On Thu, 2007-05-03 at 17:34 -0700, Abba Communications wrote: > > Other than to scratch an itch, or to do some arch level engineering why > > would you even want to invest in an Alpha these days ? > > > > Having said that, I want to add that we do have a functional CentOS-4 > > release on Alpha that I am running on my pws500u quite happily, but the > > Alpha, for me, is here for legacy and emotional reasons. > > I understand what you are saying... > > God willing, I am looking for a decent and affordable Alpha box that I might > be able to purchase and contrib.... > > I am not up on current HP Alpha offerings... their website appears to show > that it is still in serious production... > > Ummmm my experience and understanding is that mid and high end Alpha > processors were one of, if not the best ever designed and implemented. The Alpha architecture will be phased out, and HP has ceased selling new Alpha machines: "May 2007: HP has ceased accepting orders for new Alpha Systems as of April 27, 2007." Source: http://h18002.www1.hp.com/alphaserver/ So, I think the question is whether good and fast hardware will still be available easily the next seven years, and whether someone will commit him/herself to maintain it for seven years. But that's up to the CentOS team. At any rate, I agree with Karanbir, Alpha will mostly be a curiousity. But I don't think (m)any new Alpha machines are being deployed. -- Daniel