From owner-freebsd-alpha@FreeBSD.ORG Fri May 12 09:38:22 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: alpha@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-alpha@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 49DE616A417; Fri, 12 May 2006 09:38:22 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from peterjeremy@optushome.com.au) Received: from mail24.syd.optusnet.com.au (mail24.syd.optusnet.com.au [211.29.133.165]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 99F4A43D4C; Fri, 12 May 2006 09:38:19 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from peterjeremy@optushome.com.au) Received: from turion.vk2pj.dyndns.org (c220-239-19-236.belrs4.nsw.optusnet.com.au [220.239.19.236]) by mail24.syd.optusnet.com.au (8.12.11/8.12.11) with ESMTP id k4C9c4bJ015560 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA bits=168 verify=NO); Fri, 12 May 2006 19:38:04 +1000 Received: from turion.vk2pj.dyndns.org (localhost.vk2pj.dyndns.org [127.0.0.1]) by turion.vk2pj.dyndns.org (8.13.6/8.13.6) with ESMTP id k4C9c4fC001331; Fri, 12 May 2006 19:38:04 +1000 (EST) (envelope-from peter@turion.vk2pj.dyndns.org) Received: (from peter@localhost) by turion.vk2pj.dyndns.org (8.13.6/8.13.6/Submit) id k4C9c4WN001330; Fri, 12 May 2006 19:38:04 +1000 (EST) (envelope-from peter) Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 19:38:04 +1000 From: Peter Jeremy To: Kevin Oberman Message-ID: <20060512093804.GC714@turion.vk2pj.dyndns.org> Mail-Followup-To: Peter Jeremy , Kevin Oberman , alpha@freebsd.org, current@freebsd.org References: <200605111424.04935.jhb@freebsd.org> <20060511223035.189F545053@ptavv.es.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20060511223035.189F545053@ptavv.es.net> X-PGP-Key: http://members.optusnet.com.au/peterjeremy/pubkey.asc User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.11 Cc: alpha@freebsd.org, current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: HEADSUP: Alpha support is being retired in 7.0 X-BeenThere: freebsd-alpha@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Porting FreeBSD to the Alpha List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 09:38:22 -0000 On Thu, 2006-May-11 15:30:35 -0700, Kevin Oberman wrote: >exists and its creators (designers) are very sad at its demise. It was >an amazing design for its time and could have been a powerful force in >hardware with anything that resembled reasonable marketing. My sentiments as well. When I first used it (in late 1998), I thought the architecture looked weird but after using it for a while and reading more about the design decisions, I came to the conclusion that it was one of the better designed architectures around. There were a few warts (requiring software assistance to fully support IEEE FP but not supporting precise exceptions was the biggest IMHO) but DEC actually considered the likely impact of future changes to technology, rather than just band-aiding an existing architecture to meet the current technology limitations/requirements. -- Peter Jeremy