[knorker]

> The first batches of Quake executables, quake.exe and vquake.exe were programmed on HP 712-60 running NeXT and cross-compiled with DJGPP running on a DEC Alpha server 2100A.

Is that accurate? I thought DJGPP only ran on and for PC compatible x86. ID had Alpha for things like running qbps and light and vis (these took for--ever to run, so the alpha SMP was really useful), but for building the actual DOS binaries, surely this was DJGPP on x86 PC?

Was DJGPP able to run on Alpha for cross compilation? I'm skeptical, but I could be wrong.

Edit: Actually it looks like you could. But did they? https://www.delorie.com/djgpp/v2faq/faq22_9.html

[fabiensanglard]

I asked John Carmack and he told me they did.

There is also an interview of Dave Tayor explicitly mentioning compiling Quake on the Alpha in 20s (source: https://www.gamers.org/dhs/usavisit/dallas.html#:~:text=comp... I don't think he meant running qbsp or vis or light.

[knorker]

> he told me they did.

This is when they (or at least Carmack) was doing development on Next? So were those the DOS builds?

[qingcharles]

I thought the same thing. There wouldn't be a huge advantage to cross-compiling in this instance since the target platform can happily run the compiler?

[frumplestlatz]

Running your builds on a much larger, higher performance server — using a real, decent, stable multi-user OS with proper networking — is a huge advantage.