Conference 7.286::digital

    See RICKS::DECHIPS, entry 445, re FX32.
    
    rgds,
    
    AW

RE: .0

The FX 32 emulator for Alpha NT means that Alpha NT systems will be 
able to run "shrink-wrap" off-the-shelf Windows 95 applications.  
Right now, the Intel instruction set emulator on Alpha NT only 
supports DOS and Win16 applications, and only if compiled for the 
80286 instruction set.  FX 32 is VERY important for jump-starting the 
Alpha presence in the NT marketplace and breaking the catch-22 of 
for-Intel-only software development in that marketplace (ISVs develop 
for Intel because that's where the volume is; Alpha can't gain volume 
because there aren't any applications because ISVs won't develop them 
because there's no volume....).

As for P6, I thought it was *16-bit* applications that run slower on 
it than on P5.  Windows 95 applications are 32-bit and run faster on 
P6 than on P5.

--PSW

    >As for P6, I thought it was *16-bit* applications that run slower on 
    >it than on P5.  Windows 95 applications are 32-bit and run faster on 
    >P6 than on P5.
    
    Actually, the P6 enhances a major flaw in Windows95. Windows95 still
    relies on quite a bit of underlying 16-bit code. It's this 16-bit code
    in the operating system that causes it to run slower on the P6 (Now
    called the Pentium Pro). The P6 is designed to run 32 bit code very
    fast, but 16 bit code really screws up its internal pipeline.
    
    Harry
    

It's Windows 95 itself that the P6 does poorly at, not the 32-bit Win95
applications.

					Steve

	It's parts of Windows 95 that the P6 does poorly at. (Those parts
	that are still 16bit for compatibility) Not all of it.


								mike

    HELP!! 
    
    I received a call from a loyal Digital customer/user expressing some
    level of frustration with the following scenario:
    
    He has funding to upgrade his Intel PC, and he has convinced his 
    company that Alpha is the best thing since sliced bread. His funding
    expires at the end of this calendar year. He has been told by Microsoft
    that he needs to buy FX!32 in order to run MS applications on Alpha w/
    Windows NT. 
    
    FX!32 won't be available until next summer. He has to spend money now. 
    We'll lose the sale if there isn't a solution to this problem.
    
    I am not a technical person, nor a sales person. Please get in touch
    with me if you can help this guy out. 
    
    Thanks!
    Pat Wood
    297-4230 

    It depends on the application, do you know what applications he wishes
    to run?
    
    Greg

    He plans to run MS Office as well as:
    	MS Project
    	Correl Draw 3.0
    	MathCad 6.0 ** this will be the most important
    	LabView
    
    He currently has WordPerfect, but would switch to MSWord if he needs
    to.
    
    Thanks....
    
    PAt	

    Word and Excel are available as native Alpha NT apps.  Powerpoint can
    be run via Win-16 emulator as I expect MS-Project would. Not sure about
    the rest.
    
    WordPerfect will not run under the Win-16 emulator.

    Alpha NT systems will get a boost from two software improvements. One is
    Digital's FX!32 which will emulate/translate 32bit Intel (NT and
    Win95) binaries to run under Alpha NT. The other is a 486 emulator for
    16bit Intel applications.  This replaces the 286 emulator in the
    current version and comes from Insigna(sp?), the people that do
    softpc/sofwindows.  The last I heard both of these improvements will
    be free with a future version of NT .

    -Bruce

	Digital will supply the FX32! software. The 486 emulation will
	come with a future version of Windows NT. That comes from
	Insignia via Microsoft. (It's part of the operating system)

							mike

    <<< Note 4249.8 by ABACUS::WOOD "P. Wood" >>>

    He plans to run MS Office as well as:
    	MS Project
RE> 
RE> The non-95 Intel versions of Office and Project work just fine on my
RE> AXP150 running Windows NT 3.51, but the latest xxx-95 versions will not
RE> install because, I suspect, they now have 386 instructions where the
RE> previous versions did not.
    

RE> 
RE> I can not comment on the following:

    	Correl Draw 3.0
    	MathCad 6.0 ** this will be the most important
    	LabView
    
    He currently has WordPerfect, but would switch to MSWord if he needs
    to.
    
    Thanks....
    
    PAt	

re: <<< Note 4249.12 by SPECXN::ELLISON "Rick CXO3-1/E9 DTN:592-5102" >>>

>>RE> 
>>RE> The non-95 Intel versions of Office and Project work just fine on my
>>RE> AXP150 running Windows NT 3.51, but the latest xxx-95 versions will not
>>RE> install because, I suspect, they now have 386 instructions where the
>>RE> previous versions did not.
    
	as has been mentioned, Windows-95 and/or Intel WNT based applications
	(eg those applications using the WIN32 API and compiled on Intel)
	will run on Alpha NT with the use of the FX!32 binary translator,
	currently in field test...

	_kelley

    There are problems w/ older Coreldraw versions and Windows NT. They
    will not run. This is because they take over some video functions to
    make things paint faster. NT's security module doesn't permit
    applications to do that. He may have to go to Coreldraw v6.0 which was
    redone for Windows 95 ... this MIGHT have fixed the problem but check
    first with COREL.
    
    FX32! is a no charge item, I believe.