[Info-vax] Microsoft: Alpha architecture responsible for poor Windows file compression

[Simon Clubley]

On 2016-11-02, Stephen Hoffman <seaohveh at hoffmanlabs.invalid> wrote:
> On 2016-11-02 17:04:26 +0000, johnwallace4 at yahoo.co.uk said:
>
>> I'm not an Alpha architecture expert, but I used be familiar with the 
>> Alpha Architecture Handbook...
>
> The folks at Microsoft are very referring to the Alpha systems that 
> lacked the byte-word extension in the Alpha microprocessor.
>
> EV56 and later had byte-word.   EV5 and earlier Alpha microprocessors didn't.
>
> This caused more than a little grief even for OpenVMS, and particularly 
> in I/O space, and led to some complex software designs.
>
> With byte-word support, Alpha systems after the Rawhide family — after 
> the AlphaServer 4100 series and derivatives — avoided the need for 
> swizzle-space and other "fun" required on earlier systems.
>

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who replied; some of the issues
and viewpoints raised were quite interesting.

Thanks,

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world