What computer was MAXC designed with at PARC?

[Paolo Amoroso]

In the June 5, 2024 external meeting I asked a question I got while reading the book "Dealers of Lightning" by Michael Hiltzik. According to the book, MAXC was the first computer at PARC. If so, what computer, if any, was used to design MAXC? Wouldn't another computer have been required or helpful for at least some part of the design process of such a complex machine?

Larry suggested having a look at the paper The Maxc Systems by Edward Fiala but it doesn't provide any details on the design process. Any insight?

--

Paolo Amoroso | Blog | Mastodon

[Paul McJones]

I wasn’t there at the time, but I suspect there was little if any computer design support. They could have rented time on a commercial timesharing service, or “borrowed” time from another research lab such as SRI, or bought a Nova.

You could ask Butler Lampson <b...@lampsons.us>

Paul

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Medley Interlisp core" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to lispcore+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/lispcore/CAGi1hzs4OSPm1rmbeUctbtFO4Tt5nnEaJ%3D%2B%3DPhxoQPTKRbtc5w%40mail.gmail.com.

[Paolo Amoroso]

Thanks for the suggestion Paul, I sent Butler Lampson the email below.

--------------------

Subject: What computer was MAXC designed with?

Prof. Lampson,

My name is Paolo Amoroso and I'm a Lisp enthusiast and member of the Medley Interlisp Project, an effort to revive the Interlisp environment led by and comprising some of the original developers of the system at PARC.

I discussed with the project team a question that came to me while reading the book "Dealers of Lightning" by Michael Hiltzik: if MAXC was the first computer at PARC, what computer, if any, was used to design MAXC? The PARC veterans of the Medley project have no relevant recollections. Paul McJones raised the possibility that rented time on a commercial timesharing service may have been used, noted there may have been little if any computer design support, and suggested that I ask you.

I would be very grateful if you could shed some light on what computer support went into the design of MAXC. I first approached computers in the early 1980s and realize the computer design process may have been very different a decade earlier, hence my curiosity.

Thanks,


Paolo Amoroso

--------------------

[Paolo Amoroso]

Butler Lampson replied to my mail and wrote that all the debugging and operation support for the MAXC was done on Data General Novas. But he doesn't remember what machines they used for the CAD.

[Paul McJones]

If you could find Ed Fiala I expect he could tell you more. Here’s a paper he wrote in 1980:

https://github.com/PDP-10/maxc/blob/master/pdf/the_maxc_systems.pdf

On page 64, he says:

To speed up hardware design, we have developed design automation software to mechanize aspects of creating and revising logic drawings, wirelists, etc. Our current software tools would substantially reduce the 12 months required for Maxcl hardware design, if that were to be repeated today.

I take that to mean they didn’t use design automation software the first time around.

Paul

[Paul McJones]

1980 => 1978

On Jun 12, 2024, at 1:52 PM, Paul McJones <pa...@mcjones.org> wrote:

If you could find Ed Fiala I expect he could tell you more. Here’s a paper he wrote in 1980: