From owner-freebsd-alpha@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jan 20 16:30:39 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-alpha@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7EBB01065672 for ; Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:30:39 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from sten@blinkenlights.nl) Received: from mx0.blinkenlights.nl (mx0.blinkenlights.nl [IPv6:2a01:1b0:201:1::25]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1A32D8FC08 for ; Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:30:39 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from sten@blinkenlights.nl) Received: from bastard.snore.nl (bastard.snore.nl [IPv6:2001:7b8:666:ffff:0:42ff:fe00:4]) by mx0.blinkenlights.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id D411873051; Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:30:37 +0100 (CET) Received: by bastard.snore.nl (Postfix, from userid 1000) id BCC9328A574; Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:30:37 +0100 (CET) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by bastard.snore.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id B5E7828A53F; Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:30:37 +0100 (CET) Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:30:37 +0100 (CET) From: Sten Spans X-X-Sender: sten@bastard.snore.nl To: Matt Turner In-Reply-To: Message-ID: References: User-Agent: Alpine 0.99999 (DEB 796 2007-11-08) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Cc: freebsd-alpha@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Looking for Alpha-interested users and developers 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: Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:30:40 -0000 On Sat, 3 Jan 2009, Matt Turner wrote: > Hi, > > Though I don't know the history and the reasons, I'm sad to see > FreeBSD dropping Alpha support. > > What I do know is that there is still Alpha hardware in use. Alpha > fans are still working in places to fix bugs and bring new software to > the platform. I had an DS10, which was a nice box for home use, and finding unaligned pointer bugs in software. Currently I use a Sun to do the same job. The only thing I'd still like to do is port *BSD to the DS15, just because it's possible. But these boxen are pretty much impossible to find and insanely expensive (5k euro). Mainly because most customers were smart enough to buy the bigger boxes (ds25, 45) and because of common hardware failures. -- Sten Spans "There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in." Leonard Cohen - Anthem