4 ms·

Windows used to run on top of DEC Alpha too

mbreese 5y ago
But that wasn’t in an emulator, right? I never used it, but I thought that was a separate build that ran on a DEC Alpha, not emulated on the primary Unix OS.
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
  Correct; NT had builds for at least MIPS, Alpha, and x86. Edit: Here we go: > Windows NT 3.1 was released for Intel x86 PC compatible, PC-98, DEC Alpha, and ARC-compliant MIPS platforms. Windows NT 3.51 added support for the PowerPC processor in 1995, specifically PReP-compliant systems such as the IBM Power Series desktops/laptops and Motorola PowerStack series; but despite meetings between Michael Spindler and Bill Gates, not on the Power Macintosh as the PReP compliant Power Macintosh project failed to ship. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT#Supported_platforms https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT#Supported_platfor...
  - foobiekr 5y ago
    And PowerPC.
  - monocasa 5y ago
    And i860, though that one was unreleased and just a development forcing function for portability.
    - lproven 5y ago
      NT was originally developed on i860, which was codenamed "N-Ten". That's what the initials "N.T." originally stood for. https://www.landley.net/history/mirror/ms/winserver2k3_gold1.asp https://www.landley.net/history/mirror/ms/winserver2k3_gold1... At different times, NT supported or has supported: i860, MIPS, SPARC, PowerPC, Alpha, ARM 32, ARM 64, Itanium, x86-32 and x86-64.
      - rbanffy 5y ago
        IIRC, Alpha was the first 64-bit Windows.
        lproven 5y ago
        Yes, I believe so. https://www.itprotoday.com/compute-engines/death-alpha-nt https://www.itprotoday.com/compute-engines/death-alpha-nt
        rbanffy 5y ago
        Microsoft used to be know for their "bacon-and-eggs" partnerships where they bring the eggs and the other company is the pig.
        lproven 5y ago
        :-D Excellent! Never heard that one before.
        rbanffy 5y ago
        I was the pig once. Never again.
        lproven 5y ago
        Ouch. My sympathies. Until recently I worked for a Linux vendor. Many of my colleagues were quite keen on the New MS. "But Liam," they'd tell me, "MS has changed. They say so! Look: 'MS <3 FOSS.' It's right there! They're our valued partners!" I pointed out now-forgotten misdeeds. They said it was OK: they had a _contract_. It had _guarantees_ in it. I do not own any shares in that company.
        rbanffy 5y ago
        My usual answer is "The DoJ couldn't sue Microsoft. Good luck"
robk 5y ago
I spent a summer internship doing qa on the networking bits of nt on alpha at DEC. A bit sluggish but pretty smooth overall.
karmakaze 5y ago
I worked at a spinoff company that actually had DEC Alphas for the purpose of running Win NT. We never actually did though, running our VMS versioned product on it instead. Later I canibalized about 3 or 4 machines in the office starting with a Digital PC with localbus graphics to get a hardware platform capable of running NeXTSTEP 3.3. Ran it for a few weeks and it was totally worth it. Got to see what Xcode would be like way in advance.

But that wasn’t in an emulator, right? I never used it, but I thought that was a separate build that ran on a DEC Alpha, not emulated on the primary Unix OS.

yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
Correct; NT had builds for at least MIPS, Alpha, and x86. Edit: Here we go: > Windows NT 3.1 was released for Intel x86 PC compatible, PC-98, DEC Alpha, and ARC-compliant MIPS platforms. Windows NT 3.51 added support for the PowerPC processor in 1995, specifically PReP-compliant systems such as the IBM Power Series desktops/laptops and Motorola PowerStack series; but despite meetings between Michael Spindler and Bill Gates, not on the Power Macintosh as the PReP compliant Power Macintosh project failed to ship. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT#Supported_platforms https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT#Supported_platfor...
- foobiekr 5y ago
  And PowerPC.
- monocasa 5y ago
  And i860, though that one was unreleased and just a development forcing function for portability.
  - lproven 5y ago
    NT was originally developed on i860, which was codenamed "N-Ten". That's what the initials "N.T." originally stood for. https://www.landley.net/history/mirror/ms/winserver2k3_gold1.asp https://www.landley.net/history/mirror/ms/winserver2k3_gold1... At different times, NT supported or has supported: i860, MIPS, SPARC, PowerPC, Alpha, ARM 32, ARM 64, Itanium, x86-32 and x86-64.
    - rbanffy 5y ago
      IIRC, Alpha was the first 64-bit Windows.
      - lproven 5y ago
        Yes, I believe so. https://www.itprotoday.com/compute-engines/death-alpha-nt https://www.itprotoday.com/compute-engines/death-alpha-nt
        rbanffy 5y ago
        Microsoft used to be know for their "bacon-and-eggs" partnerships where they bring the eggs and the other company is the pig.
        lproven 5y ago
        :-D Excellent! Never heard that one before.
        rbanffy 5y ago
        I was the pig once. Never again.
        lproven 5y ago
        Ouch. My sympathies. Until recently I worked for a Linux vendor. Many of my colleagues were quite keen on the New MS. "But Liam," they'd tell me, "MS has changed. They say so! Look: 'MS <3 FOSS.' It's right there! They're our valued partners!" I pointed out now-forgotten misdeeds. They said it was OK: they had a _contract_. It had _guarantees_ in it. I do not own any shares in that company.
        rbanffy 5y ago
        My usual answer is "The DoJ couldn't sue Microsoft. Good luck"

robk 5y ago

I spent a summer internship doing qa on the networking bits of nt on alpha at DEC. A bit sluggish but pretty smooth overall.

karmakaze 5y ago

I worked at a spinoff company that actually had DEC Alphas for the purpose of running Win NT. We never actually did though, running our VMS versioned product on it instead. Later I canibalized about 3 or 4 machines in the office starting with a Digital PC with localbus graphics to get a hardware platform capable of running NeXTSTEP 3.3. Ran it for a few weeks and it was totally worth it. Got to see what Xcode would be like way in advance.