Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!news.cs.indiana.edu!samsung!think.com!rpi!uupsi!ficc!peter From: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (peter da silva) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: VISC - A way to speed up moto cisc mpu's? Message-ID: Date: 23 May 91 12:43:25 GMT References: <1991May15.110000.25800@Daisy.EE.UND.AC.ZA> <1991May23.210000.8152@kithrup.COM> Organization: Ferranti International Controls Corporation Lines: 20 In article <1991May23.210000.8152@kithrup.COM>, sef@kithrup.COM (Sean Eric Fagan) writes: > In article <13445@dog.ee.lbl.gov> torek@elf.ee.lbl.gov (Chris Torek) writes: > >There is no particular reason that the O/S [on a heterogenous MP] cannot run > >the proper binary on the proper CPU automatically. > Because then you wouldn't get any speedup on your old programs. I guess. If your older programs are *the* critical thing to speed up, then that's a problem. But in that case you're unlikely to abandon the 68000, 8086, VAX, or whatever family anyway. For a concrete example... if I could get an 88000 in my Amiga, and I just had to recompile one of the PD raytracers to get it to use it, it might well be worthwhile. Especially with the fine-grained multitasking the Amiga supports. On another point, heterogenous networks that operate this way have existed for some time. -- Peter da Silva; Ferranti International Controls Corporation; +1 713 274 5180; Sugar Land, TX 77487-5012; `-_-' "Have you hugged your wolf, today?"