114 lines
4.6 KiB
HTML
114 lines
4.6 KiB
HTML
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
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<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<title>Linux Ports Issue 25</title>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#A000A0"
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ALINK="#FF0000">
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<H4>
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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</H4>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<center>
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<H2>Linux Ports</H2>
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<H4>By <a href="mailto:ross@mecalc.co.za">Ross Linder</a></H4>
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</center>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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I am writing in response to Dave Blondell's letter,
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where he says "The sad truth of the matter is that Bently, and for that
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matter most other software companies don't get enough requests for Linux
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ports to justify the production costs."
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<p>
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Well perhaps it's true for ports from non-Unix environments, but it
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surely is not true otherwise. A look at page 84 "Linux Makes The Big
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Leagues" and "A place for Linux" is exactly the how I persuaded our
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company to start using Linux. For only $250 we could have Linux with
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Metrolink Motif, what's more we could use a cheap PC clone that put
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our HP715 to shame in the performance stakes.
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<p>
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As we started to use Linux seriously, we bought more tools like
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Insure++, CodeWizard, and INT Edittable Widgets. Soon the HP was
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gathering dust, and only used for porting to HP-UX and testing.
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Ironically the HP715 has just been paid off this year, its still a
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nice machine, but its no match for a high end Linux PC.
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<p>
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Since we associate closely with some of our clients, they often visit
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and get to see some of the new enhancements that are under development.
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Often they noticed how fast Linux was compared to other platforms, so
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natural evolution took place, and a lot of our clients have switched
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to Linux.
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<p>
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And the best part of all is that I never need to change a line of code
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when compiling across platforms, I use simple shell scripts that are
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used as CC and LN. An example would be..
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<pre>
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------------------------------------- mcc --------------------------------
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#! /bin/sh
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name=`uname -m`
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if [ $name = "i386" ]
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then
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cc -DSCO $*
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elif [ $name = "i486" ] || [ $name = "i586" ] || [ $name = "i686" ]
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then
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cc -O2 -m486 -fomit-frame-pointer -malign-loops=2 -malign-jumps=2 \
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-malign-functions=2 -DLinux $*
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else
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c89 +w2 -z +FPD -DHPUX -D_HPUX_SOURCE -I/usr/include/X11R5 \
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-I/usr/include/Motif1.2 -I/mnt/INT -I/mnt/700_LIBS/xpm-3.4e $*
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fi
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------
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</pre>
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The combination of Linux[Intel] with its LITTLE ENDIAN architecture and HP-PA
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Risc with its BIG ENDIAN (Same as networking) provides a really nice
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combination of test beds to ensure both byte swapping and 64/32 bit
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compatibility is tested.
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<p>
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At the end of the day it is no extra effort to provide a Linux solution.
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Probably the biggest deterrent is the _loud_ anti-commercial voices. Some
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folk who don't mind paying for software should be more vocal.
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<p>
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Recently a really nice guy called Jay, explained to me why the GNU
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philosophy was so good, he said someone pays you once to do the work
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then the rest of the community should be able to get the benefit
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of your work for free, as you have already been paid.
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<p>
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When I pointed out that most commercial applications take many man
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years to write, so we have two options, to get one poor soul to pay
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millions of $'s or we can try to market our product to ten thousand
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people who would each only pay $100 I got no response.
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<p>
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And while not every one may appreciate or use any of the free software
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that I have contributed to the Linux community, some of the credit must
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go to my employer (Who does not provide free software as a rule) for
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the skills and resources I used to create my free S/W were gained
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from them, in return they use some of my free S/W.
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<center><H5>Copyright © 1998, Ross Linder <BR>
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Published in Issue 25 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, February 1998</H5></center>
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