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Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.micro.68k
Subject: Re: Sun-3 floating point
Message-ID: <6207@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 7-Dec-85 20:07:12 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.6207
Posted: Sat Dec  7 20:07:12 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 7-Dec-85 20:07:12 EST
References: <196@gould9.UUCP>, <6204@utzoo.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 15
Keywords: binary compatibility

> > Are executables for these two [Sun 3] variants binary compatible...?
> 
> Almost certainly not, since the Weitek boards I know about pre-date the
> introduction, and probably the design, of the 68881...

Turns out I was right, but for the wrong reasons.  The 68881 interface has
been frozen for much longer than I thought, and the Sun people who designed
the fast-floating-point board using the Weitek chips knew about it.  But
they opted for a more specialized interface for higher speed, so the Sun-3
Weitek floating-point option is *not* binary compatible with the 68881
floating point.  That word comes from multiple sources within Sun, so I think
it's definitive.
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry