No thanks. I'm an Alpha Linux guy. I suspect the PPC folks and others wouldn't like it either. Every time someone comes out with "binary only" stuff, they only target x86.
NNTP blows too. What would be really great, and only those who've used it would understand, is VAXnotes. (a.k.a. Notes, VMSnotes, DECnotes) Lotus Notes came from Len Kawell who, when he worked at DEC, did "Notes" which begat VAXnotes. (Len did something like it prior to DEC, I think at the University of Illinois on the Plato system I think. Steve Lionel will correct me if I'm wrong)
"Notes" as it was called in DEC, is great. It's still in use, now in Compaq. Keypad navigation, the concept of "unseen".vs. "seen" entries, moderation, etc..
I miss it every time I go to follow up on a conversation on Slashdot and have to re-read drivel.
VMS is the uptime king with systems out there that haven't gone down in years. The only time my personal VMS system went down was during a power hit or when I moved offices.
The best keyboard ever made was on the DEC VT52. (that's a dumb character cell terminal for you kids) Great action, modeled after an IBM Selectric. You could type all day on that.
I never could find one with the built-in thermal printer tho.
It's not just a "compiler optimized for Alpha". The back end to the compilers (C, C++, Fortran)is a technology called GEM. The Compaq Visual Fortran (CVF) compiler for Intel compilers is GEM based also. GEM has an intermediate language that can then be output into Alpha or Intel binaries. (this is a 50,000ft level description)
There's a group of engineers that work up in Nashua, NH that live and breath compilers and compiler technology. You are getting the fruits of their labour for nothing.
It's more than that. Most people think of computers as a tool. Same as a screwdriver or a hammer. It should be easy to figure out and easy to work.
Linux is great in that IF you want to tweak the bejesus out of it, you can. But for it to really succeed, it's gotta be a tool to get a job done. Nothing more, nothing less. If this means the installer is easy and graphical, so be it. Some users just don't have the luxury of time. "Get it up and get it running, we have money to make!" is the mantra.
The beauty of all this is as follows: Just like Burger King, you can have it your way. If you want the ease of installation and configuration with point in click, pick the distro behind door #1. If you want the pain and suffering because you like it, pick the distro from behind door #2.
Linux is about choice. Don't beat down the newbies because they want to configure their network using a point and click interface. To them, it's just a tool and they need to get a job done.
The problem with price is that it's always a function of volume. The more you sell, the cheaper you can sell it for. If your volumes are in the thousands, your per component cost is much higher. It's a tough battle.
Compaq has nothing to do with it. The SlotB was created by Alpha Processor Inc. a.k.a. API. A Samsung company. Samsung fabs Alpha's in Korea and API designs motherboards and sells them to resellers who build their own systems.
True, the Alpha draws more power than a K7. Slot A does not provide enough power for a 21264 Alpha.
The wording was a little off. NT 4.0 on Alpha was/is native. Using a software translation program from DEC, FX!32, you could run x86 Win32 programs on an Alpha NT 4.0 system. However, it was a 32-bit OS on a 64-bit chip. Alpha Linux (available from alot of folks like Red Hat and Debian and Suse to name a few) is 64-bit out of the box. Check out http://www.alpha-processor.com for their motherboards and vendors who sell them.
I'd encourage you to head to http://www.alpha-processor.com instead. We are the company set up by Samsung and Samsung Semi to do sales and marketing and other stuff for Alpha. Our web page has more info than I can put in here. FWIW, API is not Compaq. We're an *independant* company dedicated to bringing Alpha to the volume market. If you get InfoWorld, you'll see our latest ad. If not, you can see it at ftp://dutlbcz.lr.tudelft.nl/alphant/Incoming/API2. JPG Alpha is not dead. Not by any stretch. mike
Slashdot Mirror
Binary kernel modules = x86 only
No thanks. I'm an Alpha Linux guy. I suspect the PPC folks and others wouldn't like it either. Every time someone comes out with "binary only" stuff, they only target x86.
NNTP blows too. What would be really great, and only those who've used it would understand, is VAXnotes. (a.k.a. Notes, VMSnotes, DECnotes) Lotus Notes came from Len Kawell who, when he worked at DEC, did "Notes" which begat VAXnotes.
.vs. "seen" entries, moderation, etc..
(Len did something like it prior to DEC, I think at the University of Illinois on the Plato system I think. Steve Lionel will correct me if I'm wrong)
"Notes" as it was called in DEC, is great. It's still in use, now in Compaq. Keypad navigation, the concept of "unseen"
I miss it every time I go to follow up on a conversation on Slashdot and have to re-read drivel.
We had all this stuff back in 1984!
VMS is the uptime king with systems out there that haven't gone down in years. The only time my personal VMS system went down was during a power hit or when I moved offices.
That board, the UP1000, is made by Alpha Processor Inc. API is a division of Samsung.
It DOES use the AMD 751 Northbridge.
The best keyboard ever made was on the DEC VT52.
(that's a dumb character cell terminal for you kids) Great action, modeled after an IBM Selectric. You could type all day on that.
I never could find one with the built-in thermal printer tho.
mike
It's not just a "compiler optimized for Alpha". The back end to the compilers (C, C++, Fortran)is a technology called GEM. The Compaq Visual Fortran (CVF) compiler for Intel compilers is GEM based also. GEM has an intermediate language that can then be output into Alpha or Intel binaries. (this is a 50,000ft level description)
There's a group of engineers that work up in Nashua, NH that live and breath compilers and compiler technology. You are getting the fruits of their labour for nothing.
Radio Shack. You've got questions, we've got acne.
It's more than that. Most people think of computers as a tool. Same as a screwdriver or a hammer. It should be easy to figure out and easy to work.
Linux is great in that IF you want to tweak the bejesus out of it, you can. But for it to really succeed, it's gotta be a tool to get a job done. Nothing more, nothing less. If this means the installer is easy and graphical, so be it. Some users just don't have the luxury of time. "Get it up and get it running, we have money to make!" is the mantra.
The beauty of all this is as follows: Just like Burger King, you can have it your way. If you want the ease of installation and configuration with point in click, pick the distro behind door #1. If you want the pain and suffering because you like it, pick the distro from behind door #2.
Linux is about choice. Don't beat down the newbies because they want to configure their network using a point and click interface. To them, it's just a tool and they need to get a job done.
mike
The problem with price is that it's always a function of volume. The more you sell, the cheaper you can sell it for. If your volumes are in the thousands, your per component cost is much higher. It's a tough battle.
Compaq has nothing to do with it. The SlotB
was created by Alpha Processor Inc. a.k.a. API.
A Samsung company. Samsung fabs Alpha's in Korea
and API designs motherboards and sells them to
resellers who build their own systems.
True, the Alpha draws more power than a K7. Slot A does not provide enough power for a 21264 Alpha.
mike (I work at API)
Wow, Dave Fedor. There's a name from the past. He
used to work at DEC a million years ago and then
went on to work on Newtons at Apple.
Widcomm is coming out with a Bluetooth Springboard for the Visor.
What?? No Alpha version? I want to run this on
my latest hardware. Damn.
(I work for API)
That SlotB uni-processor motherboard was NOT madeby AMD. It was/is made by Alpha Processor Inc (API) It is called the UP1000.
It DOES use the AMD K7 core logic chipset.
mike (I work for API)
Seeing eye cats
:)
Night vision cat goggles
LickCam!
Or in the case of a Borg cat, imagine 7 of 9
with 8 breasts??? Sorry, that's a Borg in a
catsuit.
Really, the possibilities are endless.
Now if they'd only enable me to click a MUTE
button for one of our cats...
Oh please.. You already have Beowulf clusters with
Linux. (on Alphas, it can't be beat)
For high availability clusters, sorry, not much
can beat a VMS cluster. Tru64 is coming close tho.
mike (former sys mangler in VMS Development group, now at API)
The wording was a little off. NT 4.0 on Alpha was/is native. Using a software translation program from DEC, FX!32, you could run x86 Win32 programs on an Alpha NT 4.0 system. However, it was a 32-bit OS on a 64-bit chip. Alpha Linux (available from alot of folks like Red Hat and Debian and Suse to name a few) is 64-bit out of the box. Check out http://www.alpha-processor.com for their motherboards and vendors who sell them.
I'd encourage you to head to http://www.alpha-processor.com instead. We are the company set up by Samsung and Samsung Semi to do sales and marketing and other stuff for Alpha. Our web page has more info than I can put in here. FWIW, API is not Compaq. We're an *independant* company dedicated to bringing Alpha to the volume market. If you get InfoWorld, you'll see our latest ad. If not, you can see it at ftp://dutlbcz.lr.tudelft.nl/alphant/Incoming/API2. JPG Alpha is not dead. Not by any stretch. mike