Compat libraries, hard float et al

Hi List,

Please correct me if I am wrong, but there is no usable web-browser for 
openzaurus?

My understanding is that either netfront or opera will only run with the 
compatibility libraries, to get gcc 2.95 ABI, old libc etc. This is fine. The 
next problem is that they require hard float support, taken out of OpenZaurus 
for performance reasons.

Now comes the bit where I may just be confused but bear with me, and let me 
know where my logic falls down:

The hardfloat support comes from the kernel, with illegal instruction traps.

The kernel itself contains *NO* floating point operations.

Softfloat replaces the floating point operations with function calls, 
providing much greater efficiency than taking the instruction trap route.

Why not compile the kernel with hard float support, and compile all OZ apps 
with soft float support?

Thus you will get all the performance benefits of softfloat in new apps, but 
still we be able to run the old apps to get yourself a usable PDA (ie a 
web-browser, and hopefully softmaker textmaker)?

Sorry if this has been discussed before, but I really want to be able to 
switch to OZ, and it just seems impossible if you actually want a PDA, rather 
than a developers plaything.

Thanks,
Tim


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT
Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your
opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys-and earn cash
http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV