Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!oliveb!amdahl!nsc!rfg
From: rfg@nsc.nsc.com (Ron Guilmette)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.nsc.32k
Subject: Re: Where is everyone???
Message-ID: <7189@nsc.nsc.com>
Date: 20 Oct 88 23:00:08 GMT
References: <2582@sultra.UUCP>
Reply-To: rfg@nsc.nsc.com.UUCP (Ron Guilmette)
Organization: National Semiconductor, Sunnyvale
Lines: 50

In article <2582@sultra.UUCP> dtynan@sultra.UUCP (Der Tynan) writes:
>How does it compare to the Motorola lineup.

Can you say "F-15 vs. a hot air balloon"?  Well, I guess I'm biased ;-)

>For one thing, the GNU C compiler has machine
>definitions for the 32K, but GAS doesn't.  Is anyone working on this??
I have just got a new GAS from a fellow in Sweden that is supposed to be
ready for the 32000's.  Unfortunately, he has no 32000's to even test it
on so I am doing the testing.  I will be sending him changes when I can and
he is working with FSF to get his (and my) changes into some future release
of GAS.  The first cut will only generate a.out format, and I will be working
on COFF format output later.

>What about bugs in the ucode?  I see that GCC refers to some bugs, in the
>way that it generates code.  Anyone got experience with this?

Every (non-RISC) microprocessor has microcode bugs.  Ours are no different.
I just got something in the mail from the people who publish "The Microprocessor
Report" (an expensive trade magazine) where they were talking about how they
were the first to reveal publicly the 20-item buglist for the '386.

Fortunately, most of the bugs which reamin in production chips (both ours and
those from other manufacturers) are benign and never even show up (except at
the kernel level, and typically under very unusual timing situations) in most
operating environments.

Note also than most of the "bugs" refered to in the GNU stuff have never been
independently verified.  I believe that one GNU document even says that these
are bugs which rms "thinks" are in the chips (i.e. maybe nobody ever really
checked them all out).  Also, many of the supposed bugs may only appear in
chips which are now two generations old (i.e. 32032's or older 32016's).
Further, note that some of the "bugs" which the GNU stuff talks about are
really "assembler" bugs and not "chip" bugs, and they these bugs are in other
(i.e. non-National) company's assemblers.

>How much are they?

How much do want to spend?  You can get a kit for maybe a couple of hundred
bucks complete.  Or you can by an Encore-Multimax full-blown multiprocessor
U*IX system for about a half a million bucks, give or take.

Ron Guilmette
National SemiConductor, 1135 Kern Ave. M/S 7C-266; Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Internet: rfg@nsc.nsc.com   or   amdahl!nsc!rfg@ames.arc.nasa.gov
Uucp: ...{pyramid,sun,amdahl,apple}!nsc!rfg
-- 
Ron Guilmette
National SemiConductor, 1135 Kern Ave. M/S 7C-266; Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Internet: rfg@nsc.nsc.com   or   amdahl!nsc!rfg@ames.arc.nasa.gov
Uucp: ...{pyramid,sun,amdahl,apple}!nsc!rfg