postgres/alpha problems

well, it looks like we're moving postgres to a linux machine, so I
won't be doing any more alpha debugging for a while (BTW, adjusting
some types on the attribute struct to make it 64-bit aligned had no
effect) unless someone has some suggestions for me to try (aside from
the snapshot thing, I figure anyone with an alpha can do that.  let me
know if I should).  I haven't given up, however my free time is
limited and obviously I can't do it on my employer's penny anymore
(beleive it or not, I did have permission), and I'd also like to work
on pl/perl & odbc stuff.

also, cast (var to type) is the same as type(var)?  weird!  why
doesn't it just call the output/input functions (I can't cast name to
text or vice-versa for comparisons)..