Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!pdn!alan
From: alan@pdn.UUCP (Alan Lovejoy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Knowing Machine Code
Keywords: 68881 emulator.
Message-ID: <3514@pdn.UUCP>
Date: 17 Jun 88 14:45:58 GMT
References: <13735@comp.vuw.ac.nz> <104700032@uiucdcsp> <4760@husc6.harvard.edu> <13542@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> <12217@apple.Apple.COM> <8915@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> <12256@apple.Apple.COM>
Reply-To: alan@pdn.UUCP (0000-Alan Lovejoy)
Organization: Paradyne Corporation, Largo, Florida
Lines: 26

In article <12256@apple.Apple.COM> dan@apple.apple.com.UUCP (Dan Allen) writes:
>One final thought on emulating the 68881: since the 881 uses a lot of
>the same addressing modes that the rest of the 68xxx family does, an
>emulator would have to disassemble or correctly emulate ALL of the 68xxx
>addressing modes, something that takes LOTS of code to do. 

Apple is not number one in the pc business, but number two.  So Apple
has to try harder.  Does Apple want to be number one or doesn't it?
Does Apple intend to be the best?  Is Apple willing to spend the extra
effort necessary to stay ahead of the competition?  Seize your
opportunities.  Don't be lazy and rely on past work, the comepetition
will make you pay for that mistake.      

The lack of hardware floating point in Apple's non-68020 boxes is a SERIOUS
deficiency in at least one of the markets Apple wants to do well in:
science/engineering.  Even worse is paying for a Mac II but not being
able to find appropriate software that uses the 68881.

If Apple is serious about Desktop Engineering, they'd better fix this.


-- 
Alan Lovejoy; alan@pdn; 813-530-8241; Paradyne Corporation: Largo, Florida.
Disclaimer: Do not confuse my views with the official views of Paradyne
            Corporation (regardless of how confusing those views may be).
Motto: Never put off to run-time what you can do at compile-time!