What should GNU run on (was Re: what kinds of things . . .)

[Jeffrey Kegler]

In article <20519 at adm.BRL.MIL> Kemp at DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL writes:
>Wolfgang Rupprecht writes:
> > There are much more "open" platforms than Suns.
> > A 386 PC clone has a well defined *and* documented register layouts.
> > Wouldn't it be ironic to spend a lot of effort to write a free kernel
> > for a proprietary hardware base?
>
>Yea, wasn't Berkeley foolish for spending so much effort on writing a
>kernel for a proprietary architecture like the VAX?  :-)

Yes, it would have been foolish if there were non-proprietary supermini's
at that point.  As it was, they choose the most widely cloned supermini
architecture.

>Besides, I would much rather have a Sparcstation on my desk than a PC!

You obviously do not buy hardware with your own money.

What is the real killer about proprietary workstation prices is
adding-on, which is ridiculously priced.  For example, in the ISA 386
workstation market, a file server is just another clone with a large
fast disk and a cheap monitor.  The price difference is close to a
factor of ten.  The basic unit is "under-priced"--that is, almost
competitive with the ISA clones.

Simply comparing the technology, the ISA is clearly inferior to just
about everything else on the market.  The 80386 has got to have one of
the ugliest and least elegant instruction set ever used in a chip.
"Workable" is about the nicest thing you can say.  But given the
relative pricing, workable is more than good enough.

Even if RMS does not make the 80386 ISA one of the first platforms,
someone soon will do it.  Ten people will use this version of GNU for
every one using the most popular proprietary architecture--since your
vendor has you by the sensitive parts, why not use the UNIX he
provides?  You cannot get more dependent.

Price is important because the better funded the industry segment, the
less creative it is.  If the opposite were true, all the excitement
would be with COBOL and MVS.

I want to detail all the humiliations and expenses vendors put you
through once they lock you into a technology, but this is long enough
so I will leave that to others.

Disclaimer: I have no connection with any of the vendors or
technologies described, except that I do have what for me is a
substantial investment in ISA boxes.  I do own the stupid little
company below, so I guess that means I speak for it.
-- 

Jeffrey Kegler, Independent UNIX Consultant, Algorists, Inc.
jeffrey at algor2.ALGORISTS.COM or uunet!algor2!jeffrey
1762 Wainwright DR, Reston VA 22090