RS6000 port: easy?

[Tim Martin; FSO; Soil Sciences]

I have a budget to buy a workstation that will be used for several
purposes, including to run the GRASS software.  I'm considering the
new SUN Sparc 10, the HP 720, and the IBM RS6000.  I understand that
GRASS compilation on SUN boxes is straightforward, and that the HP isn't
supported, though I have the name of someone who has managed to port
GRASS to the HP.  What I am wondering is, can I expect to be able to
get GRASS running on an RS6000 by compiling the source code myself?
Have any of you done this port yourselves, successfully? 
Are patches available, if required, or Makefile modifications? 
I'm a newcomer to UNIX, but there is lots of UNIX expertise here at
U of A, including lots of RS6000 experience, so if the port doesn't
require unreasonable amounts of rewriting of source code, we should
be able to do it.

Thanks,

Tim.

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  Tim Martin                 *
  Soil Science               *     These opinions are my own:
  University of Alberta      *        My employer has none!
  martin at cs.ualberta.ca      *
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