Talk:DEC Alpha

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article is within the scope of Computing WikiProject, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to computers and computing. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
B This article has been rated as B-Class on the quality scale
High This article has been rated as High-importance on the importance scale

Contents

[edit] What are those ISA addition letters?

What do the different ISA letters stand for? Also, the entire table could use a chart, for those who might not immediately recognize that "BSide" equals "Backside."

MSTCrow 00:56, Jun 4, 2004 (UTC)


[edit] Who architected the Alpha?

"The Alpha project's main computer architects/designers were Rich Witek, Dick Sites, and Trygve Fossum."

What exactly was Trygve Fossums involvement with Alpha? Is it correct to credit him as main architect/designer?

Stefan

[edit] Disambig reference re: AXP is unnecessary

I removed the blurb discussing the abbreviation AXP and two of its other interpretations because:

  • the page AXP in fact does not redirect here. Rather, that page is a proper disambiguation page that mentions each of the alternatives; and
  • there is no likelihood of confusion, since as mentioned, AXP is a disambig page, and further since the name of this page—"DEC Alpha"—does not even include the string "AXP."

—Ryanaxp 15:04, Jun 22, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Multia

Someone just changed the Multia from a 21068 to a 21066. If the 21066 was named LCA ("Low Cost Alpha"), then IIRC, that's correct 'cause Multia used LCA as did at least one Single Board Computer built by DEC.

Atlant 16:55, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

21068 was also called LCA4, like 21066. DEC Multia service manual lists 233 MHz Multia as having a 21068, but 21068 was only rated at 66 (sic) MHz according to data sheet, so presumably 233 MHz Multia chip was a 21066A. Letdorf 16:59, 12 July 2006 (UTC).

[edit] Epicode

Hi, all.

I am new to Wikipedia... so if I commit a fox pass, please forgive.

Do the production versions of the Alpha support Epicode?

I am an embedded systems designer and I read with great interest an article in Byte Magazine years ago speaking to the ability of the Alpha to take on any instruction set, not just that of the VAX with Epicode. I was trhilled and thought this was indeed the computer architeture to take DEC 25 more years. Want to make a CDC6600? No Problem!

Time passed and the Alpha came out, but when I received an Alpha Data Book, it was not spoken about, nor have I seen anything in the press since the Byte article which preceded (if memory serves) the release said nothing about Epicode.

Can anyone tell me if the Epicode architecture was actually implemented?

Broh. (Broh-dot)

AFAIK, Epicode was a DEC PRISM thing. Epicode evolved into PALcode on the Alpha, which was only used to hide differences between platforms and processor variants (ie. a kind of hardware abstraction layer) and not to completely redefine the instruction set. Letdorf 10:03, 25 July 2006 (UTC).

[edit] 21466?

Do we have any references for the existance of a 21466 variant of the EV8? Letdorf 10:24, 25 September 2006 (UTC).

Re: Tryggve Fossum

While he was/is a respected and significant contributor to Alpha, the two architects of Alpha were Dick Sites and Rich Witek. Ref: The AARM (Alpha Architecture Reference Manual)

Also, the main page references "Tarantula". The code name for EV-8 was Arana (tilde over the 'n') as in spanish for spider. That was because it was envisioned as an 8-way machine. Ref: personal knowledge.

Qualifications of personal knowledge: I was part of AMT (Alpha Migration Tools) (various binary translator products) from 1992 - 2000 when I left the company. AMT was initially a subgroup of the AD (Advanced Development) organization of Digital Semiconductor.

209.6.240.225 17:53, 29 June 2007 (UTC) Rick Gorton (gorton at no spam dot theworld dot com)

[edit] CPU Table

The CPU table contains a few errors and unverified or assumed information.

Firstly, the bandwidth figures listed for the Alpha are wrong. Instead of stating the bandwidth of the Alpha's data bus, the bandwidth of the computers which used an Alpha CPU was used stated instead. This is misleading as it states bandwidths of the computers, not the Alpha, which is what this article is about.

Secondly, I have found no credible evidence supporting the values for the cancelled 21464 CPUs. The values in the table seem to be assumptions or speculations based on the specifications of previous models. If I am wrong, and there are credible sources for these values, they should have links in the references section. Rilak 16:42, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

As I have mentioned before, the memory bandwidths listed in the table do not add anything to the table of Alpha processors. The given figures I suspect, are the memory bandwidths of computers using the Alpha chip. It should be changed to state the system bus width and speed, or removed since its misleading. Any comments before I begin in a few days? Rilak (talk) 22:27, 16 February 2008 (UTC)