Date: Tue, 11 Nov 1997 16:25:35 +0000 (GMT) From: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com> To: mark@vmunix.com (Mark Mayo) Cc: wghhicks@ix.netcom.com, mike@seidata.com, freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Newest Pentium bug (fatal) Message-ID: <199711111625.JAA18808@usr03.primenet.com> In-Reply-To: <19971111083902.30210@vmunix.com> from "Mark Mayo" at Nov 11, 97 08:39:02 am
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> From my naive eyes, it would certainly appear that if FreeBSD were > going to port to the Alpha platform, Linux is the place to look > for "documentation". NetBSD also seems to be running fairly well > on the Alpha. NetBSD is even running on the TurboLaser > products, which i don't believe Linux is (I could be wrong on that > one). > > If Terry is able to port the VM system to the alpha architecture, > that would be a huge step towards a sucessful port IMHO, since > a lot of the other stuff could be "borrowed" from NetBSD and Linux. It's not that hard a port; as John Dyson pointed out the last time this came up, it's fairly portable, so I don't deserve a hell of a lot of credit for it. What isn't portable is the use of the VM system by other systems in the kernel, starting with the FS. That's mostly NetBSD/FreeBSD integration, and it's an ongoing problem that gets worse and worse as they both diverge from Lite2 without consideration for the union of issues that both camps are trying to address. > At any rate, it would be nice to have FreeBSD Alpha port. The other > reality, of course, is that even though Alpha's are dropping like > stones in price (at least the 21164PC ones..), they probably won't > ever become mainstream enough to really warrant a FreeBSD port. > Afterall, if I want BSD on my Alpha, I can always get it from NetBSD! The point is not just to have BSD, but to leverage technological advance; FreeBSD's VM is more advanced, it should go in. FreeBSD's SMP work is more advanced, it should go in. NetBSD's build tree structure is cross platform, it should go in. FreeBSD's ports system is more advanced, it should go in. And so on. Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers.
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