[rescue] Details on "Free Ultra 20" program

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Fri, 1 Jul 2005, Mike Meredith wrote:

> I doubt that the SPARC line will be endangered until there's an
> opteron server as large as the 25K or the PRIMEpower2500. I don't
> doubt they're planning something along those lines, but they're
> probably working harder on getting the SPARC64 into a Sun designed
> machine.

There's a problem with that, in that SPARC64 and UltraSPARC aren't
binary-compatible.  They'll both execute SPARCv9 code, but SPARC64
doesn't have VIS or any of the other UltraSPARC extensions to SPARCv9.

> They could have named the Ultra20 something different though; not only
> was there one previously, but all Ultra's have UltraSPARCs. What was
> wrong with something like "the Optimum 20" ?

They could've outsourced its design to Naturetech (who makes the new
Sun-branded laptops) and called it a "Natural 20"! ;)

-- 
Jonathan Patschke ) "Beatniks and politics, nothing is new.
Elgin, TX        (   A yardstick for lunatics: one point of view."
USA               )  --Strawberry Alarm Clock, "Incense and Peppermints"