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Alpha's Going Going Gone

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the going-gently-into-that-dark-night dept.

WildCode writes "Get your Alphas now cause HP is releasing the last of the Alphas (the final one expected to be released in 2004), and there will be no more." I was already under the mistaken impression that Alpha was dead, so this story is rather bittersweet for me. Still, as far as architectures go, Alpha will probably be among my favorites. It was once vastly ahead of its time, if not severely cost-prohibitive.

7 of 303 comments (clear)

  1. It is a real shame... by overbyj · · Score: 2, Insightful

    that the Alpha is being put out to pasture. This is one amazing chip and it was at one time lightyears ahead of anything Intel put out. I honestly believe that HP is making a mistake here by ditching this chip. Sure R&D costs of chip design and production are enormous but HP is hitching their wagon to the Itanic? At least use AMD and their good processors, especially the encouraging new 64 bit chip. The Itanium is about to truly become the laughstock of the microprocessor world.

    If HP (and before Compaq and before them DEC) had played their cards right, the Alpha could have been a major player and taken on Intel seriously. About the only thing Intel has going for them is their ability to produce chips cheaply because of the sheer numbers. We can argue the merits of Xeon and other P4 derivatives another time but it is just a real disappointment that HP is doing this.

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    1. Re:It is a real shame... by joto · · Score: 4, Insightful
      This is one amazing chip and it was at one time lightyears ahead of anything Intel put out. I honestly believe that HP is making a mistake here by ditching this chip. Sure R&D costs of chip design and production are enormous but HP is hitching their wagon to the Itanic?

      The Alpha was formerly Compaq and even before that a Digital invention. HP has their PA-RISC architecture, of which Itanium was planned from the start to replace (one of the design requirements for Itanium was that a software translator for binary PA-RISC code was made possible).

      Furthermore, as far as I know, the Alpha is still produced by Intel, not by HP/Compaq/Digital, as Compaq sold their alpha plants, personell and all associated IP to Intel (and thus avoided a lawsuit, as well as ensuring the Alphas future for a few years). There were also plans for a Itanium version of Tru64 (formerly Digital Unix), but I am unsure as to whether it was ever commercialized.

      All in all. It seems like a pretty sound business decision to me. This is what "they" have planned all along, for many years, whether "they" are Digital, Compaq, HP, or Intel.

  2. When Alpha died by evilviper · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I was already under the mistaken impression that Alpha was dead

    No, it wasn't a mistaken impression at all... Alpha died about 1997, when Compaq bought DEC, and squandered the assets of a great company. Sure, they were still turning out machines, but the Alpha was as good as dead from that point on. I figured maybe HP would know what Compaq didn't, and resurect the Alpha, but they are beholden to Intel, so that didn't happen.

    Believe it or not, even though it's been dead for the past 6 years, it could still be resurected...

    For one, Intel has bought the rights the the Alpha, so they could use some of the same ideas in their Itanium and Pentium chips. The miserable failure of the Itanium is quite encouraging, because that could mean the only way they can get a leg-up on AMD64, would be to start making Alphas... It's wishful thinking on my part, but Intel would have much to gain.

    Long-live the Alpha.
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    1. Re:When Alpha died by nosferatu-man · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I think what you mean is "fastest consumer/business mass production CPU"

      Try "general purpose." That's a less pejorative way to express the glum fact that Itanic 2 blows the doors off of everything else.

      This is 2003 , not 1993.

      ... and the latest (huge) Alphas run hot as a bastard. They always have. Alpha was an experiment that met an untimely end -- if DEC had only .... ! If Microsoft had only ... ! If AMD just hadn't ... ! Whatever. If frogs had wings, they wouldn't bump their asses on the ground.

      Take pleasure in the fact that you can buy a consumer grade system with the fastest general purpose CPU for under 10 grand -- or, if you're willing to give up 64 bit addressing, for less than $2k. That's astonishing -- in the days when the R10000 or 21164 was king of the hill, you'd be out 40 or 50 grand to get a box with that level of relative performance. Why slashbots bitch and moan about Intel I'll never understand. Sure, x86 and IA64 are gross nasty ISAs -- but how many posters here really work on the gcc's code generator? Seriously, people. Leave the heavy lifting to the people who enjoy it, and bask in the pleasure of CPU cycles to burn.

      'jfb

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  3. The best design rarely wins by MitziCG · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Some Alpha FAQs: Alpha powered machines still are used to validate every pentium that comes off the production line. Intel was sued by DEC for using Alpha technology in their chips. Then after the Compaq aquisition most of the Alpha devleopment team went to Intel. After the HP aquisistion the Alpha became became the red headed step child times 2. After all, a 5 year old alpha processors was STILL kicking the brand new super domes butt. Can't have that! Microsoft was sued by DEC because the creator of the original NT kernel used DEC VMS internals! The deal that was worked out is why Alpha NT existed (and Alpha 2000). Microsoft learned a lot about making a 64 bit OS from it's Alpha experience. Samsung will still sell Alphas for a bit. Many see the next step in 64 bit Intel Chips as the EV8 come to life - with Intel spin. The Alpha experience has had a tremendous influence on the computing world. Even though it is little recgonized, it's influence in chip design (but not marketing) will be felt for some time to come.

  4. It's all about marketing by twiddlingbits · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The "Intel Inside" TV ads, and other media blasts about Intal has convinced those who make the purchasing decisions that there is only one CPU worth anything. The CxO's have been seduced by the ads (sublimal suggestions?). The fact that Intel does NOT have the best chip architecture does not matter. Intel can supply 64-bit CPUs to HP cheaper than HP can make the Aplha and that marks the last days of the Alpha. Why make something no one wants at a cost higher than you can buy a similar product? It's good business sense, but I hate to see good technology ideas die just because they are not mainstream. Intel has a lot of power in the CPU market and they can make you an offer you can't refuse if you want to stay competitive.

  5. HP designed the Itanium (IA64) with Intel by Darth+Daver · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why would you be surprised that HP is throwing their weight behind it? Also, Alpha technology has been trickling into Intel processors for years.

    Yes, the biggest things Intel has going for it is fab capacity, economies of scale, and the natural trend toward commodization. Of course, that is a tough hand to beat. Intel is also famous for superior management and some of the best quality control processes in the world. Companies like AMD aspire to have quality control like Intel.