Availability of MIX and MIXAL in the Network
A summary of reported locations for MIX and MIXAL software on the Network.
Walden, D.C., "Availability of MIX and MIXAL in the Network", RFC 494, DOI 10.17487/RFC0494, April 1973, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc494>.
@misc{rfc494,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 494,
howpublished = {RFC 494},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC0494},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc494},
author = {D.C. Walden},
title = {{Availability of MIX and MIXAL in the Network}},
pagetotal = 1,
year = 1973,
month = apr,
} RFC text
Network Working Group D. Walden
Request for Comments: 494 BBN-NET
NIC: 15359 20 April 1973
References: RFCs 473, 485
Availability of MIX and MIXAL in the Network
In RFC 473 I requested information on the existence of assemblers and
interpreters for Knuth's hypothetical MIX computer. Following is a
summary of the responses to my earlier RFC.
First the rumors: (1) There is rumored to be a MIX interpreter
available on the University of Utah PDP-10, but not assembler; and
(2) There is rumored to be a MIX interpreter available on the SU-AI
PDP-10.
Now the facts:
A fairly well debugged and documented MIXAL assembler exists for the
UCSB 360/75. A partially debugged MIX interpreter also exists. See
RFC 485 for additional information.
Box MIX and MIXAL are available on the UCSD B6700; although,
according to Ken Bowles, they are not currently being handled as
fully supported products, and there may be some remaining bugs in the
systems. However, MIX and MIXAL are available for network users, and
Ken says they will be happy to receive notification of any errors
found in the MIX and MIXAL and will attempt to get corrections made
in due course. Contact Ken Bowles at UCSD for further information.
MIX and an assembler for MIX are available for network use on the
UCLA 360/91. These systems have had considerable use, and they are
documented. Contact Bob Braden at CCN for further information.
Finally: The Computer Science Center at Stanford University
apparently has available a standard package for exporting the MIX
systems to 360s and 370s.
[ This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry ]
[ into the online RFC archives by David Hennessey 7/99 ]
ISO Plain Language
On this page
§1The Replies to the MIX Query
David Walden summarizes responses to RFC 473, which asked whether network hosts had an assembler or interpreter for Knuth's hypothetical MIX computer. He first lists two unconfirmed reports: a MIX interpreter at the University of Utah and one at SU-AI.
The author groups the information into rumors and reported availability. The Utah and SU-AI entries are described as rumors.
§2Reported Availability
The RFC reports a fairly well-debugged and documented MIXAL assembler and a partly debugged MIX interpreter at UCSB. It says MIX and MIXAL were available on the UCSD B6700, though they were not fully supported and might still have bugs.
It also reports that MIX and an assembler were available for network use on the UCLA 360/91 and had documentation.
The replies identify UCSB, UCSD, and UCLA as places where the tools could be found. The note also describes differences in how complete or supported they were.
§3A Possible Stanford Package
The final item says that Stanford University's Computer Science Center apparently had a standard package for exporting MIX systems to 360 and 370 computers. The RFC gives this as an apparent availability report rather than a detailed description.
The author also mentions a possible Stanford package for other computers. The note provides no further details about it.