Xref: utzoo comp.unix.i386:3451 comp.windows.x:19611
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!munnari.oz.au!uhccux!ames!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!wuarchive!texbell!uhnix1!nuchat!steve
From: steve@nuchat.UUCP (Steve Nuchia)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.i386,comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: Why do you need a 387 to run X11R3?
Keywords: X, 80387
Message-ID: <20203@nuchat.UUCP>
Date: 10 Mar 90 07:21:04 GMT
References: <9868@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Reply-To: steve@nuchat.UUCP (Steve Nuchia)
Organization: Houston Public Access
Lines: 18

In article <9868@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> cchase@ee.cornell.edu (Craig Chase) writes:
>I can see the fast cpu and RAM parts, but why the floating point?  I 

When I cut my teeth, unix systems without FP hardware did the
emulation thing in library routines that were 10 to mayby
100 time slower than hardware, so a program that would spend
10% of its time doing FP would slow down by less than ten times.

For the amount of FP I do, I can live with that.

Unfortunately, the 386 sysV unixes do their FP in the kernel by
taking a trap on the unimplemented intruction.  This is _real_
slow.  Slow enough that simple awk scripts can take hours to
slog through a few hundred K of input.  Get the '87 -- its
cheaper and easier than wishing you had until you do.
-- 
Steve Nuchia	      South Coast Computing Services      (713) 964-2462
"You have no scars on your face, and you cannot handle pressure." - Billy Joel