Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 15:58:28 -0700 (PDT) From: Curt Sampson <cjs@portal.ca> To: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com> Cc: alpha@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: PALcode Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.02.9810141540220.10992-100000@ascetic.portal.ca> In-Reply-To: <199810142213.PAA29962@usr04.primenet.com>
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On Wed, 14 Oct 1998, Terry Lambert wrote:
> I realize the conditions.
> I have a very hard time not beliving that the VMS PALcode doesn't
> make the Alpha look like a VAX....
Obviously you don't realise the conditions. All I can ask is *please*
go read that Alpha Architecture Reference Manual you say you have,
so you're not arguing from ignorance.
But for your information, yes it does make it look kind of like a
VAX. Kind of like a VAX running certain parts of the VMS operating
system.
> It seems,
> in fact, to ignore the last 20 years that architects have spent
> working on HAL's *precisely* so that the OS would be *unable*
> to put down hardware-dependent roots.
You seem to believe that the PALcode is an implementation that
extends the hardware. This is not the case. Read this next statement
carefully:
The PALcode is an implementation of a few of the most
hardware-dependent parts of the operating system.
In many ways, the PALcode *is* the OS HAL.
> Yes, this may mean that we have to emultate some functions in
> software. So what?
No, it doesn't mean that. In the case of using the Windows NT
PALcode, it means you're effectively running on a 32-bit machine,
among other things. This is no way of `emulating' around this. If
you think people are going to laugh at you for not running on all
Alphas, just wait until what they say when you explain that your
OS is limited to 32 bits.
> ...I'm going to say on the matter of making FreeBSD run on only
> a small fraction of the machines because of anti-Microsoft
> politics and inadequate willingness to engineer around artificial
> limitations.
I'd like to see where you get `small fraction' from, Terry. Not
only is DU PALcode available for most Alphas, but there are a number
of Alphas (primarially the older and the bigger ones) for which
there is no Windows NT PALcode available. So you're cutting off
machines either way.
cjs
--
Curt Sampson <cjs@portal.ca> 604-257-9400 De gustibus, aut bene aut nihil.
Any opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.
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