I hope this is a short term solution, pending the various OS vendors modifying their native tools to handle the formatting correctly.
Readit Newsch_123 commented on IBM's Power11 Processor Architecture servethehome.com/ibms-pow... · Posted by u/ksec
For background to sibling comments - AS/400 aka "System i" was historically a separate line of processors, but is now POWER running a software translation layer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_i#TIMI
To illustrate why the AS/400 had its market niche, the Cali Cartel had a very successful installation of an AS/400. Apparently they used it to do both "business analytics" and back-office tasks.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-cartel-supercomputer-of-...
> For background to sibling comments - AS/400 aka "System i" was historically a separate line of processors, but is now POWER running a software translation layer.
The software translation layer has been a feature of the platform dating back to the System/38 days, and was specifically intended to allow the CPU architecture to change without breaking software compatibility.
IBM i also has the "PASE" layer, which is a binary compatibility layer for AIX. Those applications do not use the translation layer.
ch_123 commented on IBM's Power11 Processor Architecture servethehome.com/ibms-pow... · Posted by u/ksec
z Series have used both, POWER and TELUM (I and II) processors.
For many years, the 64-bit extension of the original S/360/370/390 architecture was emulated in the software layer via the static binary translation – just like the i Series AS/400 have been doing since the inception, and there was no native S/360 implementation in silicon for a fairly long time.
If my understanding is correct, with TELUM processors, IBM has gone back to implementing the ISA in silicon, although the available details on TELUM are scarce.
This (and variations) is commonly believed but not the case - IBM's Z hardware has always used processors which natively implement the Z instruction set. I think part of the source of the confusion is a presentation from years ago which showed that some IP is shared between the Z and Power CPUs.
ch_123 commented on Tribblix – The Retro Illumos Distribution tribblix.org/... · Posted by u/bilegeek
> lightweight window managers are preferred over heavy desktop environments, the primary desktop option is Xfce, and MATE and Enlightenment are also available, plus many others
I would expected CDE as a first class citizen and maybe OpenLook.
And it says that it it maily for 32bit SPARC and 32bit X86 and later that "Important: 32-bit hardware support now completely removed.".
They have an overlay for both:
I feel slightly ashamed that I spent enough time using Windows XP that was able to spot that this was a clone based on the fonts and shadow effects alone.
Nice effort though.
Blissfully ad free with Firefox and uBlock Origin. If ads annoy you, I would suggest fixing your browser.
Even the neutered uBlock Origin Lite on Chrome is enough to make the ads go away.
ch_123 commented on Classic Common Desktop Environment coming to OpenBSD undeadly.org/cgi?action=a... · Posted by u/susam
I'm not that familiar with OpenBSD but my impression was that the team is extremely security conscious. To the point that "there is insecure software in there already" is not an excuse. Perhaps I'm wrong about that?
Most of the security guarantees are made about the base install of the OS, which is mostly code which the OpenBSD team maintains and develops. The code in ports is mostly subject to the same security issues that exist elsewhere, except where facilities of OpenBSD block them (or the code has been patched by the port maintainers).
ch_123 commented on Ask HN: Any active COBOL devs here? What are you working on? · Posted by u/_false
But the code still has to work. LLC's and other corporate structures only protect the owners if the company goes bankrupt, which it will if its systems stop working.
Ditto with market control, it's not some permanent crown you achieve. Companies have to keep performing to keep their market share.
E.g., if you opened an account at a major bank, and your transactions started failing, would you keep banking there?
> E.g., if you opened an account at a major bank, and your transactions started failing, would you keep banking there?
A lot of people who land in that situation do continue banking there since they are either tied into that bank through loans/debt, or lack the time/energy to move elsewhere.
ch_123 commented on New MacBook with A18 Pro Chip Spotted in Apple Code macrumors.com/2025/06/30/... · Posted by u/mfiguiere
I was wondering if this was going to happen after we saw the iPad with the M chip in it.
But this does make me wonder, how much of a difference is there really between the A chips and the M chips. Clearly they are similar enough if either can run iPadOS or Mac. Or is this a case of the operating systems having shared components that make this easier?
But then it does beg the question, why have the distinction in the first place if they are going to use the chips in other hardware. Originally I thought the distinction was that the M series was meant to not give the impression that the Mac line was "underpowered" running mobile chips like on the iPhone.
> But then it does beg the question, why have the distinction in the first place if they are going to use the chips in other hardware. Originally I thought the distinction was that the M series was meant to not give the impression that the Mac line was "underpowered" running mobile chips like on the iPhone.
I suspect that was the original intention. My understanding is that the higher end M chips are essentially multiple lower end M chips glued together. I suspect that the jump from A-series to M-series is similar.
Perhaps one use is to compete with GPUs, but even a multi core CPU is not likely to compete with a GPU in terms of number of arithmetic/vector units.