Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!rice!brazos.rice.edu!bbc From: bbc@sicilia.rice.edu (Benjamin Chase) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: Next computer Message-ID: Date: 7 Feb 90 21:42:13 GMT References: <8859@portia.Stanford.EDU< <7341@pdn.paradyne.com> Sender: root@rice.edu Reply-To: Benjamin Chase Distribution: usa Organization: CRPC, Rice University Lines: 35 In-reply-to: alan@oz.nm.paradyne.com's message of 6 Feb 90 15:38:06 GMT alan@oz.nm.paradyne.com (Alan Lovejoy) writes: >Perhaps his cozy relationship with IBM will give him access to the >America (ROMPII) processor? Does his cozy relationship go any further than the deal involving the NeXT windowing system (what's it called, NeXT StEP)? To me, that just looked like IBM being conservative, betting money on all the horses, so that it couldn't lose (not that it would really "win" either, but losing all the races you've bet on is no fun). From a business standpoint, using the America processor seems to me to be a very unwise move, and I doubt it will happen. "Let's see, I'll just crawl underneath IBM's huge thumb." First thing is the issue of compilers for the chip. Who's got them? Well, IBM does, but those are probably proprietary. Maybe NeXT will retarget the GNU compilers to generate code for this processor, giving the fruits of their labors to the FSF? Or pay a software house to retarget a C++ compiler? These are all ticklish things, and a shoddy job of retargetting a compiler could make more difference in the ultimate performance of the box than the choice of processor. He would do well to get a good processor _and_ a good compiler for it. [Pushing this thread back towards comp.arch fodder] I thought the NeXT architecture, and its choice of O/S, was designed to eventually adapt to multiple processors (no, I don't mean the DSP, you boneheads, I already know about that :-). Any opinions on this? Other PC and workstation class machines are slowly appearing with multiple processors. Any totally unsubstantiated rumors about the NeXT that someone would care to spew on the net? :-) -- Ben Chase , Rice University, Houston, Texas