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SuSE Submits Enhancements for AMD Hammer

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the getting-the-features-in dept.

ackthpt writes "SuSE has this press release as they are submitting enhancements to the Linux kernal particular to the AMD's x86-64 processor instruction set. Anticipated for 2.6 kernel, some enhancements may appear in 2.4, as development is only beginning on 2.5. AMD's take on the announcement as well.". nik notes that SuSE join NetBSD in having ports to Hammer. Usenix members can see the paper Wasabi's Frank van der Linden wrote about the porting effort.

7 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. great, but what about GCC? by Khopesh · · Score: 5, Interesting

    this is truely a great move in the right direction, but we also need to see something like a gcc support and optimization for this new architecture. AMD, please: you are the expert on your chips. As Intel made it's own free compiler, so too can you. Ideally, release your compiler via MIT-License, LGPL, GPL, or something similar, and releasing an optimization for GCC would blow my mind.

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    1. Re:great, but what about GCC? by Ace+Rimmer · · Score: 5, Interesting

      There are some people in SuSE working on gcc Hammer optimizations this is a part of the contract between AMD and SuSE.

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  2. already being done... by scorcherer · · Score: 5, Informative

    Take a look at GCC main page and you'll see a note on the x86-64 port contributed by SuSE.

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  3. Re:misleading headline by bears · · Score: 4, Informative

    According to one of the developers from SuSE who worked on this (and demoed SuSE running under one of the x86-64 simulators at a recent OxLUG talk ), SuSE and other porters did indeed make suggestions to AMD as to details of the architecture which were taken up by AMD.

  4. Interesting read by Matrim9 · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/02q1/020227/

    Interesting - they tested one of the Hammer CPUs on Suse, but they only ran XP in 32-bit... :o

  5. Re:It's being done!! :) by vidarh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I believe you've misread. FreeBSD people are working on adapting a x86-64 GCC port that was done by SuSE. AMD does state on the x86-64 website that they are supporting porting work for both Linux, FreeBSD and NetBSD, however.

  6. Freedom to Innovate by Paul+the+Bold · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You will recall that when AMD demoed hammer recently, they showed a 32-bit Windows system and a 64-bit Linux system. People were commenting on AMD preferring Linux over Windows, therefore showing a more powerful Linux demo than a Windows demo.

    The truth is that there is not a 64-bit version of Windows for the Hammer. AMD was able to modify the existing Linux code to create their own 64-bit version of Linux. This is the best example of the freedom granted by the GPL that I have seen in months. AMD is releasing a new product at the end of the year, and they are able to create a demand for it NOW by having software for it NOW.

    Do you remember the lag between the introduction of Intel's Itanium and a Windows version for Itanium? It was not well coordinated. AMD has done the opposite, they created a demand and a use several months before the release, and it's working. We are all drooling over a 64-bit architecture, and we will have 6-8 months to think about (and save up for) the purchase of a Hammer.

    This is the freedom to innovate that is granted by the GPL and denied by the MS EULA. GPLed software is going to make AMD some money.

    I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.