On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 7:06 PM, Michael Robinson <plu...@robinson-west.com>wrote:
> > On Mon, 2009-09-14 at 06:26 -0700, wes wrote: > > It is at least possible to find the RAM you mentioned: > > > > > http://www.memory4less.com/m4l_itemdetail.asp?rid=fd_10&itemid=1438949855 > > > > sale price 165.23... have fun with that. > > > > At the risk of opening Pandora's box..... why are you spending so much > time > > on Alpha stuff? > > > > -wes > > > Why Alpha got into the hands of Compaq followed by HP, I am not certain. > > Sadly, Alpha could have been a significant alternative to Itanium that > would have competed well if it had been continued. > > The market is dominated by Intel and this is not healthy. The IA32 > and Itanium architecture are probably highly complex and complicated. > A simpler architecture built for speed like the Alpha should in > theory be easier to support Linux on. > > Should Sparc die out because it is not an Intel compatible architecture? > > Heck, these days Intel even makes the Mac. > > But seriously, why did a computer architecture that was creaming the > IA32 architecture on floating point lose to the Itanium architecture? > > I suppose AMD processors, which are not a different architecture really > from Intel's, are the only alternative left in the mini and micro > computer world. > > The Wintel monopoly is well known and frankly it is sickening that these > two companies work so closely together. The DEC Alpha could have broken > that up a bit. Intel Mac and Intel PC are not enough, there need to be > more choices than that. It's kinda like saying, "You can have any car > you want, as long as it's black." > > There are a few problems with Alpha that show how tightly Intel and > Microsoft are married. Windows NT 4.0 on Alpha is out of support now, > but even before support ended there was no easy way to know where to > get Windows NT Alpha software where the PC version wouldn't work. > FX32 wasn't that great. On the other hand, this poor support for > Windows software translates to poor support for Windows viruses and > worms. Using an Alpha for a server instead of a PC is theoretically > safer. Using the Alpha these days is like using Latin. > > I don't see trying to upgrade the memory in my Alpha as opening > Pandora's box at all. I think he meant opening Pandora's box by ASKING you why you still use Alpha ;) I don't like where computers are today. > I don't like that Linux used to run on 5 or 6 different computer > architectures equally well where these days it only seems to run > well on just one or two. Does Redhat even support Linux on > Sparc anymore? Is Sparc dead? How about MIPS and PowerPC? > PowerPC is an interesting concept, a powerful computer that > can run software meant for both Macs and IBM compatible > personal computers. What happened to that concept? > > Why isn't there a software company supporting a non Itanium computer > architecture that isn't tied to Intel? Intel is becoming too > powerful. Windows should have lost major market share a long time > ago, but Intel has been tying the most common computer hardware to > it. Even Mac these days uses Intel hardware. > > I think the Alpha is a great architecture with no hacks like the IA32 > and Itanium architectures. Alpha's have a young architecture that was > never taken to it's full potential. > > To sum up, it sounds like you use it because it specifically is not Intel or Intel compatible. Three cheers for the little guy who coulda been a contenda... >From what I understand the reason Alpha didn't go any further was marketing (or lack thereof), not technical. I don't have any Alpha, but I have a PPC based NEXT slab workstation around somewhere, and a G4 and a couple G3 PowerBooks. I also run AMD64 in my main desktop. But I do have a couple Intel laptops and a netbook. I don't want to see Intel going down or anything, they happen to be a big part of the Oregon economy (jobs being a big part of that)- but I do agree lately the market has thinned too much. The last major holdout was Apple/PPC. That being said, you have to admit, without Intel, how likely is it, we would all have our own personal computers at home (or several), instead of sitting at a teletype logged into a mainframe? My $0.02225 (inflation) ----- Matt M. LinuxKnight _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
