Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!sun-barr!sun!chiba!khb
From: khb@chiba.Sun.COM (chiba)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: SPARC Implementations
Message-ID: <110882@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: 18 Jun 89 19:46:25 GMT
References: <351@ctycal.UUCP>
Sender: news@sun.Eng.Sun.COM
Reply-To: khb@sun.UUCP (chiba)
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mountain View
Lines: 21

In article <351@ctycal.UUCP> ingoldsb@ctycal.COM (Terry Ingoldsby) writes:
>Can someone explain the basic differences between the Cypress and Fujitsu
>SPARC implementations?  Are they binary code compatible?
>

From an application programmers point of view all existings (and all
proposed) SPRC's are the same. Binary compatibility exists (try your
sun4 code on a solb... :>) 4/2xx application code works fine on SS-1
and SS 330. There are one or two places where the OS may have to care
(page size on the SS-1 is smaller, for example).

Electrically the chips are different. The current Cypress set is
faster than the current Fujitsu set.

I am sure someone from Cypress (or their ROSS subdivision) will rise
up to tell us all about the neat electrical stuff ... :>

Keith H. Bierman      |*My thoughts are my own. Only my work belongs to Sun*
It's Not My Fault     |	Marketing Technical Specialist    ! kbierman@sun.com
I Voted for Bill &    |   Languages and Performance Tools. 
Opus  (* strange as it may seem, I do more engineering now     *)