From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Jan 14 07:25:03 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EE8E616A4CE for ; Wed, 14 Jan 2004 07:25:03 -0800 (PST) Received: from adsl-68-76-19-75.dsl.klmzmi.ameritech.net (adsl-68-76-19-75.dsl.klmzmi.ameritech.net [68.76.19.75]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9B02443D45 for ; Wed, 14 Jan 2004 07:24:47 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from luke@foolishgames.com) Received: from [192.168.2.49] (adsl-67-36-56-113.dsl.klmzmi.ameritech.net [67.36.56.113]) (authenticated bits=0)ESMTP id i0EFOi68066128; Wed, 14 Jan 2004 10:24:44 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from luke@foolishgames.com) X-Authentication-Warning: adsl-68-76-19-75.dsl.klmzmi.ameritech.net: Host adsl-67-36-56-113.dsl.klmzmi.ameritech.net [67.36.56.113] claimed to be [192.168.2.49] In-Reply-To: <200401141513.i0EFDx714503@clunix.cl.msu.edu> References: <200401141513.i0EFDx714503@clunix.cl.msu.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v609) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Message-Id: Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: Lucas Holt Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2004 10:25:05 -0500 To: Jerry McAllister X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.609) cc: micheas@freep.org cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org cc: "Kevin R. Lee" Subject: Re: Info. X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2004 15:25:04 -0000 From my understanding a DEC Alpha system contained an Alpha processor. I don't know a lot about them, but I believe they are RISC based and had a portion of the chip that was programmable for the operating system to add custom instructions to. There was a windows NT 4 port to the alpha and DEC and later compaq/hp had a Unix for them as well. Some alpha systems are still in production use. I know a college around here that uses it for a custom security system with keycards. The software they use was never ported to the x86 version (IA32 for people who hate that term) of NT4. Lucas Holt Luke@FoolishGames.com ________________________________________________________ FoolishGames.com (Jewel Fan Site) JustJournal.com (Free blogging) 'Re-implementing what I designed in 1979 is not interesting to me personally. For kids who are 20 years younger than me, Linux is a great way to cut your teeth. It's a cultural phenomenon and a business phenomenon. Mac OS X is a rock-solid system that's beautifully designed. I much prefer it to Linux.' -- Bill Joy, Wired Article 2003