Homebrew Cray-1A

**Ze_ro** · 09-01-2010, 03:01 AM

http://chrisfenton.com/homebrew-cray-1a/

This guy implemented a Cray-1A in a Xilinx Spartan-3E 1600 FPGA development board... and then went and designed a 1/10th scale model case to put it in! I'm a little unsure how he can claim it to be binary compatible and cycle exact when his main problem seems to be that he has no software to run on it, but whatever. The hardware reference manual he links to is very interesting also.

I've always dreamed of owning a Cray, though the logistics of it are completely ridiculous (y'know, like having a 150kW power source for the cooling system, and reinforcing the floor to support a 10,500lb machine and all that fun stuff).

--Zero

**dstone** · 09-01-2010, 09:30 AM

Crays are fascinating machines. I was lucky enough to pick up a Y-MP EL98 several years ago, however it was stripped of all the CPU, memory, and expansion cards. Ended up being just a fancy rack mount cabinet. Hopefully I'll be bringing a render farm online inside it at some point.

I've always been in love with Cray's cabinet designs. My favorite is probably the Cray 3. Outside of Cray, I've always been a fan of the Thinking Machines CM-5. Just love that sleek black cabinet and all those little red LED lights.

**CRTGAMER** · 09-01-2010, 10:55 AM

Always liked the mystic look of the Cray.

A great idea for a shrunken Retro custom build PC!

**diskoboy** · 09-01-2010, 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by Ze_ro

http://chrisfenton.com/homebrew-cray-1a/
I've always dreamed of owning a Cray, though the logistics of it are completely ridiculous (y'know, like having a 150kW power source for the cooling system, and reinforcing the floor to support a 10,500lb machine and all that fun stuff).

--Zero

Shoot... Give me a PDP-10, any day of the week.

I wouldn't having a XE6 "Jaguar" myself, being the fastest rig currently on the planet... I don't know what I'd ever do with it, or where I'd put it for that matter, but it'd be a great conversation piece

I'm still impressed with the "micro" Cray, though... Too bad software is few and far between.

**CRTGAMER** · 09-01-2010, 04:33 PM

I just finished watching DVD movie Last Starfighter. In the making of section the programmers commented the Cray cushions came in handy for cat naps during marathon coding sessions.

**InsaneDavid** · 09-02-2010, 01:09 AM

Me standing in the middle of the Cray-1 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View a couple years ago...

If you're ever in Silicon Valley and have a half day or so to kill, it's a place worth checking out. Far more interesting then the outdated and rundown touristy displays at The Tech in San Jose.