These two problems really sum everything up. While things are getting
closer all of the time - Jay's new milo's, and kernel patches help things
a lot, it takes a lot of testing to work out bugs. The intel community
has millions of people doing this, where the alpha community has a much
much smaller group (I have no idea of the size), so what ends up getting
fixed, or getting ported is directly reflected in what the people who
have the ability need. Also, since fewer people experience problems, its
more difficult to pinpoint circumstances which lead to a crash.
One idea probably worth exploring is putting up a web page with a list of
all apps that people have ported to linux alpha, or at least modified to
get them running. I know I've hacked a bunch of stuff, as have most
people. I'd be happy to maintain the page if anyone has any interest.
If there is already a page out there, then let me know, as I wish there
was something to check before spending hours screwing around with header
files, etc. I have enough work to do every day that I don't need to
reinvent the wheel.
-Steve
-- Steven Kokinos - Web Developers Network - http://www.webdevelop.com/ steve@webdevelop.com - 60 Day free trial for developers! Industry leading development environment, multiple T1 network.