🚀 go-pugleaf

Volker Herminghaus-Shirai writes:

> Price comparison:
> 	Intel 486, 50 MHz:	>US$ 400.- in thousands
> 	Sparc "Tsunami", 50 MHz	<US$ 80.- in thousands
> in addition, the Tsunami only needs another four support chips plus RAM
> for a complete system, while the 486 requires many more.
> 
> > Economy of Scale is very important here.
> 
> Yeah! That's why they should *not* stick with a monopolist like intel.
> 

Yes, from what I've read the Sparc Tsunami seems like a good choice.  I think  
they need to consider 3 aspects to decide which chip:

	- That the chip not be single-sourced
	- The technology in the chip itself
	- Excellent support

The 88110 is (was?) a chip with great technology, but won't have excellent  
support.  At least it seems like the Power chip will have excellent support  
and won't be single sourced from my understanding. 

If I had to choose I would find an answer to these questions

	- How good is the technology in the Sparc? (I don't know)
	- How much can the Sparc be enhanced? (a friends told me it
          couldn't go any faster and months later they came up with 
	  a faster version of the chip!)
	- Does more than one company manufacture the chip? TI and ?

The Sparc sounds attractive since there are lots of Sparc computers out there.

--
Ricardo J. Parada