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67% October 1995 / Letters / GNU Is Gnot Gnarly

Summary: GNU Is Gnot Gnarly. In his Code Talk column entitled "ANSI C Anywhere" (June), Rick Grehan wrote of how difficult it is to port the GNU C/C++ compiler and how easy it is to create a new C compiler using a different set of tools. GNU C/C++ is just like those other tools, requiring a target machine file and machine description file. I was able to have a bug-free GNU compiler for the Hitachi-HD16 processor in four days. And the GNU C/C++ outperforms most optimizing compilers.

Summary: Where's the GNU Hurd? . The November 1995 articles "NT Roars on the 604" and "CPU Scorecards" were quite welcome. But the Special Report on operating systems did not mention GNU Hurd. This OS is based on the Mach microkernel, and thus it has been essentially ported to a wide variety of hardware platforms--nearly as many as NetBSD. To learn more about Hurd, and especially about its binary portability, visit http://www.

Summary: March 1996 / Letters. Bells and Whistles. Frame It. The Importance of Being Text. Real Performance Peaks.

Summary: October 1995 / Letters. The Inelegant Kludge. Telling It Like It Is. Why Did Win 95 Win? . OS/2 or Not OS/2.

Summary: More Linux. "Linux Matters" (Unix Special Report, February) presented an excellent introduction and overview of the Linux OS, the rich variety of Unix software that runs on it, and the free-spirited nature of Linux developers and users. Your readers should also be aware of Debian GNU/Linux (http://www. debian. org), sponsored by the Free Software Foundation.

Summary: This Unix Is Free, but the Support Is Free-Form. I just finished reading J. Bruce Dawson's short review of Fintronic's distribution of Linux (``Power of Cooperation,'' September). While his review is quite accurate and fair, he failed to mention that there is excellent support for Linux from a number of sources: The best and most up-to-date documentation is at an FTP site: sunsite. unc. edu, in the /pub/Linux/docs/LDP directory.

Summary: Porting Unix. I use Unix extensively in a scientific research environment, but looking at the price of new NT machines--and especially NT software--often makes me think about switching. But I have invested years in developing code in a Unix environment. How difficult will it be to port this code to NT? Will I be able to use Unix's powerful shell and great tools in NT?

Summary: Zen and the Art of Cache Maintenance. Proper understanding and use of the PowerPC's on-chip caches can improve an application's performance. Mike Phillip The benefits of such an approach are applicable to a wide range of programs, particularly those in which execution time is not spent primarily within a few small program loops. Consider the speedups obtained using a combination of basic block restructuring and cross-file function inlining for some well-known C applications that are part of the SPEC95 benchmark suite. The Gnu C compiler (gcc) and a Lisp interpreter (li) obtained speedups of greater than 20 percent when profiling-directed feedback was used to guide function inlining and basic block placement.

Summary: Some Linux Distributions. John Montgomery Technically, you don't have to pay for Linux. But that's just for the kernel -- you need to download the X Window System, compilers, editors, and lots of other pieces before you have a usable OS. That's why many enterprising souls have created distributions -- compilations of the Linux kernel with often-used software. Distributions differ greatly in the features they include and their prices.

Summary: Some Linux Distributions. John Montgomery Technically, you don't have to pay for Linux. But that's just for the kernel -- you need to download the X Window System, compilers, editors, and lots of other pieces before you have a usable OS. That's why many enterprising souls have created distributions -- compilations of the Linux kernel with often-used software. Distributions differ greatly in the features they include and their prices.

Summary: ANSI C Anywhere. Rick Grehan Some time ago, a fellow BYTE editor loaned me his notes and documents from a conference on how to retarget GCC, the GNU C++ compiler. After spending days poring over the materials, I emerged none the wiser, and simply more jealous of anyone who'd succeeded in building his or her own GCC compiler. Apparently, I didn't have the mental stamina required to accomplish this task. Then I found out about the Retargetable Software Tools from Archelon (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, (800) 387-5670).

Summary: Triumphant Technologists. Just flew in from Las Vegas and boy are my arms tired -- mainly from lugging tons of Web brochures at the Networld + Interop show. Mark Schlack, Editor in Chief OK, I'm tired of all the hype, too. At the recent Networld + Interop show, I saw a modem marketed as "Internet Ready." Imagine that!

Summary: Web Surveys. Helpful techniques for Web-based data collection and analysis. Jon Udell The BYTE Site is, among other things, a giant survey application. Each of its 6000+ archive pages presents a link to a feedback form. Or rather, as I explained last October (http://www.

Summary: Transport-Triggered Architectures. Getting higher performance through greater instruction parallelism. Dick Pountain The ultimate expression of the RISC philosophy must be the TTA (Transport-Triggered Architecture), in which there's just the MOVE instruction. As the name suggests, it's the moving of data from one unit to another that triggers computation in a TTA design. TTAs rely on smart compilers rather than hardware to schedule instructions, allocate resources, and handle dependencies.

Summary: Womb-to-Tomb C++ Development. Borland's new C++ 5.0 Development Suite carries your application from inception to deployment. Rick Grehan When we last reviewed C++ compilers (see "Compiling Convenience +," March 96 BYTE), Borland's version 4.5 was fast fading and we decided to wait for 5.0, which was rapidly approaching in the distance. We're glad we did. Borland C++ (BC++) 5.0 is a major release with so many new attachments that we'd be hard-pressed to cover them all.

Summary: Developing for RISC. Tools for Intel-class processors are easier to use and more plentiful, but RISC tools are beginning to close the gap. Alex Lane RISC processor makers are looking to take on the dominance of Intel and its CISC architecture at the desktop level. To do that, RISC system vendors will have to capture the hearts and minds of the software developers who will create the applications. Several processors--primarily IBM/Apple/Motorola's PowerPC, Mips Technologies' R4x00, Sun Microsystems' SPARC, Hewlett-Packard's PA-RISC, and DEC's Alpha--are competing to become the RISC standard.

Summary: Power of Cooperation. Linux, a truly robust Unix clone, has evolved out of the Internet--and it's freely available. J. Bruce Dawson Linux is not just another implementation of Unix. It's a complete rewrite, with an interesting history and some attractive features, not the least of which is its price tag: It has none. Linux is free--at least free from the more traditional license restrictions that come with commercial Unix.

Summary: Bringing Benchmarks up to SPEC. A suite of respected CPU benchmarks gets a face-lift. Tom Yager Computer systems keep getting faster. That's the way we like it. Unfortunately, this also creates a challenge: As systems evolve, so must the benchmarks that we use to compare them.

Summary: The State of Linux. The latest version of this free Unix spans multiple platforms and offers many sophisticated features. Jim Mohr Imagine a Unix server supporting a dozen users connected via serial terminals. Now add a few more users connected across the network using X Window. Finally, let's add a handful of Windows PCs that use the Unix machine as a file and print server.

Summary: Linux in a Gray Flannel Suit. It's powerful. It's open. It's free. That's why this Unix is entering corporate IS.