Foonly

Foonly Inc.
Company type	Private
Industry	Computer hardware
Founded	1976
Founder	Dave Poole
Defunct	1989
Fate	Ceased operations
Headquarters	California, United States
Area served	United States
Key people	Dave Poole, Phil Petit, Jack Holloway
Products	Mainframe computers compatible with DEC PDP-10 architecture (F1, F2, F4, F4B, F5 models)

Foonly Inc. was a U.S.-based computer manufacturer established by Dave Poole in 1976, specializing in a line of mainframe computers compatible with the DEC PDP-10 architecture.

Its flagship product, the F1 model, was notably employed by Information International, Inc. to generate computer graphics for the 1982 motion picture Tron.

History

During the early 1970s, the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL) launched a DARPA-supported initiative aimed at creating a more advanced successor to their DEC PDP-10 KA10 system. This project, known as "Super-Foonly," was spearheaded by Phil Petit, Jack Holloway, and Dave Poole. The project's name originated from a PDP-10 assembler error message indicating that "FOO is Not a Legal Identifier." After DARPA discontinued funding in 1974, many team members transitioned to Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) to contribute to the development of the PDP-10 KL10 model, which incorporated technology from Super-Foonly.

Choosing a different path, Dave Poole, Petit, and Holloway founded Foonly in 1976 with the goal of manufacturing computers based on the Super-Foonly design principles. In the early 1980s, Foonly introduced and marketed more affordable DEC PDP-10 compatible systems including the F2, F4, F4B, and F5 models.

After DEC terminated its Jupiter project in 1983, Foonly sought to introduce an updated F1 variant; however, it was eclipsed by Systems Concepts’ Mars project. The company ultimately ceased operations in 1989.

Model lineup

Model	MIPS	Word Size	Clock Speed	Memory	Price	Chassis Bays	Power Consumption
Foonly F1	4.5 MIPS	36 bits	11.1 MHz	18 MB	$700,000	4	5 kW
Foonly F2	0.5 MIPS	36 bits	2.8 MHz	4.5 MB	$150,000	1	0.5 kW
Foonly F4	1.4 MIPS	36 bits	8 MHz	9 MB	$300,000	1	1 kW
Foonly F4B	1.8 MIPS	36 bits	8 MHz	9 MB	$350,000	1	1.5 kW
Foonly F5	0.3 MIPS	36 bits	3.3 MHz	2.25 MB	$80,000	0.5	0.8 kW

The Foonly F1

The inaugural and most advanced system from Foonly was the F1 model, engineered as the fastest DEC PDP-10 compatible machine by utilizing emitter-coupled logic (ECL) technology instead of transistor–transistor logic (TTL). It was developed in collaboration with Triple-I as its primary client and became operational in 1978.

The architecture consisted of four separate cabinets: one housing the CPU; another containing AMPEX hardware with 2 MB of core memory; a cabinet dedicated to a Magic Movie Memory video buffer with a capacity of 3 MB for frame rendering; and a final unit managing tape and disk controllers along with power controls.

Achieving speeds up to 4.5 MIPS, the F1 earned distinction for contributing to computer-generated visuals in Disney’s Tron (1982) and Looker (1981).

Subsequently purchased by Canadian firm Omnibus Computer Graphics, it was employed in creating television logos for CBC, CTV, and Global Television Network; opening sequences for Hockey Night in Canada; scanner effects featured in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock; spaceship imagery in Flight of the Navigator; as well as all CGI effects for the television series Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future.

Other models

In contrast to the F1, the remaining models—including the F2, F4, F4B, and F5—utilized slower TTL logic circuits rather than ECL technology and were designed within a single cabinet instead of being spread across four.

Foonly created the exclusive F-bus, which supported both DEC and non-DEC peripheral devices, rather than adopting DEC's Massbus or other proprietary DEC bus systems.

F2

Promoted as "a powerful mainframe at a minicomputer price," the F2 achieved approximately one-quarter of the processing speed of the DECSYSTEM-2060.

Peripherals

Typical system configurations featured:

Disk drives ranging from 1 to 6 units, with choices between 160 MB Winchester or 300 MB removable storage options
Tape drives numbering from 1 to 4 units, compatible with 800, 1600, and 6250 BPI tape formats

Software

Foonly machines operated on the TENEX operating system or its variant known as FOONEX.

Tymshare

The Foonly product line was branded by Tymshare as the "Tymshare XX Series Computer Family," with particular emphasis on the "Tymshare System XXVI."

External links

References