BCC 500
The BCC 500 was a computer made by the Berkeley Computer Corporation. When the company went bankrupt in 1971, the prototype was sold to University of Hawaii. After two years of refurbishment it was successfully deployed as an ARPANET host until 1980. It was also the hub of the ALOHA network which inspired Ethernet.
The computer consists of six independent microcoded processors, having a 24-bit word width, 18-bit addressing, and access to a shared memory. The microcode implements an instruction set with a 6-bit opcode and 18-bit address field, as well as a subset of the 940 instruction set. Two of the processors have expanded hardware capabilities and run user code. The other four are each responsible for implementing their own part of the operating system; part in microcode and part in macrocode.
At BCC, an IBM 360/30 acted as a front end, handling tape drives, card readers, and printers. This was replaced by a HP2100A at Hawaii. A PDP-11/10 running ELF connected to the ARPANET.
