
The Alpha Micro Phun Machine: Mid 90s Motorola ColdFire/68K-Based Desktop PCS - rwmj
http://ampm.floodgap.com/
======
cbmuser
Slightly off-topic: For anyone interested in the 68k architecture, there is a
Bountysource crowd-funding campaign that aims help modernize the 68k backend
in GCC so it can be kept in future versions (cc0 transition):

> [https://www.bountysource.com/issues/80706251-m68k-convert-
> th...](https://www.bountysource.com/issues/80706251-m68k-convert-the-
> backend-to-mode_cc-so-it-can-be-kept-in-future-releases)

~~~
snvzz
Similarly offtopic, there's a LLVM backend for 68k in development. It is
functional, but not mainlined.

>
> [https://github.com/M680x0/M680x0-llvm](https://github.com/M680x0/M680x0-llvm)

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floren
Looks like a hug of death, here's archive.org for convenience:
[https://web.archive.org/web/20190423162658/http://ampm.flood...](https://web.archive.org/web/20190423162658/http://ampm.floodgap.com:80/)

~~~
SwellJoe
I think I know why it is susceptible to deadly hugs: "This site is being
served to you by a real, live Alpha Micro Eagle 300 running AMOS 2.3a and
AlphaTCP!"

~~~
ashleyn
I can only imagine the buffer overflow bugs present in that network stack.
Great gimmick, but we're long past the point where you can throw something
like this online.

~~~
timthorn
Well, they obviously can, because they did. :)

I would have thought that the script toolkits are unlikely to find a working
RCE against an Alpha. They might cause a DoS, but then again so might an HN
post...

Edit: of course, it's not an Alpha! Ahem.

~~~
SwellJoe
It _is_ an Alpha, according to the site text ("Alpha Micro Eagle 300"), just
not a DEC Alpha processor. Seems like it's probably a 68000?

~~~
classichasclass
It's a 68EC030.

~~~
SwellJoe
That's not so tiny. Many of the servers that ran the early internet were about
that powerful (and, many even running on that very chip). It's interesting
that they used the MMU-less version. I would have assumed that since it was a
multi-tenant server, they'd want memory management ASAP.

~~~
classichasclass
You'd think that, but protected memory has never been (much of) a thing with
AMOS. There used to be an ugly bug where a POKE from AlphaBASIC could get you
operator, for example. That got closed but similar exploits are undoubtedly
possible, so most of the VARs dealt with the problem by just never letting
users near a dot prompt (recall they just served vertical markets with their
own bespoke software like PoS, CRM, call management, etc.).

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classichasclass
Damn you guys, you killed my box. I'll reboot it later tonight. :P

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zanethomas
Memories: I worked at Alpha Microsystems from 1979 to 1985.

~~~
rwmj
Were they always a very niche company? Did they focus only on particular
markets like point-of-sale? I thought I had heard of most obscure computer and
operating systems, but this one is completely new to me.

~~~
classichasclass
AM mostly did vertical integration markets. My first encounter with them was
actually in the Salvation Army where it did church management, but this E300
was originally a point-of-sale system in a party store, and my E450 was used
in a 911 dispatch centre. I've kept the original software on both machines.

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technothrasher
Wow, you usually don't see much Alpha Micro news! I've still got an old
AM-100/L sitting in an unused office here at work. We ran our manufacturing
business on it all through the 1980s.

I tried to get it running again about 10 years ago, but no dice. Some kind of
hardware problem, and very little documentation still available.

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hsnewman
A guy in Austin used to run a BBS in the 80's with one of those things. The
interface was very very similar to a PDP-10 running Tops-10.

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imglorp
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://ampm.floodgap.com/)

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drudru11
Wow - never heard of this before. I really like the story behind it. They even
did their own clone of Pick OS. Neat!

