Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!purdue!mailrus!ames!lamaster
From: lamaster@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Hugh LaMaster)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Standard Un*x H/W architecture (was: MAC 88000)
Keywords: Standards
Message-ID: <11975@ames.arc.nasa.gov>
Date: 19 Jul 88 00:07:24 GMT
References: <11956@ames.arc.nasa.gov> <5230@nsc.nsc.com>
Reply-To: lamaster@ames.arc.nasa.gov.UUCP (Hugh LaMaster)
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Lines: 50

In article <5230@nsc.nsc.com> glennw@nsc.UUCP (Glenn Weinberg) writes:

>international voltage disputes for another day!) run on 115V 60Hz
>(approximately).  But does that mean that they all must have the same
>motor, or even the same kind of motor?  As long as the motor runs on

>a drill, a mini as a washing machine, and a Cray as a circulating pump,
>you can also see why it may not make sense for all these different
>machines to have a single architecture.

I suppose this is beating a dead horse for the third time, but it seems
that what I posted may have been confusing.

I think that the standardization of computer architectures, as desired
by a previous poster, and as touted by some people who ought to know
better in the trade press, is premature AT BEST, and could not happen
sooner than, say, twenty years, at the VERY EARLIEST.

However, the standardization of (some) data formats is not premature,
is in fact a GOOD THING, is feasible today, and is, in fact, a
REQUIREMENT for people who have large amounts of binary data to move
between machines of different types.   People who have only ASCII
source to move between their machines, or people who have only one
type of computer in their network, don't have worry about it, however.

I hope this clarifies what I personally think.

The power frequency analogy still strikes me as a reasonable one for
this situation.  It is expensive to convert, in bulk, power of
different frequencies.  60 Hz is efficient to generate and transmit.
Other frequencies might be optimal for different things, but in most
cases it is cheaper to use 60 Hz than pay the price of conversion.

The reason I cared to post on this subject is that it is important
to distinguish between the unreasonable standardization of
"All computers should be the same architecture", and the
reasonable standardization of
"Most computers should share some of the same basic data formats."
Sharing data formats, such as the IEEE floating point standard, is
not standardization for its own sake, but meets a very real need to
transmit binary data between machines of DIFFERENT architectures.
It isn't necessary, obviously, except when you do have such a 
collection of machines, since if they were all the same they are
already standardized for you.

-- 
  Hugh LaMaster, m/s 233-9,  UUCP ames!lamaster
  NASA Ames Research Center  ARPA lamaster@ames.arc.nasa.gov
  Moffett Field, CA 94035     
  Phone:  (415)694-6117