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HP Still Porting Linux to 64 bit PA RISC

Posted by Hemos on from the sale-or-no-sale-the-porting-continues dept.

Fungai wrote with an update to the on-going HP/Puffin Group story. There'd been some confusion with the recent purchase of Puffin Group by Linuxcare, but HP has confirmed that they will port Linux to their 64 bit PA-RISC chips. HP will still be partnering with Puffin Group to do it, with results expected in the first half of 2000.

3 of 51 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Just a question by NYC · · Score: 3
    Apple and SGI computers are some examples of machines that run on RISC processors.

    Apple computers are known for their amazing speed (the latest G3s were not suitable for export) but their inferior OS loses any benefits in speed gained from the hardware. Of course, you can always install a RISC-based version of Linux like mklinux on a Mac.

    SGI machines like the Origin server series are among the fatest computers in commercial use today. My SGI O2 workstation is only 200MHz, but since the processor is a RISC processor, it is comparable to a 300+MHz CICS processor.


    --Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!

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    --weenie NT4 user: bite me!
    "Computers are nothing but a perfect illusion of order" -- Iggy Pop
  2. Not blinding speed or price-performance by twit · · Score: 3

    I think (the eternal IMHO) that the major advantage that a PA-RISC port presents is not blinding speed on the desktop or price-performance, but access to a family of mission-critical hardware. Linux, developed on PC's and ported to a wide range of workstation hardware, has historically been short on big iron. Access to PA-RISC hardware, whether legacy or new machines, will go a long way towards remedying that deficit.

    If people (myself among them) spoke out against linux's reliability on commodity hardware, no one can question the reliability and stability of HP's unix hardware. It would be easy to sell me on a HP unix box running Linux - or at least, it would be, if I was still doing that kind of stuff.

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  3. Re:The point? by sterwill · · Score: 3

    Inferior ports?! You are just completely wrong! Tell me which "inferior ports" you've actually _used_ (installed, used, and maintained). Projects you've "heard about on Slashdot" do not count. I'll wager you haven't actually used Linux on real hardware (something that's evolved since 1980, like the Alpha, Sparc, or PowerPC, or MIPS, or PA-RISC), or you'd know just how exactly ignorant your assertion is.

    I wrote this comment on a 333 MHz PowerBook running Linux 2.3.22, in X at 1024x768 at 32 bpp, with all the software I need to get all my work done. Every piece of hardware is supported, and it's a better laptop value than any Intel-based offering. The 56K internal modem works, the 10/100 Ethernet works, the 14.1" screen is beautiful, the media bays (batteries, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM) work great, power management is superb (5 hours off a single battery), audio in and out, two completely useful USB ports (one of which runs a Logitech mouse when I'm parked at a desk), and even S-Video _and_ VGA output, and external SCSI. All of this with no "docking stations" -- the ports are right on the back. And they're $2499.

    I also use Linux on the Alpha, and the Alpha architecture is supported as well as, and possibly better, than the PowerPC architecture.

    Have you run any of these?

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