Re: a 21164 oddity

David Mosberger (davidm@AZStarNet.com)
Tue, 20 Feb 1996 13:17:38 -0700

> Yes, there are some memory-management features that get zapped, leading
> to 2 versions of the chip. One will run Digital Unix and OpenVMS and
> Windows NT and Linux. The other will run Windows NT and Linux and its
> behaviour if you try to run Digital Unix or OpenVMS is INDETERMINATE.

> The reason for doing this is solely marketing-driven, and all Linux
> fans should be glad because it will allow Digital to pick a lower
> price-point for chips.

> Note that the 'crippled' chip will *not* run the SRM console, and so
> you will need to use Milo standalone or Milo via ARC to get the system
> running.

As long as it's capable of running Linux, most people probably won't
have a problem with this, if it means cheaper machines. However, is
this different behavior *documented* someplace? I'd really hate
spending hours debugging something that just doesn't work according to
specs. If the hw ref manuals are accurate all is fine. Otherwise, I
might just as well buy an x86. Intel has a real good history of not
documenting chip features (at least not without NDA). I hope Digital
is not following the same path.

--david



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