How to get a SPARC V8 Instruction Set Architecture Manual

[David Hough]

The SPARC V8 instruction set architecture includes 128-bit quadruple
precision floating point, 
doubled-precision products, and integer multiplication and division.
How to get an official copy of the ISA manual, however, has been somewhat
uncertain.  The following appears to be official:

	Sender: 	David Fickes - Mgr. Communication Programs
	Followup-To: 	dfickesasparc.com
	Organization: 	SPARC International 415/321-8692

SPARC Architecture Version 8 Available From SPARC International

SPARC International announced the publication of the specification for
SPARC Architecture Version 8. Through SPARC International, Version 8
has become the first cooperatively defined and evolved instruction set
architecture in the history of the computer industry.  "Version 8
reflects the SPARC community's ability to focus on architectural
problem-solving, gain consensus and produce a public standard available
to any vendor," said Bob Duncan, SPARC International's CEO and
chairman. "The improvements in Version 8 illustrate that the SPARC
architectural community is in lock-step with systems vendors and the
other suppliers that are offering products that meet customer demands
today."

Meeting the growing demand for high- performance departmental and
corporate servers, Version 8 offers a precisely-defined standard memory
model, which simplifies the portability of applications to
multiprocessor environments. Other new features include better support
for integer multiplication and division allowing more efficient
embedded system and multiprocessing products.  SPARC International will
make available the SPARC Architecture Manual Version 8 as a reference
tool for all SPARC vendors. The Manual will be published and
distributed to members of SPARC International, technical bookstores and
universities worldwide.