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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!spool.mu.edu!newshub.tc.umn.edu!fu-berlin.de!news.belwue.de!news.uni-ulm.de!borchert From: borchert@turing.mathematik.uni-ulm.de (Andreas Borchert) Newsgroups: comp.unix.solaris,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.internals,comp.unix.osf.osf1 Subject: Re: Solaris 2.6 Date: 2 Dec 1996 14:08:48 GMT Organization: University of Ulm, SAI, Germany Lines: 32 Distribution: inet Message-ID: <57untg$7mm@arktur.rz.uni-ulm.de> References: <32986299.AC7@mail.esrin.esa.it> <casper.329c06bc@mail.fwi.uva.nl> <57ik5l$12i$1@shade.twinsun.com> <x7917mx5gx.fsf@dumbcat.codewright.com> <57shh0$o3u@web.nmti.com> <57ui72$4li@arktur.rz.uni-ulm.de> <casper.32a2d2b9@mail.fwi.uva.nl> NNTP-Posting-Host: turing.mathematik.uni-ulm.de X-Newsreader: slrn (0.9.0.0 (BETA) UNIX) Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.solaris:91099 comp.unix.bsd.misc:1650 comp.unix.internals:11404 comp.unix.osf.osf1:16795 On 2 Dec 1996 13:59:37 +0100, Casper H.S. Dik <casper@fwi.uva.nl> wrote: > borchert@turing.mathematik.uni-ulm.de (Andreas Borchert) writes: > > >On 1 Dec 1996 18:07:28 GMT, Peter da Silva <peter@nmti.com> wrote: > >> DEC has already taken the hit for this. Anything that has been ported to > >> the Alpha has already adjusted to 64 bit longs. > > >Well, this comparison does not count. DEC started the Alpha immediately > >with 64 bits (years later after the SPARC architecture), starting with > >no software base. > > > It's not like they wrote it all from scratch. DEC did take a hit for this, > I'm sure; X11 had to be ported and all 3rd part stuff, available > for 32 bit only, had to be ported. There was a price to pay > for going 64 bit, even if binary compatibility is not a concern. Perhabs my statement wasn't clear enough: There was no software base of 3rd party vendors which was to be supported by means of binary compatibility. For a new machine architecture, everything needs to be recompiled (and perhabs to be adapted) and consequently there are no discussions about how to combine old libraries and objects with new ones etc. Andreas. -- Andreas Borchert, Universitaet Ulm, SAI, Helmholtzstr. 18, 89069 Ulm, Germany E-Mail: borchert@mathematik.uni-ulm.de WWW: http://www.mathematik.uni-ulm.de/sai/borchert/ PGP key available via ``finger borchert@laborix.mathematik.uni-ulm.de''