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From: kenton@abyss.zk3.dec.com (Jeff Kenton OSG/UEG)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Vector processors, i860
Keywords: Vector, array processors, i860.
Message-ID: <538@decvax.decvax.dec.com.UUCP>
Date: 6 Feb 91 13:38:26 GMT
References: <798@nvuxl.UUCP> <1991Feb3.061217.21988@watdragon.waterloo.edu>
Sender: news@decvax.dec.com.UUCP
Reply-To: kenton@abyss.zk3.dec.com (Jeff Kenton OSG/UEG)
Lines: 24

In article <1991Feb3.061217.21988@watdragon.waterloo.edu>,
ccplumb@rose.uwaterloo.ca (Colin Plumb) writes:
|> hsong@nvuxl.UUCP (g hugh song) wrote:
|> > Why is it so hard to build a UNIX machine with Intel's i860 chip?  What is
|> > missing in this chip for building a UNIX machine out of this chip?
|> 
|> Return from interrupt.  When the chip takes an exception, it sort of
|> drops all the bits in the pipleine on the floor and lets software
|> put the pieces back together.  The code to restart from an interrupt
|> is, I'm told, 10,000 lines of assembler.
|> 

I don't believe this number.  It clearly takes some work, but I would guess
it's more on the order of 100 - 200 instructions.  Anyone know?

|> 
|> (It's also, as Henry points out, a pain in the ass to program... nobody
|> has a compiler which can come close to hand coding yet.)
|> -- 

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==	jeff kenton		Consulting at kenton@decvax.dec.com        ==
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