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From: sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Snake
Message-ID: <00945FC1.C6BBCB60@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU>
Date: 22 Mar 91 16:30:42 GMT
References: <69465@brunix.UUCP>,<3284@crdos1.crd.ge.COM>
Sender: news@eng.umd.edu (C-News)
Reply-To: sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney)
Organization: The U. of MD, CP, CAD lab
Lines: 40

In article <3284@crdos1.crd.ge.COM>, davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr) writes:
>In article <69465@brunix.UUCP> cgy@cs.brown.edu (Curtis Yarvin) writes:
>| In today's New York Times, there is an article about the new HP Snake line.
>| The story places the low-end Snake (720?) at 57 MIPS, 55 Specmarks for
>| $12,000.
>
>  Assuming that this is what it sounds like, the next question is
>software. Does it run UNIX, and have X, and have {name it} application
>software? 

HP-UX <gag> initially. Berkeley 4.4 and OSF/1 to be available when released.
There is X. Not good X, but X. 

Since it's a member of the HP-PA RISC club, there is (already) a large base of
software developed for the machine. 

>  The workstation market can be divided into people who have source for
>everything they run and are buying raw MIPS, and people who run
>applications like Maxima, Interleaf, troff, etc, who are not in the
>market for hardware which doesn't support their application.
>
>  Depending on the software support this machine may not currently be a
>player in the second market. This has happened to IBM somewhat, although
>they have the money to pay someone to port an application.

Already a developed base of software, due to the earlier members of the HP-PA
club, so I understand. But, even if there are software porting problems
(doubtful, HP tends to take pains on this), 57 MIPS for $12K will get a lot of
people working on porting real quick. The floating point on the mid-level 
"snake" is supposed to be obscenely high. I have a friend at NWSC who is going
to purchase one.
..........................

The real question is: What will Digital do to save their bacon, while HP and
IBM explore performance, and Sun keeps chugging along in a commodity market?

     Reform may be dying in the Soviet Union, but we have the right to 
                introduce it to the DECUS Board of Directors. 

  -- >                  SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU                        < --