On 2002.08.13 20:21 Matt Thomas wrote:

[32 bit userland]
> Yes it would.  But one advantage to this is that 32-bit programs
> are usually smaller and use less memory than their 64-bit
> counterparts.
The one and only 64 bit arch I got my hands on so far is Alpha and AFAIK
Alpha is a "true" 64 bit only arch. I was quite surprised how memory
hungry an Alpha is. I am used to VAXen. 128 MB RAM is huge for a VAX,
but a breakfast for an Alpha. 

> > > But the most significant difference is that one uses a PC'ish
> > > PNP database and CHRP uses OFW.
> >Next stupid question: Can't this be solved by attaching different
> busses?
> It could and will.  but the point to use the device configuration
> information that the firmware gives us, not to do self-discovery
> (unless we really really have to).
Of course. If we can get all the needed information from the firmware to
do "direct configuration" this is the way to go, not to probe around and
guess what is there. Dependig on the platform we get the information in
different ways, so we have to use different bus attachments to
accomplish this. At least this is the way I understand it. 
-- 



tschüß,
         Jochen

Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/