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Re: Debian-Alpha questions (&related ones)




On 22 Jul 1998, John Goerzen wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am considering purchasing a powerful new computer next month.
> Currently, I have been looking at a dual PII/400 from VA Research --
> SPEC results place it a good deal faster than a 600 MHz Alpha at int
> and a good deal slower at fp, but it's $2000 cheaper ($4000 vs $6000).

Do you really want an SMP system?  They're great for servers but not 
always so useful on the desktop.  Depends on your needs...

I wouldn't put too much faith in benchmarks.  Consider application 
benchmarks instead.  For example, try some POVray timings if you use 
POVray.  That'll give you a better feel for how fast the box will feel 
_for you_.

I also wouldn't pay $6000 for an Alpha.  Several vendors will package a 
533 MHz 164LX starting around $2500, or a bare system for under $1300.  
See http://www.dcginc.com for instance.  The 600MHz systems will run 
slightly faster, but at a premium price.


> However, I saw today the news of a new Alpha that would just blow that 
> PII/400 out of the water.

That'd be the 21264.  It'll go into mass production this fall IIRC.

> So my questions are: How stable and complete is the Alpha port of
> Debian, and how good is Alpha's emulator for i386 Linux programs?

I've heard good things about the hamm distribution.  I'm going to try it 
next on my 164SX (which is still running RH 4.2, I'm not going to try 5.x 
in the bad shape it's in).

The em86 emulator works but performance sucks.  It'll make your fast 
Alpha run like a slow Pentium.  Native applications are the only 
way to really leverage the Alpha's capabilities.

Digital has a emulator for NT called FX!32 which works admirably well; 
it'll run NT/Intel apps with little or no noticable slowdown.  I believe 
it works by translating x86 to native code on-the-fly.  Unfortunately 
only the basic emulator has been ported to Linux.

> Can anyone reccommend an Alpha vendor with the new Alphas and an
> estimate of the cost of such a system?  It appears that it would even
> rate quite favorable compared to a QUAD Xeon!  Now the only problem is 
> that I assume it will be out of my budget :-(

Actually the 164LX/SX systems are very competitive.  If you really 
want a 21264 though, you may have to wait a bit longer.


Jeff


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