In a message dated 4/12/99 12:00:34 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
> I'm curious about present and near-future 64-bit workstations. Maybe you
> can help me. I'm interested in the following questions for HP/Intel
> Merced, HP PA-8000, and offerings from Sun, DEC, SGI and IBM:
>
> 1. What workstations/chips are "64-bit"?
Probably depends on the vendor's point of view
>
> 2. Does "64-bit chip" mean it has a 64-bit (or wider) processor bus?
Certainly implies an effort to support 64-bit data transfer effectively IMO.
>
> 3. 64-bit integers?
Certainly.
>Bigger
not necessarily
>(and smaller) ones?
likely
>
> 4. Is single-precision floating point 64 bits?
not normally; usually same as in that vendor's 32-bit scheme.
> Is it IEEE?
ought to be
>
> 5. What size is double-precision floating-point?
64-bit of course
>
> BTW, is there an IEEE standard for binary floating point with more than
> 80 bits, either in place or under development?
Other than IEEE P854? Of the commonly supported formats, only the style
supported by HP, Sun, Lahey/Fuji (others?) complies (for the most part) with
854. It seems to work well, other than its slowness relative to the sloppier
REAL*16 implementations.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Van Snyder
>
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