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IBM releases Linux-on-Power programming tool

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
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Stephen Shankland

Linux on IBM's Power processors today isn't widely used, but Big Blue has added a little more meat to the bones of an attempt to make it commercially viable. IBM announced Thursday it's released programming software called the Performance Simulator for Linux on Power to help programmers fine-tune programs that run on Linux on Power.

With the software, "Users of Linux on Power will be able to examine how their code executes on various IBM Power processors so that they can identify and avoid common performance hazards on these processors," IBM said on its AlphaWorks site.

IBM has one influential ally in its Linux-on-Power effort: Linus Torvalds, who earlier this year switched to an Apple computer using dual PowerPC 970FX processors. Linux today is most widely used x86 processors such as Intel's Xeon and Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron.

IBM's tool requires Java, a 64-bit Power processor such as IBM's Power5 or PowerPC 970FX, and a supporting software component for programs written in C or C++.