“Parallel actions by Hewlett-Packard, SGI and Red Hat are
combining to put major muscle into the development of Linux for
Intel’s future flagship Itanium chip.”
“Next week, Hewlett-Packard and Intel are expected to release
programming tools that will enable people to create and run
software designed for the new chip, sources familiar with the
companies’ plans said. Though some of these tools exist already,
the key new feature will be an HP product that lets people try out
Itanium software without having to wait for one of the relatively
rare prototype machines. Intel and HP representatives declined to
comment on the plan. “
“Meanwhile, SGI–a maker of high-end computers that is banking
much of its future on Linux and Intel chips–released its own tools
Monday to help write software for Itanium computers. Members of the
Trillian team creating Linux for Itanium have been eagerly awaiting
these critical tools, called “compilers,” which translate
programming code into instructions a computer chip can
understand.”
“The moves are critical for Linux if it’s going to meet the
expectations Intel and others have for the upstart operating
system, still too new to be suitable for most high-end
applications. Consequently, Linux currently is most popular in
low-end servers based on 32-bit Intel chips, but Itanium and its
successors in Intel’s “IA-64″ family offer a path that could lead
Linux into higher-end computers.”