> > Oooohhhh, I don't know about that.  The NetBSD/vax port uses native VAX
> > floating point operations, and they're not IEEE compliant.  They're VAX
> > D_float format.   There's the odd problem here and there, but it doesn't
> > wreak great havoc.
> 
> But it's always been that way on the Vax (IIRC Vax FP predates IEEE).  On 
> the ARM, it has always been IEEE, so to change would break compatibility.

It would ONLY break float compatibility. Floats are mostly used just
inside programs, not for communication with other programs. Usually
reals are stored as ASCII numbers in text files, not as IEEE numbers.

Besides, as i suggested only changing the format of floats, not doubles,
IEEE format would also be available. In C numbers are by default passed
as doubles anyway. The whole point of the endeavour was to have the
possibility of accelerating math about tenfold for simple operations
of lesser accuracy when needed, such as in 3d programming, numerical
simulations, etc. 

Kim0