From owner-freebsd-hackers Thu Feb 13 14:17:57 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id OAA13109 for hackers-outgoing; Thu, 13 Feb 1997 14:17:57 -0800 (PST) Received: from fog.xinside.com (fog.xinside.com [199.164.187.39]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id OAA13104 for ; Thu, 13 Feb 1997 14:17:52 -0800 (PST) Received: (from smap@localhost) by fog.xinside.com (8.8.3/8.7.3) id PAA16428 for ; Thu, 13 Feb 1997 15:16:32 -0700 (MST) X-Authentication-Warning: fog.xinside.com: smap set sender to using -f Received: from chon.xinside.com(199.164.187.134) by fog.xinside.com via smap (V1.3) id sma016425; Thu Feb 13 15:16:29 1997 Received: (from patrick@localhost) by chon.xinside.com (8.7.5/8.6.12) id PAA02367; Thu, 13 Feb 1997 15:16:27 -0700 (MST) Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 15:16:27 -0700 (MST) Message-Id: <199702132216.PAA02367@chon.xinside.com> From: Patrick Giagnocavo To: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Sun Workshop compiler vs. GCC? In-Reply-To: <199702132125.NAA18583@vader.cs.berkeley.edu> References: <199702132125.NAA18583@vader.cs.berkeley.edu> Reply-To: patrick@xinside.com Sender: owner-hackers@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Satoshi Asami writes: > * One final observation: Isn't it scary that merely by recompiling their OS > * with the new compiler, the next version of Solaris/x86 (2.6) should be > * significantly faster than the previous version, making it an even bigger > * threat to the free UNIX's for commercial users, and ESPECIALLY the > * education market? While FreeBSD and Linux have an advantage by being > > I'm optimistic about this. My understanding is that the slowness and > number of bugs of Solaris is intrinsic to its complexity of design > (and also the fact that it was designed for workstations in mind, > initially). You just can't make a huge mammoth run fast, no matter > how much cash you sink into the compiler. Compiler optimization is no > cure for bad design. I tried to get Solaris x86 up on two different machines. No go. Can however install Linux FreeBSD etc. on these systems no problem. System A - it didn't properly detect my Adaptec 1542B. System B - couldn't install the boot blocks properly on an IDE (not EIDE) drive. Solaris won't capture the market, because they don't have a good installation program. Maybe this isn't a very technical problem, but it is a very real consideration when dealing with people who are just trying to get things to work... I'd plunk down the money for Solaris x86 if it would install easier - but it doesn't. cordially --Patrick