Alpha Learns to Do Windows

Digital's FX!32 is the key to running Win32 software on Alpha/Windows NT.

Selinda Chiquoine

Executing code written for one CPU on another has always been like the talking dog: Though she didn't speak very well, the wonder was that she could do it at all. A new application from Digital Semiconductor has changed the way we think about emulators and what they can do. FX!32 lets you run 32-bit x86 Windows programs on Alpha/NT systems at surprising speeds. Depending on the applications and how they are used, they might run faster on an Alpha system than on a high-end Intel machine, though never as fast as native Alpha programs. In our tests, FX!32 1.0 achieved about 40 percent to 50 percent of the performance of the same code compiled for Alpha.

BYTE editors gave FX!32 the Best Technology award at Comdex last fall because it breaks the emulator mold. It looks at the instructions you're using and translates some of them into native Alpha code, saving the result in a separate DLL. It intercepts system calls and directs them to a native Alpha library. FX!32 thus combines both translation and interpretation, saving execution profiles and analyzing them heuristically (see "An Alpha in PC Clothing," February BYTE).

I tested FX!32 on a 466-MHz Alpha system with 128 MB of RAM running a beta version of Windows NT 4.0. The BYTEmark test results are summarized in the chart . The FX!32 translations ran at 47 percent (integer) and 32 percent (floating point) of native speeds. Straight emulation clocked at 2 percent to 3 percent.

I also ran scripts using Microsoft Visual Test 4.0, Word 7.0a, Excel 7.0a, Bentley Systems' MicroStation 95, and Maple V release 4. Because FX!32 translates only those parts of an applicat ion that you execute, scripts and users that use different commands and system calls will produce different results. Most applications will have a relatively slow first run and increasingly fast second or third run. After that, performance gains taper off.

You can set a maximum disk space allotment for translations, delay optimization, optimize now, delete translated code, or set optimization profile sizes. FX!32 itself takes up 10 MB. Its translations are between one and two times the size of the original code.

The real value of FX!32 is that Alpha users no longer need an Intel system to use Win32 applications. For 16-bit Windows applications, however, you'll need Insignia Solutions' SoftWindows, a traditional (slow) emulator.

Digital will offer FX!32 free to Alpha customers and bundle it with all Alpha systems. FX!32 should end Alpha critics' cries of, "Where's the software?"

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Product Information

FX!32 1.0.........
...................free

(requires Windows NT 4.0)
Digital Semiconductor
Hudson, MA
Phone:    (508) 628-4724 ext. 32 or (800) 332-2717 ext. 32
Fax:      (508) 626-0547 
Internet: 
http://www.digital.com/info/semiconductor

Circle 1050 on Inquiry Card.

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Ratings

Technology      *****
Implementation  ****


Key

***** Outstanding 
 **** Very Good
  *** Good
   ** Fair
    * Poor

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FX!32 Performance

illustration_link (14 Kbytes)

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FX!32 Reports for Duty

screen_link (41 Kbytes)

The FX!32 Manager reports the status of Win32 applications and background code optimization.

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Selinda Chiquoine is a former BYTE technical editor. You can reach her at selinda@bix.com .