Well Thomas, this is degenerating into an "Alpha
advocacy" thread. So allow me only to question
your "99 out of 100 will chose a 1-CPU machine
the best of which is Alpha" to keep it simple...
While I share your love of Linux, and while I
know that Linus himself has at least one Alpha box
(and has fallen in love with the architecture),
I cannot disagree more on your CPU choice.
Current 1-CPU systems today are very unbalanced.
While CPUs double in speed every 18 months, the rest
of the system drags woefully behind. A 600 MHz Alpha
is way way overpowered compared to a 33 or 66MHz
PCI bus not to mention ISA, I/O devices, and even memory.
If you *really* want to keep it simple, try Linux
on a Pentium. The upside is enormous:
* Your binaries are much smaller
* You can dual boot Win95 and do your taxes
* You have much more available software
* Your kids can play games on it
* You can play Myst or Riven on it
* Third pary support and add ons are much cheaper
* You pay much less overall
But most importantly: since your CPU is overpowered
compared to the real bottlenecks of the system (PCI,
ISA, ethernet, graphics, sound, modem...) your CPU
will be 80% idle even if you're surfing the web
while playing a CD while compiling some software
(I'm talking about Linux, not Win95 here :-)
DEC has great CPU and compiler technology, but chosing
their systems just doesn't make much sense. The ingenious
thing in a system like the Origin is that it was designed
from scratch to solve the real bottlenecks of a modern
computer system.
Oops, Ducking :-) hope you don't take this too hard,
(honestly!) Take it easy. Seeya byeeee ! |
