[ydl-gen] IBM XLC/C++ and XLF for YDL on Cell

[Derick Centeno]

Hi Warren:

I hope that you are well.  I just want to highlight something.  It was
Apple which walked away from IBM's consortium regarding PowerPC
development which led up to the Cell, not the other way around.  Apple
may yet crumble due to the fact it continues to be the least secure
commercially available operating system in the market place - a fact
consistently established for past several years, but that is a different
problem for them and for anyone who doesn't care for their data while
using OS X.

Regarding the topic in this thread I found that the User License for IBM
XLC is $1,500: http://www-01.ibm.com/software/awdtools/xlcpp/multicore/

Academia is not within my experience other than providing computing/IT
server/database support within the college and large scale university
environment.  It is my guess that you could attempt to qualify for or
otherwise attain, a Grant which could allow you to get this compiler or
other products as you needed or wished to explore as an independent
researcher.  I imagine if you went this route, you could put together a
rather nice system comprising of the PowerStation, and a GigaAccel 180
and do an amazing piece of research work.

Hmmm you may have to come "out" of retirement though, I guess.  You'll
see your own best path of course.

All the best...




Warren Nagourney wrote:
> Rob,
> 
> When IBM supported the Mac, I also did a comparison and found that xlc  
> and xlf were from 20% to a factor of 2 faster than gcc and g77 (on a  
> G5). More recently, when IBM released free versions of these products  
> for the Cell, I did a comparison and found very little difference for  
> both the ppu and spu versions. Things might have changed a bit since  
> they started charging, but I wouldn't expect big changes. In any case,  
> I can't afford the commercial products, so it is moot.
> 
> wn
> 
> On Mar 6, 2009, at 1:15 PM, rarob at comcast.net wrote:
> 
>> Warren,
>>  If I remember correctly it is something like $800 for XLC/C++ and  
>> $1200 for XLF , but *please* don't quote me on that.  It has been  
>> quite some time since I checked prices.
>>  The last time I did a bake off of the xlc vs gcc was 5-6 years ago  
>> on a Apple dual G4 box (bought ~2000, don't remember the exact  
>> version), and xlc stomped all over gcc in math ops.  I believe it  
>> has closed the gap since then.
>>  If you need support for some of the Dec extensions to Fortran-77  
>> your choices may be limited.  I only found IBM's compiler and Absoft  
>> that would handle some of the code I was porting.
>>
>> -Rob
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Warren Nagourney" <warren at phys.washington.edu>
>> To: "Discussion List for Yellow Dog Linux User Topics" <yellowdog-general at lists.fixstars.com 
>> Sent: Friday, March 6, 2009 2:58:04 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
>> Subject: Re: [ydl-gen] IBM XLC/C++ and XLF for YDL on Cell
>>
>> Kai,
>>
>> These are time-limited trial products. Do you know what the cost of a
>> commercial license is? (Probably more than I can afford).
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Warren Nagourney
>>
>> On Mar 6, 2009, at 10:30 AM, Kai Staats wrote:
>>
>>> Yellow Dog and Cell Enthusiasts,
>>>
>>> We have posted a set of instructions for installing IBM XLC/C++ and
>>> XLF with
>>> Yellow Dog Linux on Cell:
>>>
>>> http://us.fixstars.com/support/solutions/ydl_6.x/ibm_xl.shtml
>>> http://us.fixstars.com/support/solutions/ydl_6.x/ibm_xl_fortran.shtml
>>>
>>> 	--FSS Staff
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> yellowdog-general mailing list
>>> yellowdog-general at lists.fixstars.com
>>> http://lists.fixstars.com/mailman/listinfo/yellowdog-general
>>> HINT: to Google archives, try  '<keywords>
>>> site:terrasoftsolutions.com'
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>> yellowdog-general mailing list
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> 
> _______________________________________________
> yellowdog-general mailing list
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