Ideas for the Future of SkyOS
In December 2004, I paid thirty dollars for a SkyOS Beta membership. I was intrigued by the project. I couldn't explain it. It was just different. I ported simple software and came to be a part of the SkyOS community. I wrote SkyOS programming guides. I spent hours talking with other SkyOS users on IRC. I reported bugs and followed development closely. There was no other project that I devoted more time to than SkyOS. But for the last year or so, SkyOS has progressed at an ever slowing pace. With long periods of downtime between SkyOS releases, many users, myself included, gradually moved on to other projects. Finally, Robert made the announcement that SkyOS development is officially halted. I wasn't surprised, but I was saddened. Given what I know of the project and of Robert, and having seen in four years of development the same concerns raised, problems faced and subsequently fixed over and over again, I wrote a letter to Robert outlining what needs to be done to save his hobby of the last thirteen years.
The Case for Open Sourcing Alpha-Optimized Libraries
As long as I've been interested in Alpha hardware, I've been intrigued by Compaq's Alpha-optimized compilers and libraries. In some cases, the compilers produce code multiple times faster than by gcc. The math library, libcpml, contains functions that execute in half the time of their glibc equivalents. Since the abandonment of the Alpha platform, this code has languished. In some cases, the performance gap between Compaq's tools and their open source counterparts has shrunk. In others, the benefits of hand-tuned assembly still shine. This prompted me to contact HP and request the release of the code. They unfortunately concluded that an old MIPS license prevented them from releasing the compilers. I've recently contacted HP once again to persuade them to release libcpml and libots as free software, as libraries containing nothing but hand-tuned Alpha assembly could not be encumbered by this license. I also attached the following benchmarks as evidence of why this code is still valuable so many years after it was written.
Read More – – Tags: alpha linux
UP1500's and 833 MHz Alpha CPUs For Sale
One of the hardest things about using an Alternative Architecture like the Alpha is the small userbase. Since very few people have Alpha hardware, relative to other architectures, if one encounters a problem there are exceedingly few users able and willing to help. Even worse, if the problem is specific to your model, the chances of getting help are slimmed even more. Another issue is the difficulty in finding replacement parts. Want replacement Slot B CPUs? How about the impossible to find UP1500? In most cases, you'd have a terrible time even finding the parts and when you do, watch out for the price tag. Fortunately for you, I've got both of these areas covered. I've got brand new, sealed, in the box, latest revision UP1500 motherboards and unused, in the box 833 MHz 4MB Slot B CPUs for sale! Edit: Sold out.
Read More – – Tags: alpha linux
The State of Alpha Linux
Software is never finished; it's forgotten. There is always one more enhancement to be made or one little quirk to work out. Sometimes there are even big problems. It happens from time to time. It's expected, and it's expected that the problems will be fixed. After spending quite a bit of time recently working with Linux on the Alpha platform, I've come to realize we face some very serious problems. And unfortunately, these may not ever be fixed, putting in jeopardy the future (hah!) of Alpha/Linux. I decided to articulate these problems in an email to the Linux on Alpha Processors mailing list in order to inform and ultimately find solutions and breathe a bit of life back into Alpha/Linux. I'd like to think that Alpha/Linux isn't a piece of forgotten software, not yet.
Read More – – Tags: alpha gentoo glibc linux xorg
Does Anyone Care About Fixing Bugs?
As time goes on, alternative architectures like Alpha and PA-RISC slowly lose their userbase. Experienced developers move on to things that interest them more. Emphasis isn't put on fixing bugs for these aging platforms, and the level of support slowly erodes. Eventually a small hardcore userbase is all that is left. The Gentoo Bugzilla showed this effect on the Alpha platform. All nontrivial bugs were left to rot. What's worse, many bugs were so old that the software containing them wasn't even in Portage anymore, yet no one closed the bug report or asked if it was fixed. One, a two-and-a-half-year-old bug about a failing cipher algorithm in libmcrypt caught my eye. I decided I'd give fixing it a shot.