From: jpt@salama.fno.dec.com (Jari Tavi)
Subject: Re: HP vs. DEC (not again!)
Keywords: Alpha
Reply-To: jpt@salama.fno.dec.com (Jari Tavi)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 18:26:16 GMT



|> What Alpha?  Ain't seen no Alpha anywheres...  Outside of DEC press
|> releases that is.  A recent DEC Professional article had some
|> interesting information which may be useful.  They said that moving
|> your old VMS executables would require a PORT!!!!

To be short:

Most of the code requires either recompilation or binary translation.
For best performance (and code size) recopilation is best alternative.
Only certain applications need special porting effort, and Digital gives 
detailed information and instructions on how to do it and what are
the most obvious problems.

If you wish to see Alpha machines, you should contact your sales office
and ask for demo or presentation or visit to site where Alpha AXP 
machines are running. 

|> 
|> Certain things changed, like the precision of arithmetic (see those
|> old VMS bugs run), plus the compilers are true ANSI beasties (your
|> old code may not even compile any more), plus since the execs are
|> different, you will need all new 3rd party versions of your code
|> (can you say mucho bucks for upgrades???)!!!

This all has been explained in migration documentation. I've 
been supporting several Alpha 'porting projects' and I would say
that getting one's application up and running on ALpha AXP platform 
is very straightforward. Even complicated applications have been 
ported to OpenVMS(tm) or OSF/1(tm) even just in few minutes!


|> 
|> They also point out that there may be bugs in the chip, since it has
|> soooooooo many parts (t'ain't RISC, but CISC, lotsa parts! :-)
|> 

Chip is called 21064, and it is RISC chip. You can get quite detailed
description of the architecture by ordering book:

	Alpha Architecture Handbook
	EC-H1689-10

I would call that chip's design *very* advanced despite the fact that
I'm working for Digital ;-) 

|> Who knows what the speeds will be...  DEC has lied before...
|> 

I don't know what do you mean with your comment, but I feel sorry to
see that there must be some reason you tell 'DEC has lied' before. 
There are some public performance numbers already, which you can 
ask for from your local Digital sales office.

|>Here's one entry:
|>                       HP700           Dec Alpha
|>                       -----           ---------
|>I can buy one today:      Yes                 No  
|>Has a working OS:         Yes                 No
|>Has many 3rd party aps:   Yes                 No
|>Supports UNIX:            Yes                 No
  Is true 64-bit arch:                          Yes

On those (No) comments: I would recommend one more time to contact Digital
to get true information instead of myths or rumours. There has been even
several public events where Alpha AXP products has been demoed to run
and exist. Ask for prices and delivery schedules from your local office, 
because some of the details vary from country to country. 


PS: I'm a tech-DECcie, not sales-DECcie ;-)


===============================================================================
Full-Name:      Jari Tavi			
Organization:   DEC Finland                     Dept:           DS/OSG
Tel:            +358-0-434 5252                 DTN:            879-5252
Internet:       jpt@rixrax.enet.dec.com
Address:        Digital Equipment Corporation Oy
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                02201 Espoo
                FINLAND
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* All opinions are my personal, and do not necessarily represent opinions of
* my employer! 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp