Re: Best OS for alpha platform going forward?

From: DiskMan (nobody_at_thewheel.com)
Date: 05/07/05

  • Next message: Måns Rullgård: "Re: Best OS for alpha platform going forward?" 
    Date: Sat, 07 May 2005 17:37:02 GMT

    I think you just hit on the only choice when you mentioned 'free'...
    Linux... WinNT4/VMS/Tru64 are DOA as far as the alpha is considered and have
    been stagnant, out side of a few upgrades/patches for sometime.

    I rolled over from FreeBSD after having so many 'issues' with the only
    answer being, 'its not supported on the alpha' even though I knew damn well
    that it was. I did consider Tru64 for a bit when they offered the 'free
    licensing' deal but when I learned that they weren't actively pursuring it,
    linux was my next logical conclusion.

    I installed Redhat 7.2 [actually done by Compaq and as far as I know, the
    best install] and simply upgraded my software to the latest greatest and
    learned how to create rpms in the process. Now I'm sporting a box with later
    software than most i386 releases:

    Kernel-2.6.11.6
    GCC-3.4.3
    Make-2.80
    Binutils-2.15
    GTK-2.6.3
    Gnome-2.8.2
    Xfce-4.2.1.1
    Apache-2.0.54
    Pureftpd-1.0.20
    etc...

    Screencaps...
    http://65.28.70.117/tmp/xfce-4.2/

    I do use Compaq C for a large number of compiles, programs such as:
    Python-2.4.1
    Apache-2.0.54
    PHP-4.3.5
    Mysql-4.0.16
    SSHD-3.8.x
    OpenSSL
    *long list of stuff...
    and a lot of core libs such as libz, imlib, etc. Just add
    '/usr/lib/libots.so' to your /etc/ld.so.preload file and all your programs,
    gcc or otherwise, are compatible with CCC compiled proggies ;-) Just make
    sure you 'patch' GLIBC-2.3.2 or better, they have some known issues with CCC
    and ICC...

    As far as I'm concerned, on the Alpha, linux is the only long range
    future... From what I understand, Alpha has finally been sold to Intel, who
    promptly scavenged its bones and then tossed the rest away. Compaq's
    'pledge' of supporting the Alpha for the next 25yrs is already starting to
    wain after 2 or so since they've rolled over the the Itanium... Will L G

    "Dan Stromberg" <strombrg@dcs.nac.uci.edu> wrote in message
    news:pan.2005.05.06.01.13.17.600744@dcs.nac.uci.edu...
    >
    > I work in a small *ix support group that supports, among other things, a
    > number of systems with alpha CPU's.
    >
    > I'm writing to ask what free or commercial OS has the broadest hardware
    > support for the alpha CPU systems, now, and going forward?
    >
    > I'd also like to know what free or commercial OS for alpha has the best
    > support for running commercial applications, whether native or emulated,
    > tru64, linux or whatever?
    >
    > Followups have been directed to comp.os.misc.
    >
    > Please think twice before heading off into a flame war over this. It
    > definitely isn't worth it.
    >
    > Thanks!
    >

  • Next message: Måns Rullgård: "Re: Best OS for alpha platform going forward?"

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