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By use, I mean are they still actively being developed for. I know this is the case in New Zealand and USA. In particular, is ALGOL code still being written on them?

Kerry Nitz
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    Voting to close as if they are still actively being developed for then they are, by definition, not retro. - especially with mainframes. – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact Oct 13 '18 at 23:59
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    http://www.app5.unisys.com/library/gmMail/emails/documents/CP_Oct12/pleasewelcome_october_2012.html I'd call this current technology.... – UncleBod Oct 14 '18 at 05:01
  • I'd say it's borderline. It may go against basic definitions due still being supported, but then again so are all emulators - and that's what this is about. ClearPath systems are an emulation environment for classic 36 Bit Univac 1100/2200 mainframes (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unisys_2200_Series_system_architecture ). Just because it's still a comercial product and running on Xeon servers, doesn'T make it different for a C64 emulation. – Raffzahn Oct 14 '18 at 17:48
  • @Raffzahn I'd say there is a difference between an ordinary user using a current machine to run some software that happens to emulate some other manfuacturer's Retro system vs. using a manufacturer's current system to emulate that same manufacturer's older system using emulation software provided by that manufacturer - and in fact which is one of the selling points of the current system. – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact Oct 14 '18 at 21:32
  • @manassehkatz as I said, it's a borderline issue. Calling it it a current system is a bit off, as the hardware is nothing special, but of the shelf Xeon boards. More important, I doubt that they aquired a single new user. The selling point you mentioned only reches the already installed base. Ther is no killer aplication that will make a new one jount a 50 year old architecture that is inferiour to any actual PC. It's exacly as with other emulators ment to keep 'ancient' anstallations alive. – Raffzahn Oct 14 '18 at 21:39
  • @manassehkatz I considere this question as relevant, as it does ask for information which is quite useful in a historic context. Here, if this old OS is still in active use - and people maintaining such software that was conceived at least 40 years ago. – Raffzahn Oct 14 '18 at 21:41
  • If we use the date when the software was first released, then all the IBM Z operating systems should be then in Retrocomputing. Unisys still sells ClearPath machines. They have stopped making native electronics and now use Intel chips with an emulation layer, just like Fujitsu does with its SE servers for BS2000/OSD (also still actively sold). I do believe there are better platforms for this question (although I can't suggest one at the moment). I'll leave the mainframe tag as ClearPath is generally considered one of that genre. – zarchasmpgmr Oct 18 '18 at 20:31
  • I could certainly call Unisys A-series retro, as I would anything pre IBM Z. The fact you can still run 50 year old software on brand new hardware and operating systems does not make it any less vintage. You can probably compile ancient UNIX tools on Linux or macOS. – rbanffy Jan 07 '19 at 14:34

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