🚀 go-pugleaf

(Moving this thread to comp.arch)

[Bierman]
# C'mon old buddy, isn't there a way to generate scalar only code ?
# Shouldn't one expect scalar only code to be portable ? A vector
# version of gnu-emacs, for example,  might be nice...but being able to
# "plug and play" can be handy.

I'm sure Ardent will decide that it's generally "handy" enough (i.e., a
marketable feature) that they will work hard to be compatible with other
MIPSCO boxes in the future.

But as it stands, I believe their a.out format is generalized for a multi-
processor, where the compiler doesn't know how many CPUs the target machine
will have but the code STILL takes advantage of however many there are on
that machine on that day.  Hard to do and still fit into a scalar ABI.

I've used Ardent Titans; they aren't as fast as a DECWRL Titan for some
things, but since they're a super-workstation and we're a non-product,
it's not a fair comparison.

Great box.  Wish they hadn't stolen our name, though :-).
--
Paul Vixie
Work:    vixie@decwrl.dec.com    decwrl!vixie    +1 415 853 6600
Play:    paul@vixie.sf.ca.us     vixie!paul      +1 415 864 7013