Re: Alpha recommendations
On Thu, Oct 15, 1998 at 06:04:48AM -0500, John Goerzen wrote:
> * Is there a Netscape available for Alpha? I've never seen anything
> but i386 binaries on their site. If not, what does everybody
> do for a web browser??
There are a number of alternatives:
- Lynx (my personal favorite) ;)
- If you can get your hands on a Digital Unix license (I haven't been
able to), you can run the Digital Unix version of Netscape under
Linux.
- The x86 version of Netscape reportedly runs under em86
- There are other browsers, like Mosaic and gzilla, that may do what
you want. Generally they are not a match for Netscape, however.
- Mozilla is getting better all the time, but it's still not quite there.
It's okay for casual use.
> * There exists an emulator for Alpha that can run i386 binaries.
> (I met the guy that wrote it at LinuxExpo). Does it run well with
> Debian?
It runs, but not well.
I've been thinking about packaging this for Debian, but it would be
an ugly project. I fooled with the rpm's of it on my Debian box one
afternoon and got it working. It did not run the app I wanted to use
it with (an MP3 encoder), so I gave up.
Part of the problem with em86 is that it relies on x86 libraries to run
x86 binaries... But it also provides some of its own x86 libraries to
translate common libc calls to their Alpha equivalents. This kind of
integration is messy, and I'm not sure how to make it work with x86
.deb packages. For that matter, I'm not sure how to package the x86
libraries on an Alpha box, since you can't compile them on an Alpha box.
There are other tricky issues involved. Combine all that with the fact
that it would have to go into non-free or contrib, and that it will
use a lot of memory and run slowly...
> * What are good vendors of Alpha-based Linux systems? So far, I've
> found Linux Hardware Solutions, Microway, and Aspen Systems. Aspen
> Systems seems very reluctant to give out prices on their website
> (hmmm). LHS seems to be about $150 cheaper than Microway. Anybody
> had experience with these, or other, vendors?
No idea here. I have a cheap Alpha from Onsale. :-) I've been thinking
about a 21164 box to replace my x86 box, but at the same time I need a
few apps that so far are unavailable on Alpha (like StarOffice).
Regards,
Jeff
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