Conference 7.286::digital

The question, as phrased, is meaningless.  I tried calling you to get
clarification, but got no answer.  Perhaps you can get the employee to
restate the question with more detail as to what is wanted.

					Steve

    
    	Aaw, Steve - I wanted to ask if Alpha ran on SUN.
    
    
    
    		the Greyhawk

    If the question is "does CDC use ALpha's in their systems (Cyber)" then
    the answer is    NO.
    
    If the question is "does OSF/1 run on a CDC Cyber " then the answer is
    NO.
    
    In fact for alomst any question that combines CDC-Cyber and Alpha the answer
    is NO, except for things like "are Cyber's and Alpha's both computers "
    in which case a "Maybe" is perhaps OK. or "Does Alpha kick a Cyber's
    butt"? in which case the ans. is YES.
    
    re. Greyhawk's question, the answer is also NO, Sun uses a proprietary
    architecture which (although RISC) is not an open industry standard and
    consequently there is no INTEROPERABILITY between these systems.  
    
    Hope this clears things for everyone.

  A third party *DID* build a Cyber emulator, although I don't
  remember the details.  I could probably dig up a reference
  that would get you to the third party in another one or two
  "hops".  Bob Supnik may also be aware of this effort.

  In addition, Digital-CSS was designing an emulator for a much-
  lower-end CDC system.
                                   Atlant

    I know this probably isn`t the place to ask this but how fast is the
    Alpha chip in MIPS? 

    MIPS measurements are not considered accurate in this day and age.  We
    talk about SPECmarks and SPECrates these days.
    
    And which Alpha chip are you talking about?  You question is like
    asking "How fast does a Chevrolet go?"  Unless you mention which
    model and engine, we have no idea where to start!
    
    You can find some SPEC comparisions of assorted Alpha models at:
    
    PERFOM::CSG_REPORTS:SPEC*COMPARISON*.PS
    
    				-John

    .6
    Could I have a mean speed?
    
    Thanks.

RE: .7

	From fast to wicked fast.

	There are many variations of Alpha chips from the 166 Mhz LCA chip
	to the 275 Mhz (and supposedly running today, a 300+ Mhz) Alpha.

							mike

    .8
    Thanks.

Note also that you can't use the MHz rating alone as an indicator of
performance when comparing to other architectures (or even to other Alphas
in some cases.)

					Steve

Info about the software to ease the Cyber-to-Alpha migration is contained
in VAXAXP::NOTES$ARCHIVE:ALPHANOTES_V1 note 3293.1.

Keith:

> -< AlphaCyber pointer >-

  "AlphaCyber" is the one I was thinking of -- thanks for the pointer!

                                   Atlant

>                       <<< Note 3687.5 by MAIL2::CRANE >>>
><
>    I know this probably isn`t the place to ask this but how fast is the
>    Alpha chip in MIPS? 


Thier was a press release that the latest/fastest Alpha runs at 1 BIPS
that is 1000 MIPS.

    The 21164 is qudruple-issue (can handle up to 4 instructions simultaneously)
    At 300 MHz clockrate the peak rate is 1.200 MIPS. (300 Mhz x 4)
    
    Note that this is a theoretical rate. Real world performance depends on 
    the application and the level of optimization a compiler does.
    
    SPECmarks or TPC ratings are better suited for comparing systems from
    different vendors for a given task.
    
    Klaus

    Thanks all for your input and to Mr. Hoffman who took this off line.

>>    The 21164 is qudruple-issue (can handle up to 4 instructions simultaneously)
>>    At 300 MHz clockrate the peak rate is 1.200 MIPS. (300 Mhz x 4)
    
    			That would be	    1.200 BIPS
    

>>>    The 21164 is qudruple-issue (can handle up to 4 instructions simultaneously)
>>>    At 300 MHz clockrate the peak rate is 1.200 MIPS. (300 Mhz x 4)
>    
>                        That would be       1.200 BIPS
>    

Nonsense.  The '.' is the thousands delimiter, so "1.200" clearly
reads "one thousand two hundred".

Are you perchance getting confused with the delimiter which separates
the whole part from the fraction?  That's ",".

So, 1.200 MIPS is equal to 1,200 BIPS.

    or 1 1/5 BIPS to be unambiguous?
    
    :-)
    
    ed

	uggg....not another BIPS vs GIPS rathole????

	1.2 Billion Instructions Per Second

	at best ;-)

	_kelley

    Just as the meaning of "." and "," is somewhat dependent on where you
    are, so is the meaning of 'billion'...

re .-1

Yeah, although it appears the British news media (well, the
BBC world service at least) have given in to
American hegemony in that regard.  Sigh.

    yeah, but I'd hazard a guess that in most of the rest of Europe, a
    billion is still 10**12...
    
    Of course, I'd have nothing against a machine that performs at 1,2
    [German] billion instructions per second... :-)

  Why don't you guys go settle it out in the Mill Yard?

                                   Atlant

>  Why don't you guys go settle it out in the Mill Yard?

    'twould be a shame to do that before the senior citizens get settled in
    there to enjoy the entertainment.

    Its not about BIPS vs GIPS, its about "." vs ",".

Re: .22

No they haven't - the BBC World Service consistently uses "thousand million"
for what we in the US refer to as "billion".

				Steve

Hmm.  Maybe I've been listening to the World (as in "World
Series") Service instead of the World (as in "planet Earth")
Service!

    If one were to use "." as has been discussed here is there an
    assumed X 10 to the +3 on the tail end? If so I agree. 8>)

    Rathole is too grand a term for the current state fo this pathetic
    sting, perhaps vermin nit or mouse pimple or rodent spec would be more
    appropriate. 
    
    
    -OFWAMI-

    re. 28
    
    I don't think you have been listening to the "World Series" lately and
    maybe not in the future.
    

RE: .24

>  Why don't you guys go settle it out in the Mill Yard?

Or better yet, settle it out in the milliard (the British term for a 
thousand million).

--PSW

Duh.