lucky13
Group: Members
Posts: 1478
Joined: Feb. 2007 |
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Posted: Mar. 06 2007,16:36 |
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Quote (humpty @ Mar. 06 2007,08:56) | The downside ofcourse is that wouldn't run DSL (poof - dream dies here) since it's not i386. Debian is known to run on other architectures such as PowerPC, but think of the manpower behind that, the kernel, the re-compiling, the drivers. Just goes to show how dependent we are on the i386 - eh? |
From your wiki link:
Quote | ...[T]he chip uses a modified version of the MIPS instruction set that replaces proprietary instructions with ones developed by ICT. |
It's MIPS-compliant, Debian already has a MIPS port. http://www.debian.org/ports/mips/
I don't think we're dependent, per se, it's just that our technical culture favors standards-compliance and the de facto standard for PC (and now even Mac) architecture is x86. That's a good thing because it reduces the amount of work it would take to make systems work -- either by themselves or networked together -- otherwise. Any new chip based on a different instruction set than x86 is going to have to comply with another known standard if its manufacturers want global adoption of it. Evolution, not revolution.
-------------- "It felt kind of like having a pitbull terrier on my rear end." -- meo (copyright(c)2008, all rights reserved)
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