Shahen - Re: " So, OS vendors don't have to wait until 1999 to start
porting to MERCED? How much preparatory work can an OS vendor complete before the chip is in production? How is this achieved?"
This an excellent question and deserves a good answer.
When a new computer architecture is designed along with the instruction set, you can write a software program to run on an existing computer that will SIMULATE the operation of the new, as yet non-existent, computer. This so called SIMULATOR can then be used to execute the new machine's instructions in software.
Intel and HP accomplished precisely this task - they wrote and debugged a software simulator and had it running about 9 months ago. This simulator was distributed to key corporate partners and potential customers (under Non-Disclosure Agreements - NDA) and the early success of these partners and potential customers was instrumental in getting essentially the entire industry to endorse the MERCED - IBM, Sun, DEC, Compaq, Oracle, HP, SCO, SAP, ICL, Sequent, etc.
Once a COMPILER is written (for example, C or C++) and debugged on this SIMULATOR, the COMPILER can be run under the software simulation to COMPILE the source code of an operating system.
Once the O/S is compiled, it can be executed under the software simulator and debugged.
Once the O/S is debugged and "nearly" functional - it can compile and run in simulation mode and execute - again in software - application software that has been written in C or C++.
Presumably, Intel has written a C++ compiler that will make use of the EPIC - Explicit Parallelism - hardware within the Merced architecture.
As an illustration, the following press release was sent out by SCO during mid-October when Intel released their first details of their IA64/MERCED architecture:
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Company Press Release
SCO's 64-Bit UnixWare Development on Track With
Release of Intel's Merced(TM) Processor
Successfully Runs on Intel's IA-64 Software Level Simulator,
Completing Key Phase for 64-bit Version of Leading UNIX System
SANTA CRUZ, Calif., Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- SCO (Nasdaq:SCOC - news) today announced that an initial version of a 64-bit SCO UnixWare system has been successfully running 64-bit test applications on a simulated environment for the past six months, completing a key phase of its ongoing 64-bit UnixWare product development for the next-generation Intel processor which will be available in 1999.
The Intel IA-64 software level simulator allows early development of 64-bit operating systems and applications.
''Over the last year we've been working closely with Intel to help ensure that our future operating systems are fully optimized for the Intel Merced processor,'' said Doug Michels, SCO's CTO and executive vice president. ''The simulator tests we run are a key milestone that keep us on track to meet that objective. Our 64-bit UnixWare operating system combined with the Merced processor will allow us to move UnixWare into enterprise data centers and bring high-volume, open systems economics to a market that has been a proprietary stronghold.''
SCO will ship a full 64-bit operating system that supports 32-bit and 64-bit applications, code-named Gemini II, concurrent with Intel's delivery of the Merced processor.
''SCO has played a significant role in the early stages for UNIX software development for the Intel Merced processor,'' said Stephen Smith, Vice President, Microprocessor Products Group, and General Manager of Intel's Santa Clara Processor Division.
''Working with SCO in this early phase will help ensure that their operating system will be ready and optimized when the Merced processor is in production in 1999.''
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Paul |
