jonas@convex.csd.uwm.edu (Jonas K Manske) (05/07/91)
After reading all the articles on turning the Amiga 3000 into a multi- processing machine, I had this thought. Why not get the Mach kernel to run on the Amiga (the NeXT using the 040 has it). Wouldn't this be the most logical next step to getting a TRUE multiprocessing system? BTW, does anybody know when commodore plans to come out with a 040 Amiga 3000? ===== jonas
rblewitt@sdcc6.ucsd.edu (Richard Blewitt) (05/07/91)
In article <11890@uwm.edu> jonas@convex.csd.uwm.edu (Jonas K Manske) writes: >After reading all the articles on turning the Amiga 3000 into a multi- >processing machine, I had this thought. Why not get the Mach kernel to >run on the Amiga (the NeXT using the 040 has it). I have heard of people working on this, but I don't know what point they are at now. >Wouldn't this be the most logical next step to getting a TRUE multiprocessing >system? It's *A* logical step, but is has drawbacks in that there is nothing useful for it at the moment. >BTW, does anybody know when commodore plans to come out with a 040 Amiga >3000? July would be my guess, and I can hear the complaints from the power-upers now: "First C= suckered us into buying these really nice machines at a great price, now they are squeezing more money out of us by offering this fantastic board at a very reasonable price" :) Rick _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________.sig____________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ The generic .sig Rick Blewitt rblewitt@ucsd.edu "Why can't I use the manual cover from my 3000 for the power-up deal?" :)
daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) (05/08/91)
In article <11890@uwm.edu> jonas@convex.csd.uwm.edu (Jonas K Manske) writes: >After reading all the articles on turning the Amiga 3000 into a multi- >processing machine, I had this thought. Why not get the Mach kernel to >run on the Amiga (the NeXT using the 040 has it). Be careful when you say "the Mach kernel". There have been plenty of Mach releases that were not the SMP version. I don't know just what NeXT has in their OS, but it's not necessarily any easier to get a NeXT up and multiprocessing than an Amiga. Especially considering that most NeXTs don't have any way to add additional processors, unless you want loosely coupled multiprocessing over Ethernet or something. >Wouldn't this be the most logical next step to getting a TRUE multiprocessing >system? It would be A step. Mach certainly isn't the only path to multiprocessing. AT&T has already announced plans for a SMP version of System V Release 4 UNIX. From the Amiga point of view, an AmigaOS release that could deal with multiple processors in some reasonable fashion would also be more immediately useful than yet another new OS. >jonas -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy "That's me in the corner, that's me in the spotlight" -R.E.M.
jet@karazm.math.uh.edu (J Eric Townsend) (05/09/91)
In article <21390@cbmvax.commodore.com> daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) writes: >It would be A step. Mach certainly isn't the only path to multiprocessing. >AT&T has already announced plans for a SMP version of System V Release 4 UNIX. There's also a SMP version of SunOS for those who have big VME cages full of SparcEngines (Sparc motherboard with a VME edge connector instead of the pizza box, etc). -- J. Eric Townsend - jet@uh.edu - bitnet: jet@UHOU - vox: (713) 749-2120 Skate UNIX or bleed, boyo... (UNIX is a trademark of Unix Systems Laboratories).
mmm@reaper.Chi.IL.US (Michael Marvin Morrison) (05/10/91)
In article <21390@cbmvax.commodore.com> daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) writes: >In article <11890@uwm.edu> jonas@convex.csd.uwm.edu (Jonas K Manske) writes: >>After reading all the articles on turning the Amiga 3000 into a multi- >>processing machine, I had this thought. Why not get the Mach kernel to >>run on the Amiga (the NeXT using the 040 has it). > >Be careful when you say "the Mach kernel". There have been plenty of Mach >releases that were not the SMP version. I don't know just what NeXT has in >their OS, but it's not necessarily any easier to get a NeXT up and >multiprocessing than an Amiga. Especially considering that most NeXTs don't >have any way to add additional processors, unless you want loosely coupled >multiprocessing over Ethernet or something. Dave should also be careful when stating that *most* NeXTs can't add another processor too. True, that the new ones don't have an expansion bus, but a few of the older 'cubes' were sold. One of the (5 I believe) NuBUS slots in the cube is the processor.. so in these boxes, you could just add another. I'm not a next advocate, I'm just stating a fact. > >>jonas > > >-- >Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Ahh!! Now we got him!! He must be perty tired by now, or does this new rumored 'Amiga 3000 Crew' have sleeping disorders? Do they have more colors? More slots? I heard they come with 4 040's running in parallel under AmigaDOS, and a 50 foot true color monitor. :-) -- Michael M Morrison /| |\ mmm@reaper.chi.il.us <or> | | Cash, for Cache.. | | reaper!mmm@miroc.chi.il.us \| Hmm.. sounds fair. |/
daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) (05/14/91)
In article <mmm.1159@reaper.Chi.IL.US> mmm@reaper.Chi.IL.US (Michael Marvin Morrison) writes: >In article <21390@cbmvax.commodore.com> daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) writes: >>Especially considering that most NeXTs don't have any way to add additional >>processors, unless you want loosely coupled multiprocessing over Ethernet or >>something. >Dave should also be careful when stating that *most* NeXTs can't add another >processor too. True, that the new ones don't have an expansion bus, but a few >of the older 'cubes' were sold. One of the (5 I believe) NuBUS slots in the >cube is the processor.. so in these boxes, you could just add another. >I'm not a next advocate, I'm just stating a fact. Yeah, NeXT Cubes have four sorta-NuBus slots (NuBus protocols with CMOS level drivers and a faster bus clock), one of which contains the whole machine. These are real big cards, not the Macintosh "desktop" NuBus form factor. You could add multiple processors cards to NeXT cubes. Not knowing how many "Cubes" versus "Slabs" were sold, my judgement about "most" NeXTs may have been premature, but I can certainly see the writing on the wall and the direction they're moving in. NuBus is perfectly acceptible for multiprocessing, especially using the "firmly" coupled processor model. It doesn't support any cache coherency mechanisms, but it's fully multi-mastered, and in fact went to great lengths to appear as a true backplane, where these is no "host" processor. >>Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >Ahh!! Now we got him!! He must be perty tired by now, or does this new >rumored 'Amiga 3000 Crew' have sleeping disorders? Do they have more colors? >More slots? I don't notice any more slots, at least not on me personally. I do occasionally see more than the normally visible colors, especially when running 48 or more hours without sleep (it has been awhile, but not THAT long). >I heard they come with 4 040's running in parallel under AmigaDOS, Ooh, where do I get one... >and a 50 foot true color monitor. :-) We've been hooked up to Jumbotrons for years. Just watch a Miami Dolphins home game sometime next fall (courtesy of Joel Tessler, another member of the black jacket and cool shades club...). >Michael M Morrison /| |\ -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy "That's me in the corner, that's me in the spotlight" -R.E.M.