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Groups > comp.os.linux.misc > #8050 > unrolled thread

Wish to try Linux

Started byPeter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com>
First post2013-05-09 20:09 +0100
Last post2013-06-25 12:52 +0100
Articles 20 on this page of 147 — 31 participants

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Contents

  Wish to try Linux Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> - 2013-05-09 20:09 +0100
    Re: Wish to try Linux Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> - 2013-05-09 15:25 -0400
      Re: Wish to try Linux Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2013-05-09 15:24 -0500
        Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-09 21:51 +0100
        Re: Wish to try Linux Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> - 2013-05-09 18:41 -0400
    Re: Wish to try Linux Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> - 2013-05-09 15:28 -0400
      Re: Wish to try Linux Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> - 2013-05-10 16:48 +0100
    Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-09 20:48 +0100
      Re: Wish to try Linux Octothorpe <Octothorpe@invalid.com> - 2013-05-09 16:45 -0400
        Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-09 23:50 +0100
          Re: Wish to try Linux Octothorpe <Octothorpe@invalid.com> - 2013-05-10 07:41 -0400
            Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-10 13:01 +0100
              Re: Wish to try Linux Octothorpe <Octothorpe@invalid.com> - 2013-05-10 08:49 -0400
                Re: Wish to try Linux Aragorn <stryder@telenet.be.invalid> - 2013-05-10 15:20 +0200
                  Re: Wish to try Linux Octothorpe <Octothorpe@invalid.com> - 2013-05-10 16:11 -0400
            Re: Wish to try Linux Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> - 2013-05-10 08:04 -0400
              Re: Wish to try Linux Bill Marcum <bill@nowhere.invalid> - 2013-05-16 07:58 -0400
            Re: Wish to try Linux Bill Marcum <bill@nowhere.invalid> - 2013-05-16 07:56 -0400
              Re: Wish to try Linux Octothorpe <Octothorpe@invalid.com> - 2013-05-16 09:32 -0400
                Re: Wish to try Linux Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> - 2013-05-16 16:03 +0200
                  Re: Wish to try Linux John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2013-05-16 09:27 -0500
                    Re: Wish to try Linux Octothorpe <Octothorpe@invalid.com> - 2013-05-16 10:53 -0400
                  Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-16 15:30 +0100
                  Re: Wish to try Linux Octothorpe <Octothorpe@invalid.com> - 2013-05-16 10:52 -0400
                Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-16 15:30 +0100
                Re: Wish to try Linux Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> - 2013-05-16 16:14 -0400
                  Re: Wish to try Linux Octothorpe <Octothorpe@invalid.com> - 2013-05-16 17:23 -0400
      Re: Wish to try Linux notbob <notbob@nothome.com> - 2013-05-09 23:49 +0000
        Re: Wish to try Linux Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2013-05-09 19:35 -0500
          Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-10 05:30 +0100
            Re: Wish to try Linux notbob <notbob@nothome.com> - 2013-05-10 14:27 +0000
        Re: Wish to try Linux Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2013-05-09 22:13 -0400
      Re: Wish to try Linux Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> - 2013-05-10 16:50 +0100
        Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-10 17:19 +0100
          Re: Wish to try Linux Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> - 2013-05-15 16:27 +0100
            Re: Wish to try Linux J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2013-05-15 16:34 +0000
              Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-15 17:46 +0100
                Re: Wish to try Linux J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2013-05-15 18:15 +0000
                  Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-15 19:32 +0100
                  Re: Wish to try Linux Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> - 2013-05-15 14:52 -0400
                    Re: Wish to try Linux J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2013-05-15 21:11 +0000
                  Re: Wish to try Linux Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2013-05-15 13:54 -0500
                  Re: Wish to try Linux Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> - 2013-05-16 01:01 -0400
                    Re: Wish to try Linux Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> - 2013-05-16 10:52 +0200
                      Re: Wish to try Linux Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> - 2013-05-16 08:25 -0400
                        Re: Wish to try Linux J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2013-05-16 18:56 +0000
                          Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-16 20:33 +0100
                            Re: Wish to try Linux J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2013-05-16 19:35 +0000
                              Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-16 20:43 +0100
                            Re: Wish to try Linux bruce.sinclair@NOSPAMORELSEagresearch.NOTco.NOTnz (Bruce Sinclair) - 2013-05-19 23:33 +0000
                          Re: Wish to try Linux Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> - 2013-05-16 16:16 -0400
            Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-15 17:44 +0100
              Re: Wish to try Linux Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2013-05-15 13:44 -0500
                Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-15 20:37 +0100
      Re: Wish to try Linux "Chris F.A. Johnson" <cfajohnson@gmail.com> - 2013-05-14 13:51 -0400
        Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-14 21:16 +0100
          Re: Wish to try Linux "Chris F.A. Johnson" <cfajohnson@gmail.com> - 2013-05-14 17:49 -0400
            Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-15 00:02 +0100
    Re: Wish to try Linux Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2013-05-09 15:03 -0500
      Re: Wish to try Linux Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> - 2013-05-23 14:09 +0100
        Re: Wish to try Linux Richard Kettlewell <rjk@greenend.org.uk> - 2013-05-23 14:38 +0100
          Re: Wish to try Linux Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> - 2013-05-23 16:33 +0100
            Re: Wish to try Linux John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2013-05-23 10:55 -0500
              Re: Wish to try Linux Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> - 2013-05-23 19:00 +0100
                Re: Wish to try Linux Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> - 2013-06-01 11:43 +0200
                  Re: Wish to try Linux notbob <notbob@nothome.com> - 2013-06-01 11:37 +0000
                    Re: Wish to try Linux Balwinder S Dheeman <bsd.SANSPAM@anu.homelinux.net> - 2013-06-01 21:59 +0530
                    Re: Wish to try Linux Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> - 2013-06-01 19:14 +0200
                      Re: Wish to try Linux notbob <notbob@nothome.com> - 2013-06-01 17:43 +0000
                    Re: Wish to try Linux Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2013-06-01 19:33 -0400
                      Re: Wish to try Linux Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> - 2013-06-02 02:37 +0200
                        Re: Wish to try Linux Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> - 2013-06-01 23:05 -0400
                          Re: Wish to try Linux Richard Kettlewell <rjk@greenend.org.uk> - 2013-06-02 09:33 +0100
                            Re: Wish to try Linux Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> - 2013-06-02 07:02 -0400
                              Re: Wish to try Linux David Brown <david.brown@removethis.hesbynett.no> - 2013-06-02 13:26 +0200
                                Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-06-02 15:47 +0100
                                  Re: Wish to try Linux Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> - 2013-06-02 14:52 -0400
                        Re: Wish to try Linux David Brown <david.brown@removethis.hesbynett.no> - 2013-06-02 13:32 +0200
            Re: Wish to try Linux Roger Blake <rogblake@iname.invalid> - 2013-05-23 17:09 +0000
              Re: Wish to try Linux Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> - 2013-05-23 19:06 +0100
              Re: Wish to try Linux Robert Riches <spamtrap42@jacob21819.net> - 2013-05-24 04:48 +0000
    Re: Wish to try Linux Bit Twister <BitTwister@mouse-potato.com> - 2013-05-09 20:03 +0000
    Re: Wish to try Linux unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2013-05-09 20:19 +0000
      Re: Wish to try Linux bad sector <forgetski@postit_INVALID_.gov> - 2013-05-09 20:27 -0400
        Re: Wish to try Linux unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2013-05-10 15:30 +0000
    Re: Wish to try Linux Stef <not@this.address.com> - 2013-05-10 03:05 +0000
      Re: Wish to try Linux notbob <notbob@nothome.com> - 2013-05-10 14:35 +0000
        Re: Wish to try Linux Stef <not@this.address.com> - 2013-05-10 16:44 +0000
          Re: Wish to try Linux notbob <notbob@nothome.com> - 2013-05-10 16:57 +0000
            Re: Wish to try Linux Stef <not@this.address.com> - 2013-05-11 03:59 +0000
              Re: Wish to try Linux Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2013-05-11 00:27 -0400
                Re: Wish to try Linux notbob <notbob@nothome.com> - 2013-05-11 12:49 +0000
                  Re: Wish to try Linux J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2013-05-11 12:56 +0000
                    Re: Wish to try Linux Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> - 2013-05-11 15:20 +0200
                      Re: Wish to try Linux notbob <notbob@nothome.com> - 2013-05-11 14:14 +0000
                        Re: Wish to try Linux Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> - 2013-05-11 10:30 -0400
                          Re: Wish to try Linux  OOps Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> - 2013-05-11 10:38 -0400
                            Re: Wish to try Linux  OOps Robert Riches <spamtrap42@jacob21819.net> - 2013-05-12 04:37 +0000
                    Re: Wish to try Linux Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2013-05-11 13:47 -0400
      Re: Wish to try Linux Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> - 2013-05-10 16:58 +0100
    Re: Wish to try Linux Aragorn <stryder@telenet.be.invalid> - 2013-05-10 06:53 +0200
      Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-10 07:26 +0100
        Re: Wish to try Linux Aragorn <stryder@telenet.be.invalid> - 2013-05-10 09:18 +0200
          Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-10 10:20 +0100
            Re: Wish to try Linux Aragorn <stryder@telenet.be.invalid> - 2013-05-10 11:40 +0200
        Re: Wish to try Linux Octothorpe <Octothorpe@invalid.com> - 2013-05-10 07:44 -0400
          Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-10 13:00 +0100
            Re: Wish to try Linux Octothorpe <Octothorpe@invalid.com> - 2013-05-10 08:47 -0400
              Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-10 15:50 +0100
      Re: Wish to try Linux Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> - 2013-06-21 18:44 +0100
        Re: Wish to try Linux Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> - 2013-06-21 19:53 +0200
          Re: Wish to try Linux Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> - 2013-06-21 18:55 +0100
            Re: Wish to try Linux Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> - 2013-06-21 20:05 +0200
        Re: Wish to try Linux Richard Kettlewell <rjk@greenend.org.uk> - 2013-06-21 19:17 +0100
          Re: Wish to try Linux Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> - 2013-06-21 19:56 +0100
            Re: Wish to try Linux Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> - 2013-06-21 19:59 +0100
        Re: Wish to try Linux Antti Talsta <atalsta@gmail.com> - 2013-06-21 21:04 +0300
        Re: Wish to try Linux Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2013-06-21 17:51 -0400
        Re: Wish to try Linux Roger Blake <rogblake@iname.invalid> - 2013-06-22 01:48 +0000
        Re: Wish to try Linux Stan Bischof <stan@worldbadminton.com> - 2013-06-24 16:48 +0000
        Re: Wish to try Linux Stan Bischof <stan@worldbadminton.com> - 2013-06-24 16:56 +0000
    Re: Wish to try Linux DenverD <DenverD@invalid.dk> - 2013-05-10 09:17 +0200
    Re: Wish to try Linux lichtblitz <nospam@lichtblitz.invalid> - 2013-05-10 13:49 +0000
      Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-10 15:48 +0100
        Re: Wish to try Linux Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2013-05-10 11:21 -0500
          Re: Wish to try Linux lichtblitz <nospam@lichtblitz.invalid> - 2013-05-10 18:20 +0000
            Re: Wish to try Linux Richard Kettlewell <rjk@greenend.org.uk> - 2013-05-10 19:54 +0100
            Re: Wish to try Linux Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> - 2013-05-10 14:55 -0400
            Re: Wish to try Linux Aragorn <stryder@telenet.be.invalid> - 2013-05-11 05:40 +0200
              Re: Wish to try Linux Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> - 2013-05-11 07:55 -0400
      Re: Wish to try Linux J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2013-05-10 16:07 +0000
        Re: Wish to try Linux lichtblitz <nospam@lichtblitz.invalid> - 2013-05-10 18:29 +0000
          Re: Wish to try Linux J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2013-05-10 19:48 +0000
    Re: Wish to try Linux David Hough <noone$$@llondel.org> - 2013-05-10 18:13 +0100
    Re: Wish to try Linux Dirk Weber <dma-weber@globe.lu> - 2013-05-10 19:09 +0200
    Re: Wish to try Linux Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> - 2013-05-14 19:01 +0100
      Re: Wish to try Linux Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> - 2013-06-23 22:55 +0100
        Re: Wish to try Linux The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2013-06-24 00:34 +0100
          Re: Wish to try Linux John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2013-06-23 19:23 -0500
            Re: Wish to try Linux David Brown <david.brown@removethis.hesbynett.no> - 2013-06-25 18:50 +0200
        Re: Wish to try Linux bruce.sinclair@NOSPAMORELSEagresearch.NOTco.NOTnz (Bruce Sinclair) - 2013-06-23 22:53 +0000
          Re: Wish to try Linux Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> - 2013-06-25 12:24 +0100
            Re: Wish to try Linux Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2013-06-25 12:28 -0400
            Re: Wish to try Linux bruce.sinclair@NOSPAMORELSEagresearch.NOTco.NOTnz (Bruce Sinclair) - 2013-06-25 23:11 +0000
        Re: Wish to try Linux John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2013-06-23 19:30 -0500
          Re: Wish to try Linux Ross Maloney <rmatycorp@iinet.net.au> - 2013-06-24 11:07 +0800
          Re: Wish to try Linux Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> - 2013-06-25 12:52 +0100

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#8187

FromRichard Kettlewell <rjk@greenend.org.uk>
Date2013-05-23 14:38 +0100
Message-ID<87mwrlke9k.fsf@araminta.anjou.terraraq.org.uk>
In reply to#8186
Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> writes:
> Robert Heller wrote:

>> and the Acer Aspire A5-4 notebook is *probably* 64-bit (am64).
>
> My output of my first Perl program tells me (irrelevant stuff snipped):
>
> PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE=AMD64
> PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER=Intel64 Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7, GenuineIntel

That is an i7-2600K.

> PROCESSOR_LEVEL=6
> PROCESSOR_REVISION=2a07
>
> I can't reconcile the mention of both AMD and Intel.

AMD designed the 64-bit version of the architecture, hence ‘amd64’.
Intel manufactured the particular implementation of it that you have.

-- 
http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/

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#8188

FromPeter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com>
Date2013-05-23 16:33 +0100
Message-ID<knlcsg$4c2$1@news.albasani.net>
In reply to#8187
Richard Kettlewell wrote:
> Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> writes:
>> Robert Heller wrote:
>
>>> and the Acer Aspire A5-4 notebook is *probably* 64-bit (am64).
>>
>> My output of my first Perl program tells me (irrelevant stuff snipped):
>>
>> PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE=AMD64
>> PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER=Intel64 Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7, GenuineIntel
>
> That is an i7-2600K.
>
>> PROCESSOR_LEVEL=6
>> PROCESSOR_REVISION=2a07
>>
>> I can't reconcile the mention of both AMD and Intel.
>
> AMD designed the 64-bit version of the architecture, hence ‘amd64’.
> Intel manufactured the particular implementation of it that you have.

Thank you for the explanation.  I didn't know that AMD and Intel 
collaborated.


-- 
I think I am an Elephant,
Behind another Elephant
Behind /another/ Elephant who isn't really there....
				A.A. Milne

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#8189

FromJohn Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com>
Date2013-05-23 10:55 -0500
Message-ID<87fvxdadxl.fsf@thumper.dhh.gt.org>
In reply to#8188
Peter Percival writes:
> Thank you for the explanation.  I didn't know that AMD and Intel
> collaborated.

They didn't.  AMD established the standard and Intel followed it.
-- 
John Hasler 
jhasler@newsguy.com
Dancing Horse Hill
Elmwood, WI USA

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#8191

FromPeter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com>
Date2013-05-23 19:00 +0100
Message-ID<knllgd$ndq$3@news.albasani.net>
In reply to#8189
John Hasler wrote:
> Peter Percival writes:
>> Thank you for the explanation.  I didn't know that AMD and Intel
>> collaborated.
>
> They didn't.  AMD established the standard and Intel followed it.

Oh!  I thought Intel were the leaders rather than the followers.  Maybe 
that was in the 70s.

-- 
I think I am an Elephant,
Behind another Elephant
Behind /another/ Elephant who isn't really there....
				A.A. Milne

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]


#8277

FromAragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid>
Date2013-06-01 11:43 +0200
Message-ID<kocfg7$nlm$1@dont-email.me>
In reply to#8191
On Thursday 23 May 2013 20:00, Peter Percival conveyed the following to 
comp.os.linux.misc...

> John Hasler wrote:
>> Peter Percival writes:
>>> Thank you for the explanation.  I didn't know that AMD and Intel
>>> collaborated.
>>
>> They didn't.  AMD established the standard and Intel followed it.
> 
> Oh!  I thought Intel were the leaders rather than the followers. 
> Maybe that was in the 70s.

When Intel decided to develop a 64-bit processor - now known as the 
Itanium  (IA64) architecture - they abandoned the x86 platform.  Itanium 
had/has an x86 emulation mode, but this is very slow and only runs 32- 
and 16-bit bit code.  AMD on the other hand chose to extend the x86 
architecture to the 64-bit level, whereby 32-bit applications could be 
run alongside of 64-bit applications at native speed.

With the Itanium being very expensive and AMD's x86-64 implementation 
being very interesting both technically and economically, Intel tried to 
make their own version of x86-64, but it wasn't fully functional and it 
wasn't compatible with the existing x86-64 software.  They then 
subsequently chose to take out a license on the AMD64 patent, albeit 
that they keep referring to it by the "Intel 64" moniker.  

Some companies - Sun Microsystems (now Oracle) and Microsoft - refer to 
AMD64 as "x64", but this is not an official name for the platform.  The 
official designations are "AMD64" and "x86-64".

-- 
= Aragorn =
  GNU/Linux user #223157 - http://www.linuxcounter.net

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#8278

Fromnotbob <notbob@nothome.com>
Date2013-06-01 11:37 +0000
Message-ID<slrnkqjn64.2u2.notbob@nbleet.hcc.net>
In reply to#8277
On 2013-06-01, Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> wrote:

> and 16-bit bit code.  AMD on the other hand chose to extend the x86 
> architecture to the 64-bit level, whereby 32-bit applications could be 
> run alongside of 64-bit applications at native speed.

Hmmm..... very interesting.  Thanks for that synopsis, Aragorn.  Being
a end-of-life haredware fan, I'll probably move up to an AMD64
platform and 64 bit
computing in the not-to-distant future.  Reading wiki on the subject,
I was disappointed to learn Slack is an either-or distro.  Is that why
alienbob has spent so much time on dual libs?  I'd hate to think I'd
hafta abandon Slack for Arch or Debian, though I'm confident my yrs
with Slack will serve me well, should I change.  

nb

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#8279

FromBalwinder S Dheeman <bsd.SANSPAM@anu.homelinux.net>
Date2013-06-01 21:59 +0530
Message-ID<q3kp7ax4ll.ln2@news.homelinux.net>
In reply to#8278
On 06/01/2013 05:07 PM, notbob wrote:
> On 2013-06-01, Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> wrote:
> 
>> and 16-bit bit code.  AMD on the other hand chose to extend the x86 
>> architecture to the 64-bit level, whereby 32-bit applications could be 
>> run alongside of 64-bit applications at native speed.
> 
> Hmmm..... very interesting.  Thanks for that synopsis, Aragorn.  Being
> a end-of-life haredware fan, I'll probably move up to an AMD64
> platform and 64 bit
> computing in the not-to-distant future.  Reading wiki on the subject,
> I was disappointed to learn Slack is an either-or distro.  Is that why
> alienbob has spent so much time on dual libs?  I'd hate to think I'd
> hafta abandon Slack for Arch or Debian, though I'm confident my yrs
> with Slack will serve me well, should I change.  

Yes, of course; trying other distributions would definitely be an
addition your experience with Linux.

Moreover, you already know that there also exist better distributions to
Slack :P

I for one, OTOH, am not distracting you from Slackware ;)

-- 
Balwinder S 'bdheeman' Dheeman
(http://werc.homelinux.net/contact/)

"GNU/Linux, developed by volunteers, is much better, but it's not
the best as yet. Do you too work on making a difference?"

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#8280

FromAragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid>
Date2013-06-01 19:14 +0200
Message-ID<kod9tf$2a6$1@dont-email.me>
In reply to#8278
On Saturday 01 June 2013 13:37, notbob conveyed the following to 
comp.os.linux.misc...

> On 2013-06-01, Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> wrote:
> 
>> and 16-bit bit code.  AMD on the other hand chose to extend the x86
>> architecture to the 64-bit level, whereby 32-bit applications could
>> be run alongside of 64-bit applications at native speed.
> 
> Hmmm..... very interesting.  Thanks for that synopsis, Aragorn.  Being
> a end-of-life haredware fan, I'll probably move up to an AMD64
> platform and 64 bit computing in the not-to-distant future.  Reading
> wiki on the subject, I was disappointed to learn Slack is an either-or
> distro.  Is that why alienbob has spent so much time on dual libs? 

Well, yes, but truth be told, these days not too much software comes as 
32-bit-only anymore.  The biggest problem in the past used to be to get 
the proprietary plugin vendors - <cough> Adobe et al <cough> - to 
support 64-bit GNU/Linux, but that's all behind us now.

My Mageia 1 system here is a so-called multi-lib system, so it's an 
x86-64 distribution with 32-bit compatibility support via the kernel and 
shared libraries, but in all honesty, I don't think I have any actual 
32-bit packages installed here, other than that compatibility layer.  
Everything I actively run on this machine is 64-bit.

> I'd hate to think I'd hafta abandon Slack for Arch or Debian, though
> I'm confident my yrs with Slack will serve me well, should I change.

They would, but you won't have to abandon Slackware at all.  Like I 
said, you can essentially get almost all x86 software in a 64-bit form 
these days.

I would also like to add that a new, third ABI is on its way in, albeit 
that only a few distributions - e.g. Gentoo - are supporting it right 
now.  It's officially called "x32", but it is a 64-bit system with a 
mostly 32-bit userland, so as to be able to use the smaller pointer 
sizes et al of 32-bit.  It is potentially interesting for 64-bit capable 
but low-spec machines which have only little RAM.

-- 
= Aragorn =
  GNU/Linux user #223157 - http://www.linuxcounter.net

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#8281

Fromnotbob <notbob@nothome.com>
Date2013-06-01 17:43 +0000
Message-ID<slrnkqkclc.2u2.notbob@nbleet.hcc.net>
In reply to#8280
On 2013-06-01, Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> wrote:

> Well, yes, but truth be told, these days not too much software comes as 
> 32-bit-only anymore.  

I'm 13.37 and ALL 32-bit and run a lotta non-std graphics pkgs.  Only
had one prob not being 64-bit and that was for some arduino compiler
pkg.  A Slacky packager bailed me out.  Still, "the end" is now viewable
on the horiz.  ;)

nb   

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#8282

FromMichael Black <et472@ncf.ca>
Date2013-06-01 19:33 -0400
Message-ID<alpine.LNX.2.02.1306011900280.23617@darkstar.example.org>
In reply to#8278
On Sat, 1 Jun 2013, notbob wrote:

> On 2013-06-01, Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> wrote:
>
>> and 16-bit bit code.  AMD on the other hand chose to extend the x86
>> architecture to the 64-bit level, whereby 32-bit applications could be
>> run alongside of 64-bit applications at native speed.
>
> Hmmm..... very interesting.  Thanks for that synopsis, Aragorn.  Being
> a end-of-life haredware fan, I'll probably move up to an AMD64
> platform and 64 bit
> computing in the not-to-distant future.  Reading wiki on the subject,
> I was disappointed to learn Slack is an either-or distro.  Is that why
> alienbob has spent so much time on dual libs?  I'd hate to think I'd
> hafta abandon Slack for Arch or Debian, though I'm confident my yrs
> with Slack will serve me well, should I change.
>
I just found an Xbox 350 last night, coming home.  I haven't plugged it 
in, but my general experience is that a lot of discard works fine.  I 
check when I get home, it runs Linux.  I look at the specs, it's a PowerPC 
CPU, but triple core, running at just over 3GHz if I read it right. 
It's even 64bits, I've not gotten to that point yet. And 
likely good graphics.  It even uses SATA drives, so I can use one of the 
ones I found in the garbage, so long as I make an adapter.

So I start  fantasizing, and then realize the thing only as 512megs of 
RAM, and I have moved beyond that.  Worse, since it's a game console, 
there's no easy way to add ram.

So much for the fantasy.  I figure if it works, I may find someone with an 
"old" computer that's better than what I have to trade.

Vut I did score a $10 GPS unit that  is actually portable, at the Rotary 
Club garage sale this morning.  It seems to work fine, even the 
Ion-Lithium battery holds a charge.

   Michael

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#8283

FromAragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid>
Date2013-06-02 02:37 +0200
Message-ID<koe3sq$728$1@dont-email.me>
In reply to#8282
On Sunday 02 June 2013 01:33, Michael Black conveyed the following to 
comp.os.linux.misc...

> I just found an Xbox 350 last night, coming home.  I haven't plugged
> it in, but my general experience is that a lot of discard works fine. 
> I check when I get home, it runs Linux.  I look at the specs, it's a
> PowerPC CPU, but triple core, running at just over 3GHz if I read it
> right. It's even 64bits, I've not gotten to that point yet. And
> likely good graphics.  It even uses SATA drives, so I can use one of
> the ones I found in the garbage, so long as I make an adapter.
> 
> So I start  fantasizing, and then realize the thing only as 512megs of
> RAM, and I have moved beyond that.  Worse, since it's a game console,
> there's no easy way to add ram.

Be advised though that the PowerPC architecture is a RISC platform, so 
the binary code for that platform will be more compact than code 
compiled for x86(-64).  RISC code is made up of micro-ops and is 
therefore highly optimized for both efficiency and memory consumption.

Ergo, that machine's RAM requirements won't be as strict as for x86 - 
there's more headroom - albeit that 512 MiB is indeed a bit on the 
meager side.

-- 
= Aragorn =
  GNU/Linux user #223157 - http://www.linuxcounter.net

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#8284

FromJean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net>
Date2013-06-01 23:05 -0400
Message-ID<koecp302o35@news6.newsguy.com>
In reply to#8283
On 06/01/2013 08:37 PM, Aragorn wrote:
> Be advised though that the PowerPC architecture is a RISC platform, so 
> the binary code for that platform will be more compact than code 
> compiled for x86(-64).  RISC code is made up of micro-ops and is 
> therefore highly optimized for both efficiency and memory consumption.
> 
> Ergo, that machine's RAM requirements won't be as strict as for x86 - 
> there's more headroom - albeit that 512 MiB is indeed a bit on the 
> meager side.

In the distant past, a colleague and I had occasion to write an
assembly-language level optimizer (mainly for C programs) for the SPARC
RISC processor. We had already done one for the AT&T 32100 series
processors (conventional architecture). I found doing that to be
somewhat more difficult than for the normal processors such as Intel
80386 and the Motorola 68000 series of the same time. Delay slots, etc.

But I did not find that they used any less memory for the instructions
because any one instruction may have been smaller than for complex
instruction set machines, but it took between 2 or 3 instructions to do
the same thing as a single instruction on the more traditional machines.
Furthermore, you then had to do 2 to 3 instruction fetches, so they
tended to run slower per computation even though any single instruction
could run faster.

I do like the idea of a RISC processor, and you might say that the SPARC
was not really very "reduced" anyway.

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#8285

FromRichard Kettlewell <rjk@greenend.org.uk>
Date2013-06-02 09:33 +0100
Message-ID<87sj1029pk.fsf@araminta.anjou.terraraq.org.uk>
In reply to#8284
Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> writes:
> In the distant past, a colleague and I had occasion to write an
> assembly-language level optimizer (mainly for C programs) for the SPARC
> RISC processor. We had already done one for the AT&T 32100 series
> processors (conventional architecture). I found doing that to be
> somewhat more difficult than for the normal processors such as Intel
> 80386 and the Motorola 68000 series of the same time. Delay slots, etc.
>
> But I did not find that they used any less memory for the instructions
> because any one instruction may have been smaller than for complex
> instruction set machines, but it took between 2 or 3 instructions to
> do the same thing as a single instruction on the more traditional
> machines.  Furthermore, you then had to do 2 to 3 instruction fetches,
> so they tended to run slower per computation even though any single
> instruction could run faster.

Comparing a few libraries which we build across multiple platforms, I
find SPARC produces object code up to 1-50% bigger than x86, but x86
20-30% bigger than PPC.  My conclusion is that you can’t reliably say
RISC ISAs produce either larger or smaller code than CISC, and aren’t on
particularly solid ground seeking a comparison just between two specific
ISAs - i.e. it can vary a fair bit depending on the specific code.

(Stripped object code in all cases, mostly compiled C.)

-- 
http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/

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#8286

FromJean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net>
Date2013-06-02 07:02 -0400
Message-ID<kof8n802dnc@news7.newsguy.com>
In reply to#8285
On 06/02/2013 04:33 AM, Richard Kettlewell wrote:
> Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> writes:
>> In the distant past, a colleague and I had occasion to write an
>> assembly-language level optimizer (mainly for C programs) for the SPARC
>> RISC processor. We had already done one for the AT&T 32100 series
>> processors (conventional architecture). I found doing that to be
>> somewhat more difficult than for the normal processors such as Intel
>> 80386 and the Motorola 68000 series of the same time. Delay slots, etc.
>>
>> But I did not find that they used any less memory for the instructions
>> because any one instruction may have been smaller than for complex
>> instruction set machines, but it took between 2 or 3 instructions to
>> do the same thing as a single instruction on the more traditional
>> machines.  Furthermore, you then had to do 2 to 3 instruction fetches,
>> so they tended to run slower per computation even though any single
>> instruction could run faster.
> 
> Comparing a few libraries which we build across multiple platforms, I
> find SPARC produces object code up to 1-50% bigger than x86, but x86
> 20-30% bigger than PPC.  My conclusion is that you can’t reliably say
> RISC ISAs produce either larger or smaller code than CISC, and aren’t on
> particularly solid ground seeking a comparison just between two specific
> ISAs - i.e. it can vary a fair bit depending on the specific code.
> 
> (Stripped object code in all cases, mostly compiled C.)
> 
My guess is that you are right. Where I worked, they also were trying to
build a processor RISC chip oriented specifically to running compiled C
programs. I do not know if they ever manufactured the chip or not, but I
did get a copy of the instruction set. I do not know what they were
anymore, but I do remember that this so-called RISC processor, that they
were calling CRISP at the time, had more op-codes than any other machine
I had ever seen, even the IBM 7094, Something like 350 op-codes. I was
disgusted. If that is C REDUCED INSTRUCTION SET PROCESSOR, I do not know
what they thought would be a complex instruction set machine. I know I
never got asked to write an optimizer for it.

That company, that once was a pioneer in computers, had completely lost
it, technically, by the time they were allowed to make computers again.
They had designed a pretty good 32-bit processor when people were trying
to make do with a PDP-11 computer or an 8086 Intel chip. We did the
optimizer for it. They had a bunch of benchmarks that we were to
optimize for, and they were very stupid. We could easily get 10:1 speed
ups on then. They even had a C version of the so-called Whetstone
benchmark. But their version had some errors in it. Our optimizer made
that go so fast it was difficult to time it. There was one loop in there
that added or multiplied a bunch of floating point numbers and did it
10,000 times (or something like that). I had put a loop invariant code
motion optimization in there, and it moved all the calculations outside
the loop for a fantastic speed-up. My colleague had live-dead analysis
and noticed that the empty loop had nothing in it, and that the loop
variable was not used later, so he removed those instructions. He also
removed the instructions I had moved out of the loop, since their values
were never used. That happened to most of the code in that so-called
benchmark.

We later did a study of the programs actually used by the UNIX machines
in our computation center. We found out what the most-used programs were
and made benchmarks from them. The troff (text processor) program was
the winner and we made a benchmark from it. But marketing would not let
us use it because it got only 1% (or something like that) improvement.
Programming style at that company was terrible from an optimization
standpoint. The programmers, who were mostly researchers and never wrote
for production, were terrible. They loved to make all variables external
(in C), to save the bother of passing arguments to functions. But
optimizing code with external variables was almost impossible because
those variables could appear in other files that the optimizer could not
see, so we had no way of knowing if code in another file could change
their values unseen to us, so we could not optimize them.

But some genius in marketing said there was a multiply of a floating
point number by two, and they designed a multiply by 2 floating point
op-code for it (that added 1 to the exponent). I told them not to do it
because we would never generate the instruction because that "2" was an
external variable and it could change, unseen by the program, if an
interrupt came along. So they put it in anyway and we never generated
it. I said that they would have been wiser to use the chip area to
increase the size of the instruction cache (from 2 instructions to some
more), but they did not do it. They were in love with useless complexity.

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#8288

FromDavid Brown <david.brown@removethis.hesbynett.no>
Date2013-06-02 13:26 +0200
Message-ID<_LWdnTPUWuFMtjbMnZ2dnUVZ8vydnZ2d@lyse.net>
In reply to#8286
On 02/06/13 13:02, Jean-David Beyer wrote:
> On 06/02/2013 04:33 AM, Richard Kettlewell wrote:
>> Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> writes:
>>> In the distant past, a colleague and I had occasion to write an
>>> assembly-language level optimizer (mainly for C programs) for the SPARC
>>> RISC processor. We had already done one for the AT&T 32100 series
>>> processors (conventional architecture). I found doing that to be
>>> somewhat more difficult than for the normal processors such as Intel
>>> 80386 and the Motorola 68000 series of the same time. Delay slots, etc.
>>>
>>> But I did not find that they used any less memory for the instructions
>>> because any one instruction may have been smaller than for complex
>>> instruction set machines, but it took between 2 or 3 instructions to
>>> do the same thing as a single instruction on the more traditional
>>> machines.  Furthermore, you then had to do 2 to 3 instruction fetches,
>>> so they tended to run slower per computation even though any single
>>> instruction could run faster.
>>
>> Comparing a few libraries which we build across multiple platforms, I
>> find SPARC produces object code up to 1-50% bigger than x86, but x86
>> 20-30% bigger than PPC.  My conclusion is that you can’t reliably say
>> RISC ISAs produce either larger or smaller code than CISC, and aren’t on
>> particularly solid ground seeking a comparison just between two specific
>> ISAs - i.e. it can vary a fair bit depending on the specific code.
>>
>> (Stripped object code in all cases, mostly compiled C.)
>>
> My guess is that you are right. Where I worked, they also were trying to
> build a processor RISC chip oriented specifically to running compiled C
> programs. I do not know if they ever manufactured the chip or not, but I
> did get a copy of the instruction set. I do not know what they were
> anymore, but I do remember that this so-called RISC processor, that they
> were calling CRISP at the time, had more op-codes than any other machine
> I had ever seen, even the IBM 7094, Something like 350 op-codes. I was
> disgusted. If that is C REDUCED INSTRUCTION SET PROCESSOR, I do not know
> what they thought would be a complex instruction set machine. I know I
> never got asked to write an optimizer for it.
>

It is a common misconception that a RISC architecture has a small number 
of opcodes - i.e., the parsing is "Reduced" "Instruction-Set" 
"Computer".  In fact, RISC means the /instructions/ are reduced, not the 
/instruction set/ - it is "Reduced Instruction" "Set" "Computer".

Thus a RISC architecture like the PPC has a very large number of 
op-codes, but they are almost all "simple" and execute in a single cycle 
rather than with loops, microcode, multiple steps, etc., as is normal in 
CISC architectures.  Some instructions, like the bitfield manipulations, 
are pretty complicated - but as they execute using dedicated 
single-cycle logic, they are still classed as "simple".  Of course, 
there are still some multi-cycle complex instructions, especially for 
things like floating-point operations.  But most of the op-codes are 
"simple".

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#8293

FromThe Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid>
Date2013-06-02 15:47 +0100
Message-ID<kofluj$mfc$1@news.albasani.net>
In reply to#8288
On 02/06/13 12:26, David Brown wrote:
> On 02/06/13 13:02, Jean-David Beyer wrote:
>> On 06/02/2013 04:33 AM, Richard Kettlewell wrote:
>>> Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> writes:
>>>> In the distant past, a colleague and I had occasion to write an
>>>> assembly-language level optimizer (mainly for C programs) for the 
>>>> SPARC
>>>> RISC processor. We had already done one for the AT&T 32100 series
>>>> processors (conventional architecture). I found doing that to be
>>>> somewhat more difficult than for the normal processors such as Intel
>>>> 80386 and the Motorola 68000 series of the same time. Delay slots, 
>>>> etc.
>>>>
>>>> But I did not find that they used any less memory for the instructions
>>>> because any one instruction may have been smaller than for complex
>>>> instruction set machines, but it took between 2 or 3 instructions to
>>>> do the same thing as a single instruction on the more traditional
>>>> machines.  Furthermore, you then had to do 2 to 3 instruction fetches,
>>>> so they tended to run slower per computation even though any single
>>>> instruction could run faster.
>>>
>>> Comparing a few libraries which we build across multiple platforms, I
>>> find SPARC produces object code up to 1-50% bigger than x86, but x86
>>> 20-30% bigger than PPC.  My conclusion is that you can’t reliably say
>>> RISC ISAs produce either larger or smaller code than CISC, and 
>>> aren’t on
>>> particularly solid ground seeking a comparison just between two 
>>> specific
>>> ISAs - i.e. it can vary a fair bit depending on the specific code.
>>>
>>> (Stripped object code in all cases, mostly compiled C.)
>>>
>> My guess is that you are right. Where I worked, they also were trying to
>> build a processor RISC chip oriented specifically to running compiled C
>> programs. I do not know if they ever manufactured the chip or not, but I
>> did get a copy of the instruction set. I do not know what they were
>> anymore, but I do remember that this so-called RISC processor, that they
>> were calling CRISP at the time, had more op-codes than any other machine
>> I had ever seen, even the IBM 7094, Something like 350 op-codes. I was
>> disgusted. If that is C REDUCED INSTRUCTION SET PROCESSOR, I do not know
>> what they thought would be a complex instruction set machine. I know I
>> never got asked to write an optimizer for it.
>>
>
> It is a common misconception that a RISC architecture has a small 
> number of opcodes - i.e., the parsing is "Reduced" "Instruction-Set" 
> "Computer".  In fact, RISC means the /instructions/ are reduced, not 
> the /instruction set/ - it is "Reduced Instruction" "Set" "Computer".
>
> Thus a RISC architecture like the PPC has a very large number of 
> op-codes, but they are almost all "simple" and execute in a single 
> cycle rather than with loops, microcode, multiple steps, etc., as is 
> normal in CISC architectures.  Some instructions, like the bitfield 
> manipulations, are pretty complicated - but as they execute using 
> dedicated single-cycle logic, they are still classed as "simple".  Of 
> course, there are still some multi-cycle complex instructions, 
> especially for things like floating-point operations.  But most of the 
> op-codes are "simple".
>
And of course as anyone who has run FORTH will tell you, you can trade 
compactness of code for execution speed,  more or less at will. Its 
possible also to hunt through assembler code and find any pattern of 
more than half a dozen instructions, turn it into a subroutine and call 
it.. destroys pipelines of course.



-- 
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc’-ra-cy) – a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

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#8298

FromJean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net>
Date2013-06-02 14:52 -0400
Message-ID<kog4a60757@news4.newsguy.com>
In reply to#8293
On 06/02/2013 10:47 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 02/06/13 12:26, David Brown wrote:
>> On 02/06/13 13:02, Jean-David Beyer wrote:
>>> On 06/02/2013 04:33 AM, Richard Kettlewell wrote:
>>>> Jean-David Beyer <jeandavid8@verizon.net> writes:
>>>>> In the distant past, a colleague and I had occasion to write an
>>>>> assembly-language level optimizer (mainly for C programs) for the
>>>>> SPARC
>>>>> RISC processor. We had already done one for the AT&T 32100 series
>>>>> processors (conventional architecture). I found doing that to be
>>>>> somewhat more difficult than for the normal processors such as Intel
>>>>> 80386 and the Motorola 68000 series of the same time. Delay slots,
>>>>> etc.
>>>>>
>>>>> But I did not find that they used any less memory for the
>>>>> instructions
>>>>> because any one instruction may have been smaller than for complex
>>>>> instruction set machines, but it took between 2 or 3 instructions to
>>>>> do the same thing as a single instruction on the more traditional
>>>>> machines.  Furthermore, you then had to do 2 to 3 instruction
>>>>> fetches,
>>>>> so they tended to run slower per computation even though any single
>>>>> instruction could run faster.
>>>>
>>>> Comparing a few libraries which we build across multiple platforms, I
>>>> find SPARC produces object code up to 1-50% bigger than x86, but x86
>>>> 20-30% bigger than PPC.  My conclusion is that you can’t reliably say
>>>> RISC ISAs produce either larger or smaller code than CISC, and
>>>> aren’t on
>>>> particularly solid ground seeking a comparison just between two
>>>> specific
>>>> ISAs - i.e. it can vary a fair bit depending on the specific code.
>>>>
>>>> (Stripped object code in all cases, mostly compiled C.)
>>>>
>>> My guess is that you are right. Where I worked, they also were
>>> trying to
>>> build a processor RISC chip oriented specifically to running compiled C
>>> programs. I do not know if they ever manufactured the chip or not,
>>> but I
>>> did get a copy of the instruction set. I do not know what they were
>>> anymore, but I do remember that this so-called RISC processor, that
>>> they
>>> were calling CRISP at the time, had more op-codes than any other
>>> machine
>>> I had ever seen, even the IBM 7094, Something like 350 op-codes. I was
>>> disgusted. If that is C REDUCED INSTRUCTION SET PROCESSOR, I do not
>>> know
>>> what they thought would be a complex instruction set machine. I know I
>>> never got asked to write an optimizer for it.
>>>
>>
>> It is a common misconception that a RISC architecture has a small
>> number of opcodes - i.e., the parsing is "Reduced" "Instruction-Set"
>> "Computer".  In fact, RISC means the /instructions/ are reduced, not
>> the /instruction set/ - it is "Reduced Instruction" "Set" "Computer".
>>
>> Thus a RISC architecture like the PPC has a very large number of
>> op-codes, but they are almost all "simple" and execute in a single
>> cycle rather than with loops, microcode, multiple steps, etc., as is
>> normal in CISC architectures.  Some instructions, like the bitfield
>> manipulations, are pretty complicated - but as they execute using
>> dedicated single-cycle logic, they are still classed as "simple".  Of
>> course, there are still some multi-cycle complex instructions,
>> especially for things like floating-point operations.  But most of
>> the op-codes are "simple".
>>
> And of course as anyone who has run FORTH will tell you, you can trade
> compactness of code for execution speed,  more or less at will. Its
> possible also to hunt through assembler code and find any pattern of
> more than half a dozen instructions, turn it into a subroutine and
> call it.. destroys pipelines of course.
>
Destroys pipelines, but can improve working set locality. It is a
tradeoff of course.

The optimizer I helped write had an "optimize for speed" and an
"optimize for space" option.
In optimize for speed, it would expand subroutines in-line (and it had
to be careful about recursive subroutines in many manifestations). But a
secondary benefit for expanding a subroutine inline is that it gave the
optimizer the opportunity to make much more extensive optimizations
because it had more information available.

I found writing optimizers a lot of fun, but realistically, since it
could easily take 18 months to make significant changes in an optimizer,
and test the functions, test the entire optimizer, the entire
compilation system, then build the UNIX kernel with all the
optimizations turned on and get it to keep working, and then send it to
system integration and system test, ....
Well in that amount of time, the speed of the processors doubled, and we
rarely got a 100% speed increase with optimizations except for the
benchmarks, so it was kind-of futile.

In a reasonable world, the optimizer would continue to work for the
faster processor, but they always made other little changes in the
processors so the optimzations would not work, and we had to do big
parts over again. Lots of fun for problem solving, but I somehow doubt
the computing world was actually improved much by our work.

Sigh!

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#8289

FromDavid Brown <david.brown@removethis.hesbynett.no>
Date2013-06-02 13:32 +0200
Message-ID<_qmdnfJ9arjPsDbMnZ2dnUVZ7t-dnZ2d@lyse.net>
In reply to#8283
On 02/06/13 02:37, Aragorn wrote:
> On Sunday 02 June 2013 01:33, Michael Black conveyed the following to
> comp.os.linux.misc...
>
>> I just found an Xbox 350 last night, coming home.  I haven't plugged
>> it in, but my general experience is that a lot of discard works fine.
>> I check when I get home, it runs Linux.  I look at the specs, it's a
>> PowerPC CPU, but triple core, running at just over 3GHz if I read it
>> right. It's even 64bits, I've not gotten to that point yet. And
>> likely good graphics.  It even uses SATA drives, so I can use one of
>> the ones I found in the garbage, so long as I make an adapter.
>>
>> So I start  fantasizing, and then realize the thing only as 512megs of
>> RAM, and I have moved beyond that.  Worse, since it's a game console,
>> there's no easy way to add ram.
>
> Be advised though that the PowerPC architecture is a RISC platform, so
> the binary code for that platform will be more compact than code
> compiled for x86(-64).  RISC code is made up of micro-ops and is
> therefore highly optimized for both efficiency and memory consumption.
>
> Ergo, that machine's RAM requirements won't be as strict as for x86 -
> there's more headroom - albeit that 512 MiB is indeed a bit on the
> meager side.
>

Figures vary a bit according to the type of code and the exact hardware, 
but it is usual for RISC architectures to need larger programs than CISC 
architectures.  The x86 is unusually inefficient compared to other CISC 
ISA's like m68k, because of its absurd numbers of instruction prefixes. 
  x86-64 is better here, as the prefixes are a bit more rational.  But 
in general, RISC instructions are simpler and do less than CISC 
instructions, and they also have specific fixed sizes.  So while a CISC 
machine might handle "x = a[i++]" in a single opcode of perhaps 2 bytes, 
a RISC machine might need two opcodes at 32-bytes each.

Additionally, RISC architectures often need a little more data ram, as 
they are often quite inefficient at accessing data less than 32-bit (or 
whatever their natural width is).  So smaller data is often aligned as 
32-bit, while on a CISC architecture it could be more tightly packed.  I 
doubt if the difference is particularly noticeable in real-world code, 
however.

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#8190

FromRoger Blake <rogblake@iname.invalid>
Date2013-05-23 17:09 +0000
Message-ID<20130523131257@news.eternal-september.org>
In reply to#8188
On 2013-05-23, Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Thank you for the explanation.  I didn't know that AMD and Intel 
> collaborated.

It's more like Intel's own 64-bit implementation (Itanium) took a nosedive
in the marketplace largely due to its lack of native support for legacy
32-bit code.

The following paper, "A History of Modern 64-bit Computing" may be of interest:

  http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/csep590/06au/projects/history-64-bit.pdf

-- 
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#8192

FromPeter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com>
Date2013-05-23 19:06 +0100
Message-ID<knllqf$p4q$1@news.albasani.net>
In reply to#8190
Roger Blake wrote:
> On 2013-05-23, Peter Percival <peterxpercival@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Thank you for the explanation.  I didn't know that AMD and Intel
>> collaborated.
>
> It's more like Intel's own 64-bit implementation (Itanium) took a nosedive
> in the marketplace largely due to its lack of native support for legacy
> 32-bit code.
>
> The following paper, "A History of Modern 64-bit Computing" may be of interest:
>
>    http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/csep590/06au/projects/history-64-bit.pdf

Thank you, I'll read it later.

-- 
I think I am an Elephant,
Behind another Elephant
Behind /another/ Elephant who isn't really there....
				A.A. Milne

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