Miguel de Icaza wrote:
...
> Judging from the progress made by the Linux UltraPenguin team (David,
> Jakub Richard), once the specs for this chip are out, a fully
> functional Linux distribution for the Merced can be put together in
> about two months. Probably less.
>
> Cheers,
> Miguel.
OK, it's true that Linux has some brilliant programmers available that
could work full-tilt on putting together a Linux distribution in record
time. But the SPARC port is not the best basis of comparison with the
Merced:
1) The SPARC architecture has been around for quite some time, so many
people have had a chance to program in SPARC assembly language.
2) The machines are quite common by now, specially in academic settings.
It's quite easy to find a SPARC machine where one can get a user
account.
3) GCC has been ported to the SPARC for quite some time.
Merced does not fulfill any of these conditions.
Now about the Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) terms that Intel uses, an
example is the 4Mb paging extensions, which initially had a 15-year NDA!
You can read all about it in Robert Collins' site (http://www.x86.org).
By 2000, we could have the following processor alternatives for further
Linux development:
- SPARC derivatives. Good: they have been available for a long time.
Bad: expensive. Unless somebody comes out with a cheap PCI SPARC
motherboard.
- IBM Power PC derivatives. Good: ubiquitous. Bad: Apple is disallowing
clone manufacturers. Again, unless somebody comes out with a cheap PCI
Power motherboard; there is a petition around the Net for this (see the
link on the LDP site).
- IA-64. (Discussed already).
- Alpha. Good: Linux-ready. Alpha machines are _almost_ affordable now.
Bad: future uncertain after buyout by Intel.
- MIPS. Good: partial Linux port available. Bad: tell me where I can buy
a MIPS PCI motherboard, or even a complete CPU under $10K?
- x86 derivatives. Good: at least we can choose from various
manufacturers, and mail-order a new motherboard to upgrade our Linux
boxes from time to time. Bad: old architecture, outdated instruction
set!
No CPU seems to combine affordability, performance and sufficient
information availability. This is basically what worries me over the
long term.
Salutaciones cordiales de Francia,
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Andrew Derrick Balsa
andrewbalsa@usa.net
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