs bus?
if so, please describe what you did.
11. Have you made any operating-sysetm changes to a PERQ, such as modifying
any of the PERQ's operating systems in such a way which was not supported
by its manufacturer? If so, what what did you do?
12. Did you ever use any operating systems on a PERQ other than the supported
PNX, POS, or Accent operating systems? If so, could you please describe
what you used?
13. If there was anything that you could have changed about the PERQ hardware,
what would the change(s) be?
14. If there was anything that you could change about any of the PERQ's
operating systems, what would the change(s) be?
15. Please describe the application(s) that you most often used a PERQ for and
if you would, please list any other minor uses that you had for the PERQ.
16. Had the planned, newer, microcode-based PERQ CPU's, which were to use
approximately 5 chips, been produced, how much of a gain in speed would
there have been? Was a working prototype ever built? If you are
in any way familiar with this, please comment.
17. What were the reasons, aside from possible added marketability, due to
the use of an industry standard microprocessor, did ICL/PERQ Systems
decide to abandon the microcoded CPU when they developed the PERQ3?
18. Were any PERQ3's ever produced and sold, other than those produced
under contract to a company called Crisfield Electronics Ltd. in
England? Were the PERQ3's developed and produced exclusively for
Crisfield Electronics Ltd.? Is there any information that you can
provide about the PERQ3s?
19. Did you ever use the 24-bit optional CPU with a PERQ2? If so, did
you also use the optional three or four megabytes of memory? Did you
notice any performance advantages when using the 24-bit CPU?
20. What was the reason for going to a 24-bit CPU instead of a true 32-bit
CPU?
21. Were the long-term plans, regarding the implementation of Accent on
the PERQ, to make it into a full implementation of a Unix operating
system lookalike/workalike? Is this what QNIX was attempting to do?
Did you ever use QNIX? Are there any comments that you can make
about it?
22. Were there any plans to make the Accent operating system's kernel
more efficient?
23. Why did was the PERQ, running PNX and Accent, so slow in comparison
to a VAX 11/780 running Unix, when the PERQ CPU when properly
microcoded was as fast, or faster, than the VAX 11/780 runnin similar
programs coded in VAX assembly language?
24. How would you rate the speed of PNX in comparison to POS, and also
in comparison to Accent? Can you provide any statistical, or
approximate, information on this type of performance comparison,
or in comparison with other computer systems?
25. How did ICL originally become involved with PERQ Systems (or
Three Rivers Computer Corp.)? How much ownership did ICL
have in PERQ Systems, or did they just hold the marketing rights?
26. When did Three Rivers Computer Corp. change their name to PERQ
Systems Corp. (PQS)? What was the reason for the name change?
27. Since the PERQs appear to have been much more popular outside of
the United States, had more marketing emphasis been placed on sales
of the PERQs outside of the US?
28. Was there any similarity between the PERQ's "microEngine" and the
Western Digital Micro-Engine (tm?) which used USCD Pascal P-Code
for its native machine language?
29. Why was Perq-Pascal, an apparent Pascal/Modula-2 hybrid, used instead
of using Modula-2? Would you consider Perq-Pascal to have been
beneficial, or detrimental, to the PERQs?
30. Were there plans made to port over much of the software which ran on
the microcoded PERQs to the PERQ3? Although a version of Unix was
to be used with the PERQ3s, were there also any plans to port over
POS and Accent to the PERQ3, for the support of PERQ customers who
were accustomed to these operating systems, and felt comfortable
with them?
31. Was the PERQ1 the original PERQ ow were there another machine before
it? If there was, how much different was the original prototype?
32. How did the prices of the SUN and Apollo workstations compare to
those of the PERQs? Did SUN gain a strong pricing and/or production
advan age over Three Rivers Computer/PERQ by building the SUNs with
non-proprietary architecture and circuitry developed outside of SUN?
33. What was the involvement between the U.S. Department of Defense,
Carnegie Mellon University, and Three Rivers Computer Corp.? How
and when did it start?
34. Were the PERQs sold to the Department of Defense designed to meet
higher standards (military specifications), such as operating in
high/low temperatures, high humidity, etc., than the PERQs which
were sold commercially?
35. Do you know what the maximum/minimum recommended ambiant operating
temperatures for using the PERQs are? (I understand that they
operative reliably in high temperature/humidity)
36. How did the British Science and Engineering Council's Common Base
Policy affect the PERQs and relate to their downfall? Can you supply
any documentation, newspaper articles, etc. relating to this policy?
37. Was any hardware design for the PERQs done by ICL?
38. Why was the PERQ T-2 model refered to as the "Petite"?
39. What was the "Nike development machine"?
40. What was the difference between the PERQ3 and the PERQ3B? Was there
a PERQ3A?
41. How many PERQs were produced? If possible, please indicate the
quantity of each individual model produced.
42. In what years were the different PERQ models introduced, and what
years were certain ones phased out?
43. What printers have you used with the PERQs, aside from those listed
in the manuals, to print graphics and screen dumps?
44. What types of devices, other than the graphics tablet and printer,
have you attached to the GPIB of a PERQ? Have you ever attached any
disc drives or tape drives to a PERQs GPIB?
45. Did you ever use the sound capability of a PERQ for such things as
speech and music? If so, please describe what you did.
46. Why did the PERQs only support the PUP Ethernet protocol and not
TCP/IP?
47. Were most of the PERQs used at Carnegie Mellon University PERQ1s or
PERQ2s?
48. Were most of the PERQs used at Rutherford Appleton Laboratories
PERQ1s or PERQ2s?
49. Did the PERQ2 make a better impression on you than the PERQ1? Did
you find the PERQ2 (the T-2 model) to be a more reliable machine
that the PERQ1?
50. Although the PERQs had a proprietary bus structure, there was a
program written for them, as well as some hardware, which allowed
Multibus compatibility. Are you familiar with this?
51. Who were the publishers of a PERQ newsletter in the U.K.? Are back
issues of it archived anywhere that you know of? If so, are copies
of them available? Is this newsletter still being published? If not,
when was it discontinued?
52. Do you know of the present, or past, existance of any user groups
for the PERQs? Was there ever a Usenet newsgroup for the PERQs?
53. Do you know of any archives anywhere where software for the PERQs
may be obtained?
54. Were there any businesses that you know of, aside from Accent
Systems, which were (or are) in business to support the PERQs?
55. For how long did work on the PERQs continue after Varityper Corp.
bought PERQ Systems Corp. (PQS)? Were any design changes implemented
by Varityper for any prototypes? How long did Varityper continue
to sell the PERQs after they purchased PQS?
56. Can you provide any information about an operating system developed
by Varityper for the PERQs?
57. Did working with a PERQ make a favorable, or an unfavorable,
impression on you? Why? What did you like, or dislike, the most
about the PERQs?
58. Did you do any non-microcode level programming on a PERQ? Comments?
59. Did you do any microcode-level programming on a PERQ? Comments?
60. When you used a PERQ, how would you describe the environment in
which it was used? (damp, hot, cold, dry, humid, dusty, etc.)
61. How would you relate the reliability of the PERQs?
62. How long has it been since you last used a PERQ (or are you currently
using one)?
63. For what length of time did you work with PERQs?
64. What reason(s) would you cite as the cause of the demise of PERQ
Systems Corp.?
65. Are you aware of any software, aside from that produced by Three
Rivers Computer/PERQ Systems, or ICL that was produced for the
PERQs? If so, could you provide any information about it, such as
the name and a description of it, and the name, and possibly, the
address or geographic location, of the company which produced it?
66. Did you ever have any hardware failures with the PERQ(s) that you
used? If so, could you please describe them and indicate if the
problem(s) occured more than once? Was anything done which solved
this problem so that it did not happen again (please describe)?
67. Did you ever discover any "bugs" in any of the PERQ's system
software? If so, please describe and indicate if they were
ever corrected in later releases of the software that you used.
68. Are you aware of any "hidden commands" or features in any of
the PERQ's operating system software? (for example, things
similar to the XYZZY command on DG systems, the undocumented
interrupts of MS-DOS, ...things of this sort of nature, or
anything else interesting or unusual that you might have
discovered, no matter how big or small, apparently relevant
or irrelevant)
69. How would you compare the performance of the PERQs with other
graphics workstations, or computers in general, that were
available at the time the PERQs were being produced?
70. Do you have any software, manuals, or any other information
pertaining to the PERQs which you would be willing to part
with, sell, or make copies of (I will reimburse you for copying
and postage costs)?
71. Is there anything in particular that you would like to see
included in a book pertaining to the PERQs?
Section III
-----------
72. Are there any additional comments that you would care to make about
the Perqs?
73. Do you know of any other people, or organizations, which have used
(or still use), or are familiar with, PERQs? If so, would you please
tell me how to contact them? (telephone, e-mail, and/or postal
address)
74. Are there any additional questions that you would like to see added
to this questionnaire?
75. Would you be interested in joining, or helping to form, a PERQ
users group?
Thank you again _*very much*_ for taking the time to look over this
questionnaire, and for answering whatever questions that you are able to
answer!
Ok, was that my little list of questions from way back when.
Post by Skeezics Boondogglequite some time ago? I can't remember if I'd sent the part that I'd finished
and never got to the rest, or if I had been working on it and never sent even
the partial reponse...
From what I recall, I don't remember receiving that from you.
Post by Skeezics BoondoggleI'll try to find that file and look over the current
FAQ; maybe we can fill in some missing info, and flesh it out a bit.
Ok, great! :-) I'm sure that this would be of much interest to all of
the remaining PERQ Fanatics and others on this newsgroup. Maybe we
can dig up a lot more info and mirror all of this on a few web
sites... we just need to find a way to coordinate things so that we
don't all end up with different versions of documents, which was my
biggest concern, and why I mentioned the copyright. I'll try to dig
up some more things as well, like another largish document that I was
working on years ago. With all this that we can dig up, and with Tony
making his excellent document of how the PERQs work available, we're
certainly ahead of where we all were with the PERQs back around 1990
or so (when we all get our PERQs working again, that is).
Post by Skeezics BoondoggleSorry to hear that your machines are in such a state; I haven't fired up
Well, one day they'll be PERQing along again, surely. :-)
Post by Skeezics Boondogglemine in several years due to various reasons - construction, jobs, life
constantly getting in the way - but have been itching to get them running
again. My PERQ Fanaticism hasn't waned in the least, though I still haven't
Hopefully you'll have good luck with testing them, and doing other
necessary checks, and then firing them up.
Post by Skeezics Boondogglethe space/time to attempt to recondition and restart my PERQs. I've been
hoping that Tony Duell was still active on this group and might have some
suggestions for a thorough "pre-flight check" so that I don't experience some
awful and spectacular flame-out the first time I apply AC to a PERQ that's
been sitting in storage for so long...
Having capacitors, etc. in PERQs. tuen a very bright orange or yellow
would not be fun. Good luck!
--
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All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above Nature &
***@rddavis.org 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to justify such
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