Slashdot Mirror


IBM (Offically) Launches Linux Box Clustering

Neumsy writes " IBM has offically announced that it is releasing Linux-Based Server, Software Packages. Yahoo! News has the story . According to IBM, this will expand the use of Linux. It's a good overview article. Not too much in depth, but still nice to see Linux getting out there more and more."

136 comments

  1. Wow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    ... never expected that!

    THIS IS NEWS! (and fp)

    -DFW

    1. Re:Wow... by SilentTone · · Score: -1, Redundant

      this is great news.. viva la linux

  2. rats by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    missed the 20 seconds...no fp for me :(

    Think Maybe /. can include a count-down timer to make this trolling easer? Thanks.

    Oh, and fuck Jon Katz.

  3. Hey TRoLLaXoR by faeryman · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    im calling out my man TRoLLaXoR! where are you? anyway, listen, remember that jewish bitch we gangbanged...Natalia..no Natalie? Natalie Portman, thats it! well she pages me yesterday looking for some sweet loving.

    so i shut off my 486 and go to her house. i knock on the door and she greets me in. (naked of course..crazy bitch) we made smalltalk for a bit while i smoked a cigarette. she was rambling something about how she wanted "that huge fat cock" of yours! i dont know what you two were doing while i was gone but she sure seems hooked on you man!

    i told her you were off battling the homosexuals in Kansas City and she'd have to settle for my tiny 3 inch pierced tool. she pouted and mumbled something about and "8 inch cock thick as a mans wrist." i just sat there smoking my Marlboro while she went on and on about you. finally i got sick of it and extinguished my cigarette out on her left breast. it went PSSSTTT and i laughed.

    she ran into the kitchen to go tend to her burn. in her abscence i made my way back to my truck and pulled out my petrification ray. now this petrification ray is SO much better than the version i had last year. i ditched Linux as the OS on it and replaced it with *BSD - and now it doesnt crash, its latency is lower, and once again i enjoy petrifiying young girls with it!

    so i walk back in and Natalies on the couch. she looks up at me, starts to mumble about how im an ass, but before she finishes my petrification ray is humming to life. i set the switch to "HOT GRITS" and pulled the trigger. grits flew all over her, covering every inch of her body in thier warm embrace. she stood up, as if to run away, and i thought it such folly. once faeryman decides to petrify someone there is no escape.

    the grits started cooling down, encasing her body is a stone like layer. i stared at her body, naked and petrified, and a tear fell from my eye. the beauty of seeing her like that was too much.

    after composing myself i took both her and my ray back to my truck. i drove home and now she sits in my bedroom, naked and petrified. i assume you two have something going on, so whenever you want you can come and pick her up.

    anyway man, take it easy. glad to see you're still posting too.

    --


    ,
    faeryman
    1. Re:Hey TRoLLaXoR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Cool man, me I took my IBM Linux software and created a Natalie Portman program and then I wired it into a Real Doll (www.realdoll.com)and now it displays more acting ability than Natalie in Episode 1!!! It's real hot and uhhh, uhhh, I have to go put it in her right now because she's winking at me....she wants my huge cock now!!!!!!!!!!

    2. Re:Hey TRoLLaXoR by TRoLLaXoR · · Score: -1

      Amazing story! Shit, I leave town and everything goes to Hell. At least you held things down. I dunno wtf her problem is, when I confirmed that she was a Yid I tried to call it all off but she'd register new MSN and AIM screennames everyday and instant message me all day long. The more I blocked her the more names she registered. Like "SpaceB4wLzGrrrL" and "GritzGurl69" and shit.

      I wondered why it had stopped.

      What are you running on your ray? FreeBSD 4.4 just came out, but so did Darwin 1.4.1...

      Well, here I am signing off. You caught me just as I was giving up posting on SLashdot for some time. See you soon, I have no idea how into trolling you are anymore but there's something in the works that may interest you. A return to the old days of trolltalk, sort of. My email's below if you're curious.

      In any event, nice story. You seem to still have it.

  4. stupid 20 second rule by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    fuckety fuckety fuckety fuck!

    1. Re:stupid 20 second rule by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      noich noich noich!

  5. The commercials weren't lying? by FortKnox · · Score: 4, Funny

    The commercials weren't lying about IBM selling Linux servers?!?!?!?!

    Maybe I outta start believing marketing people? Nahh.... ;-)

    --
    Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
    1. Re:The commercials weren't lying? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes I saw the commercial too, and a few more times thanks to my TiVo :)

      It's kind of fun to see the OS you used to download on to 10 3.5" floppies ( 20 if you wanted X) make it to a TV commercial by a blue chip stock company.

    2. Re:The commercials weren't lying? by diadem · · Score: 1

      Maybe I outta start believing marketing people?

      I have this bridge that's going on auction, cheap.

      --
      Liquid Gaming - Your daily dose of gaming news
  6. The real story behind MS and MA... by tt2k1 · · Score: -1
    Massachusetts also rejects hygiene
    by THE_MESSENGER, Troll Staff Writer

    CAMBRIDGE - Massachusetts may have rejected the latest Microsoft-DOJ settlement, but not for the reasons that you suspect. "The underlying technology issues are, of course, important," explains Cheap Software advocate Dick Stallman. "But we Nor'easters have much more disdain for Microsoft's clean-cut image than anything relating to antitrust."

    Stallman says that Microsoft representatives' short hair, clean business suits, and lack of putrefying body odour offend delicate Massachusetts sensibilities. Stallman elaborates: "As a dirty hippy, you expect me to loathe all organisms which to not exude the fetid stench of marijuana-soaked roadkill. But even the most respected Boston man reeks of jungle feces. It is in fact my carefully cultivated odour that makes me the most respected name in hacking, not my mediocre BASIC programming skills."

    Governor Jane Swift agrees. "The sweet smell of rotting flesh and fecal fulmination is a core value of the people of Massachusetts and our neighboring states. Microsoft's lawyers mocked our traditions throughout the trial, by insisting on washing their hair and cleaning their ears. I've been told that these Northwesterners even clip their toenails!" Governor Swift shuddered, and waves of her monthly feminine pollution wafted toward this reporter like a Vietcong army. "We can't be associated with people who clip their toenails."

    It appears that Massachusetts is not alone in its aversion to Microsoft's spring-fresh ways. The state motto of New Hampsire is "Stinky or Die," and its residents showcase the same hard-line avoidance of hygiene as their Massachusetts brethren. "Them Mackersoft boys must be some sort of Communists," proclaiming Earl McFadden, a local lobsterman. "Ayuh, I done heard that them suited freaks take a shower every day of God's week. That just ain't natural."

    Mr. McFadden then pulled open the front of his trousers and spat onto his crotch.

    Microsoft may have trouble selling these states on the latest agreement, but they'll definitely try. Spokesmen for the Redmond, Washington-based software behemoth report that a special edition of its flagship operating system, WindowsXP, is being prepared to woo Massachusetts into further talks. "WindowsMA," reads the released press statement, "combines the power of WindowsXP with ActiveStench technology." OfficeMA, a companion product, features a new "Larry the Lobster" Office Assistant, and disables the Massachusetts-unfriendly "Spell Check" feature.

    --- IMAGINE A BEOWULF CLUSTER OF IBM LINUX BOX CLUSTERS, YOU LOSERS! ---

    --

    Troll Tuesday 2001.

    --The Mess

  7. wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    can you imagine an official beowulf cluster of these puppies running on RDRAM while natalie portman pours hot grits down my petrified pants while i wack to the goatse guy who violated my rights online when i tried to first post?

    1. Re:wow by SilentTone · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Natalie Portman prefers DDR :-D

    2. Re:wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can you imagine a Beowolf Cluster of Linux boxes being rammed like pearls on a string up Natalie's butt until I splooge hot grits all over screaming "God how I love LINUX!!!!!!!!!!!"

  8. LINUX by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

    I love LINUX. LINUX rules. I hate Microsoft.

    1. Re:LINUX by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I suggest you read the Free Software Foundation web pages, particularly the "philosophy" section. You will see that "Free Software" is just communism under another name.

    2. Re:LINUX by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Myth: Communists are bad peope.

      Fact: Communists are actually nice people. They love their mothers and little puppy dogs, too.

      Myth: Linux is just for communists.

      Fact: Linux is for everybody. Communists (RMS), Socialists (Larry Wall), Libertarians (ESR), Democrats (Al Gore - skiping the obligatory internet comment), even Republicans (George W Bush builds his own kernel).

      Myth: Linux is from bad people.

      Fact: Linux is from Linus Torvalds - he invented it all by himself in some foreign country - but he's an American now. Linus is a good person; he loves his mother and little puppy dogs, too.

      Myth: I hate communists.

      Fact: Anonymous Cowards almost always *are* communists. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

  9. debth? C'mon guys! by dood · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Can you guys spell anything? "debth"???

    1. Re:debth? C'mon guys! by greenfly · · Score: 3, Insightful

      A lot of people seem to confuse what the posters say (which is in quotes btw) and what the Slashdot crew says. Of course, either is just as likely to be spelled incorrectly :).

    2. Re:debth? C'mon guys! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      They could have at least used a [sic].

    3. Re:debth? C'mon guys! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Editors do this thing called "editing". Look into it sometime.

    4. Re:debth? C'mon guys! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Almost as bad as The Tick article where some dude was talking about "Deflator Mouse".

      Slashdot 2, Culture 0.

    5. Re:debth? C'mon guys! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First [sic]!

    6. Re:debth? C'mon guys! by Black+Parrot · · Score: 1


      > A lot of people seem to confuse what the posters say (which is in quotes btw) and what the Slashdot crew says. Of course, either is just as likely to be spelled incorrectly :).

      Your logic is too deeb for me to fathom.

      --
      Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
  10. Debth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    At least he wasn't trying to type "pitch" or something...

  11. Gaming and Clustering by AnimeFreak · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Since Quake III Arena is multi-threaded, would it be possible to run it on some sort of cluster? If not, or if there is, is there any other game that is capable of playing on a cluster?

    Mind you, it would need a fair bit of bandwidth I'd bet.

    1. Re:Gaming and Clustering by Ashran · · Score: 1, Informative

      I doubt it, unless its a cluster made by SGI ;)
      (You could do that with the Onix)
      Because most of the stuff is done by GFX card ..

      --

      Before you email me, remember: "There is no god!"
    2. Re:Gaming and Clustering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      God, I hope I get a chance to metamod that "flamebait" moderation.

    3. Re:Gaming and Clustering by TheLinuxWarrior · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure if it would work. But it damn sure sounds like a fun (albeit expensive) project.

    4. Re:Gaming and Clustering by mindstrm · · Score: 3, Informative

      Well...
      The main factor in determining your q3 performance is not processor speed, but the bandwidth between the processor and video card (and the video card and the actual display buffer).

      Even if you could thread quake through a cluster, it would make no difference.

      As for threading.. these clusters are not hte same thing as a multirpocessor machine... unless they implement shared memory and such across the network.. which would be slow.

    5. Re:Gaming and Clustering by RichiP · · Score: 1

      Just throwing some ideas around here.

      I thought Q3A game quality depended on the CPU to video card bandwidth as well as the 3d processing power of the processor. I assumed as well that the original poster's idea was to offload all the 3D computations off of the video card and onto the system (which he planned to cluster. Let's assume that his cluster had high bandwidth between them)

      In an entirely 2D application, how fast can the system update the ENTIRE video buffer (all 1024x768 pixels say) in a given amount of time?

      If the processing was offloaded to the system and all one needed to do was to reflect the changes in the video buffer, wouldn't that help to alleviate the 3D processing bottleneck?

    6. Re:Gaming and Clustering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If this is normal IBM HACMP clustering then no the memory and processes are not shared.

    7. Re:Gaming and Clustering by pnatural · · Score: 1

      quoth mindstrm:

      The main factor in determining your q3 performance is not processor speed, but the bandwidth between the processor and video card (and the video card and the actual display buffer).

      er... iirc, q3a is actually directing calls to the machines opengl subsystem, so it stands to reason that if you moved that opengl processing from the video subsystem back to the cpu, you might be able to reap some type of clustering benefit.

      otoh, i'd be surprised if that type of setup could work; q3a is built so carefully that a major change like that would probably be detrimental.

      maybe The Carmack will post the answer.

    8. Re:Gaming and Clustering by NerveGas · · Score: 1

      Q3 itself isn't really multithreaded in the way that you are thinking. There is a way to let the video work in a seperate thread, but the actual game itself (AI, physics, sound, etc.) are not. But... the great Carmack has said that the upcoming Doom sequel will be fully multithreaded, and will be terrific on multi-processor systems.

      steve

      --
      Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
    9. Re:Gaming and Clustering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Short answer: No
      Long answer: No way in hell

    10. Re:Gaming and Clustering by Penguinoflight · · Score: 0

      Quake III is only multi-threaded on the win32 and mac?? versions, it's not multi-thread capable in the linux version.

      --
      "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
      1 John 4:14
    11. Re:Gaming and Clustering by seann · · Score: 0

      proof.
      proof.
      proof.

      --
      I'm a big retard who forgot to log out of Slashdot on Mike's computer! LOOK AT ME.
    12. Re:Gaming and Clustering by mindstrm · · Score: 2

      Latency would still be too high, I'm thinking.
      Yes, you could take the hugest cluster in the world and do massive computations, really fast...
      but the time between feeding the equation to the machine and getting the answer is what's at stake.

      It may reduce a 100 year problem to 10 seconds.. but it can't reduce a 1 second problem to a hundredth of a second.

      Part of the reason that modern 3d video cards get such performance is the high-speed bus between the video processors doing all the 3d work and the video ram itself.

  12. LINUX by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

    I love LINUX

  13. Hopefully... by nob · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...this business move won't put IBM too much into "debth."

    --
    daed si luap
    1. Re:Hopefully... by AdmlTroll · · Score: -1

      VA Software... Much "depth" soon will they fall.

      --
      I'm a pepper. Wouldn't you like to be a pepper too?
    2. Re:Hopefully... by czardonic · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Shouldn't that be "dept"?

      --
      Takahashi Rumiko made beats! DON, taku, DON, taku. . .
    3. Re:Hopefully... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I dont know what else to say to proove this to you people, but their are some things that shud not be criticized and, thats speling and, grammer. I aint got a lot of patients for this kind of argument to.

  14. Linux Myths too - full page ad by ethereal · · Score: 5, Informative

    Interestingly enough, just this morning I saw a two-page ad for IBM servers running linux. I haven't found the actual ad online, but it showed the famous "bigfoot" photo, labeled as fake, and then a penguin walking through the server room in the same pose, labeled as real. The other page of the ad was an abbreviated list of the usual Linux myths that we all know and love, with IBM-specific arguments as to why these were no longer true. This is the real fruit of the $1 billion campaign from IBM, and a great answer for your hesitant management.

    IBM's main page for this, aimed at upper brass rather than engineering, is at http://www.ibm.com/linux/cio2, and the myths seemed to come from this brochure: http://www.ibm.com/linux/Demystifying_Linux_Brochu re.pdf.

    Maybe this isn't entirely on-topic, but I thought it was a great example of some more of that good mindshare. And this time IBM isn't going to have to scrub off any sidewalk paint :)

    --

    Your right to not believe: Americans United for Separation of Church and

    1. Re:Linux Myths too - full page ad by rootmonkey · · Score: 1

      This weekend during fox nfl sunday I saw an IBM tv commercial for linux. I thought that was pretty sweet.

      --

      Yes but every time I try to see it your way, I get a headache.
    2. Re:Linux Myths too - full page ad by fajoli · · Score: 1

      This ad was in the Wall Street Journal last week. Two full pages in the technology section if I remember correctly.

    3. Re:Linux Myths too - full page ad by ethereal · · Score: 1

      Thanks - somebody just posted the pages on a bulletin board around here and I was too lazy to go back and figure out what paper it came out of and on what date. Even better that it's in the WSJ, and was a really professionally-done spot IMHO. It's strange how I can go from disgust at Microsoft's marketing weasels to admiration for IBM's in so short a span :)

      --

      Your right to not believe: Americans United for Separation of Church and

    4. Re:Linux Myths too - full page ad by Khalid · · Score: 2

      A friend of mine told me he has seen an IBM Linux ad in a french TV too !!

  15. CM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    ögon för en ögon

  16. Price and performance less than Unix... by Skater · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Linux is appealing because of its price and performance, which can be less than with a comparable Unix-based system, Quandt said."

    Sounds great...oh, wait, no it doesn't.

  17. The beauty of clustering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    IBM has a winner. For organizations which can use more computing muscle, particularly in scientific computing, clustering is true blessing. The real beauty is that an organization can "test the waters" without an outrageous investment in hardware. When budgets are thin, clustering allows you to start small, and then ramp up as the benefits warrant it financially. Here is a lucrative niche for which IBM's expertise is ideally suited.

  18. Woo .. IBM / Linux propaganda by Psymin · · Score: 1

    Its always refreshing to hear corps stress the benefits of this OS ..

    http://www-4.ibm.com/software/is/mp/linux/softwa re /

    1. Re:Woo .. IBM / Linux propaganda by Black+Parrot · · Score: 1, Interesting


      > Its always refreshing to hear corps stress the benefits of this OS ..

      Maybe old news, but yesterday I noticed an IBM/Linux commercial on the telly for the first time. I wasn't paying attention when it came on, but the gig was that some execs walked into their datacenter and were shocked to see a big empty room -- thought someone had stolen all their servers. But IBM had merely replaced them all with a single Linux box.

      --
      Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    2. Re:Woo .. IBM / Linux propaganda by carlos_benj · · Score: 1

      But IBM had merely replaced them all with a single Linux box.

      I've seen the commercial too, but couldn't tell if that was a rack full of Linux boxen or an IBM mainframe. I'm guessing the former, but the use of the singular caused me to question my assumption. Anybody know by lookin'? We've got IBM boxen here, but they're all AIX and Windows (except the one on my desk....).

      --

      --

      As a matter of fact, I am a lawyer. But I play an actor on TV.

    3. Re:Woo .. IBM / Linux propaganda by NighthawkFoo · · Score: 1

      It was a single IBM zSeries mainframe - that's the point behind their recent Linux push. It's got a whole bunch of Linux images all running concurrently on top of VM.

      I saw the commercial early - being an IBM employee has its benefits. :-)

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
      - Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    4. Re:Woo .. IBM / Linux propaganda by NighthawkFoo · · Score: 1

      It was a single IBM zSeries mainframe - that's the point behind their recent Linux push. It's got a whole bunch of Linux images all running concurrently on top of VM.

      I saw the commercial early - being an IBM employee has its benefits. :-)

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
      - Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    5. Re:Woo .. IBM / Linux propaganda by carlos_benj · · Score: 1

      Thank you for your (small) beowulf cluster of replies. So, any idea how many virtual Linuxes can be run on the low end of that series?

      --

      --

      As a matter of fact, I am a lawyer. But I play an actor on TV.

  19. LINUX by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Everything about LINUX is awesome! Tell me more about LINUX! God, I love LINUX.

  20. Corporate America by rhost89 · · Score: 1

    Well acording to this article, it sounds like Corp America isnt tech savy enough to run linux without nice gui point and click conf interfaces. Figures...

    --
    I will bend your mind with my spoon
    1. Re:Corporate America by ethereal · · Score: 1

      That is definitely not news. These are people who have worked long and hard to be able to turn on and off their Windows and Mac machines :)

      --

      Your right to not believe: Americans United for Separation of Church and

    2. Re:Corporate America by czardonic · · Score: 1

      Nice attitude. Gee, I wonder why people are so reluctant to switch to Linux! Is this the kind of "support" that so many Linux based companies are going out of business trying to sell?

      --
      Takahashi Rumiko made beats! DON, taku, DON, taku. . .
    3. Re:Corporate America by einhverfr · · Score: 2

      Linux is appealing because of its price and performance, which can be less than with a comparable Unix-based system, Quandt said.

      Then Windows NT must be the IDEAL choice. Less expensive with less performance... No wonder Linux is having a hard time ;)

      --

      LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
  21. Linux Clusters are a good thing. by GISboy · · Score: 0, Funny

    but do they stay cruncy in milk and will the squirrels be trying to steal the boxes like with the other "Clusters" moniker?

    Put a linux cluster on your network and say "All your baseT(10/100/G) are belong to us!"

    --
    If it is not on fire, it is a software problem.
  22. The official news link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Here is the link to the IBM site. Unfortunately, not much details. However, it seems IBM follows a clustering strategy which includes Linux. It is not a Linux only strategy.

    http://www.ibm.com/news/us/2001/11/13.html

  23. Wine needs to look to IBM for guidance... by Havokmon · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    This article shows EXACTLY what is needed to move from a 'developer only', beta system into a commercial arena.

    At this point, Wine for most end-users is only usable when accessing an existing Windows installation. Hell, the damn thing has a reg file that you're supposed to know (by osmosis apparently) you need to import to get some standalone functionality out of Wine.

    The corporate arena is the place where anything Linux will take off, and be rewarding to the creators (be it beer, money, or recognition).

    It must be accepted that Wine will NEVER run all Win32 apps. First and foremost, a frontend for running Win32 programs, independant of a pre-existing Windows installation, is needed.

    Look at IBM. Sure, clustering exists in Linux. But now IBM is bringing it to the masses.

    What does Wine need to do?

    Include registry settings. (or auto-import)

    Create a module for running Win32 exes without calling Wine (such as the Odin project does in OS/2)

    Update the damn documentation. (This really should be last, because in reality, people don't want to spend an hour reading documentation, when their app just may not work.) So start with a Quick "Hit List", or script.

    CodeWeavers has started this... But I don't think the initial Text File setup is nearly as much of a problem as capturing registry settings to get Apps to work in Wine Correctly. See Novell ZenWorks to see how this part is done right.

    I suppose this is probably OT, but IBM does have some shining examples of "The way it SHOULD be done."

    --
    "I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
    1. Re:Wine needs to look to IBM for guidance... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To all moderators:

      What does this have to do with Linux clustering?

    2. Re:Wine needs to look to IBM for guidance... by dda · · Score: 1

      So, what Wine has to do is to be vmware , isn't it ?
      They even probably have a marketing department.

    3. Re:Wine needs to look to IBM for guidance... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Create a module for running Win32 exes without calling Wine (such as the Odin project does in OS/2)"

      I've been using this for years in Linux. Its called binfmt_misc, and can also handle transparent running of java or any other non-native format.

    4. Re:Wine needs to look to IBM for guidance... by Dante+Aliegri · · Score: 1

      You are obviously confused.
      What wine needs to do is implement
      all of the win32 functions.
      While that may be easy to say,
      actually doing it is not.
      Often the way a function works is
      how MSDN says it works.
      What must be done then is painstaking
      debugging in order to get the function
      working in a way that the applications
      that use it expect it work.

      Secondly, saying that wine will never run all win32 apps is true, however I have a feeling you are thinking of something different.
      VxDs are the problem; theu will be impossible to run in the way that WINE works, you can't translate what a VxD is doing -- it requires direct hardware access.
      Thus you would have to throw in a whole emulator to get all VxDs to work. Not fun.
      I feel you were thinking more along the lines of what I was mentioning as what the first goal needs to be.

      Wine does include registry settings.
      I'm not sure what you are thinking.
      It does not include every one that it needs,
      but there is a reason for that;
      usually the functions that need that setting
      aren't working.

      As another AC mentioned, the kernel already has a mechanism for seamlessly running PE format executables.

      However, if you're worried about running applications from other applications, wine already does that.
      Since the people that need the kinds of things you are talking about usually click on icons,
      I don't see this being a big deal.

      Third, Why don't /you/ work on documentation?
      It doesn't take a programmer. You can bug wine-devel when something doesn't make sense.
      In fact, having non programmers work on documentation often is better, because things that don't make sense to them definatly won't make sense to a user.

      As for truly useful things:
      Alexandre mentioned a few weeks ago something I
      would find very useful.
      Having a part of wine or a frontend
      that would handle per-application settings.
      Thus, you could have the annoying installers that
      want to run full screen run in a 604x480 wine desktop,
      and you could have quick time player run in managed mode.

      --
      -- What doesn't kill you hasn't tried hard enough.
    5. Re:Wine needs to look to IBM for guidance... by Havokmon · · Score: 1

      >You are obviously confused.
      :P
      >What wine needs to do is implement
      >all of the win32 functions.
      At some point, yes.
      >While that may be easy to say,
      >actually doing it is not.
      >Often the way a function works is not
      >how MSDN says it works.
      >What must be done then is painstaking
      >debugging in order to get the function
      >working in a way that the applications
      >that use it expect it work.
      Ahh, but that's where the 'front-end' work done FIRST becomes helpful. If it's difficult for people to get running, a lot of people are just going to drop the whole thing before they could submit a potentially decent bug-report.

      >Secondly, saying that wine will never run all win32 apps is true, however
      >I have a feeling you are thinking of something different. VxDs are the
      >problem; theu will be impossible to run in the way that WINE works, you
      >can't translate what a VxD is doing -- it requires direct hardware
      >access. Thus you would have to throw in a whole emulator to get all VxDs
      >to work. Not fun.

      That's true. And I admit that I know little about Win32 programming, I think there's enough 'garbage' out there to keep basic applications from running in Wine. Hell, Elmo's Workshop doesn't run under XP quite right....

      >I feel you were thinking more along the lines of what I was mentioning as
      > what the first goal needs to be.

      Nope. I have Terminal Server, it's a decent solution (although Citrix is better). It's not THE solution I think needs to be implemented.

      Here's my situation.

      I have 30 PC's. Most of them run FoxPro 5 based applications, and MS Office, on a Netware Server. I think this is a prime candidate for going
      to a LTSP type setup, where I have a beefy server serving thin Linux clients, and all file access is done 'locally'. FoxPro is a bitch for
      file access, and the less I can pull over the network, the faster it'll be.

      I only need to convert MS Office to Star/K Office, and then run FoxPro in Wine. It's damn close, but some ole errors are killing it. The Foxpro Apps are two commerical, and a slew of custom apps, all centering around SBT.

      A conversion to SQL would be exceptional, but the cost isn't beneficial.
      Hell, it's $12 grand to UPGRADE to SBT 6.5 for 30 users.

      In any case. The benefits would be both cost, and administration. If I can leverage NDS in there, the cost savings for the server would go away, but I would be even happier.

      > Wine does include registry settings.
      > I'm not sure what you are thinking.
      > It does not include every one that it needs,
      > but there is a reason for that;
      > usually the functions that need that setting
      > aren't working.

      Yes, but having to import them manually should not be necessary. I found the 'documentation' to do that in the wine-devel archive.

      > As another AC mentioned, the kernel already has a mechanism for
      > seamlessly running PE format executables.
      That's definately informative and I was not aware of that. Problem solved. Now how do we let others like me know that?

      > However, if you're worried about running applications from other
      > applications, wine already does that.
      > Since the people that need the kinds of things you are talking about
      > usually click on icons, I don't see this being a big deal.

      Nope, I don't have an issue with functionality AFTER installation. Except for the obvious apps not running yet, but it's not a final product yet.

      >Third, Why don't /you/ work on documentation?
      Well, I'm a manager. I manage. :P
      >It doesn't take a programmer. You can bug wine-devel when something
      >doesn't make sense.
      As much as I would like to. To be frank, I don't want to. I don't have that kind of time available.
      At this point in my life, I'd rather take a day or two off, and reshingle the garage (it's a bitch lifting those things up there), than take EXTRA time out of my day to make more money on the side consulting. Yes, I enjoy helping people out. I have a bunch of stuff at www.havokmon.com/stuff for people to use, and I help out on mailing lists, but those aren't time-consuming like this project would take. I'm more of a quick-fix type of person, not spending a lot of time on one particular thing, of course, I should never have to revisit that issue either.
      Plus, my documentation sucks, and I have a bad attitude about it, because I know people don't read it.
      >In fact, having non programmers work on documentation often is better,
      >because things that don't make sense to them definatly won't make sense to a
      >user.

      Ok. If I did it, this is what I would do.
      Take a bare system.
      Install Wine as fake_windows.
      Write down what I did.
      Nicen up the registry import documentation.
      Create a win32 app (or find one?) to capture complete application installation for 'replay' into Wine registry, and appropriate file locations.

      Now, the whole point of my original post, is the above shouldn't be needed. Wine should have the registry imported when it's installed
      with fake_windows (ala codeweavers), and Installation apps should be the first
      programs to run. I think it's wrong that I can't install the VFP5.0 runtime yet through Wine.

      If you build it they will come. It's really true, but it 'they' can't get in, they're going to go away. And I think Wine needs to have 'more
      access', before it has more applications. Why have a big park full of rides, if a large part of the community can't get in. The Linux community
      is becoming more and more 'newbieish'. I see people all the time, just wanting to "Try Linux." They have no clue how to do any of that. It
      took me hours to find the registry import stuff that's right there in the wine checkout (Why wasn't it mentioned in the README, or am I a twit, and just missed it?). For some reason, I just expected the installer to install the runtime.

      >As for truly useful things:
      >Alexandre mentioned a few weeks ago something I
      >would find very useful.
      >Having a part of wine or a frontend
      >that would handle per-application settings.
      >Thus, you could have the annoying installers that
      >want to run full screen run in a 604x480 wine desktop,
      >and you could have quick time player run in managed mode.

      This sounds nifty, but I think it's out of order. Get the installers to RUN first, then worry about how to manage the screen real-estate.

      Don't work on what's cool, it's the non-cool stuff that will get the train moving.

      >-- What doesn't kill you hasn't tried hard enough.
      Or you made her sign a pre-nup...

      --
      "I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
  24. and.. by TheRain · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    but still nice to see Linux getting out there more and more."

    ... and more and more and more and..

    --
    Please help! I'm stuck inside my virtual reality headset!
  25. In regards to your sig by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Windows: from the people who brought you EDLIN.

    UNIX came with 'ed', which was much, much worse than edlin.

    1. Re:In regards to your sig by ZaneMcAuley · · Score: 1

      Yeah but Windows came with DOS :)

      --
      ----- Whats wrong with this picture? http://www.revoh.org:1234/whatswrong
  26. At last a professional Linux cluster by Gopal.V · · Score: 1

    I wonder whether IBM will bring out bewoulf clusters, It is too hard to get any good software for bewoulf. Maybe IBM may finally give up unix and come home to linux. Ps : I am looking for a 3d Rendering farm using clusters any idea ?

    1. Re:At last a professional Linux cluster by OS24Ever · · Score: 1

      There are a number of Beowolf clusters produced by IBM for their customers. I helped build (build = carried servers into room and racked) one setup for in New Mexico.

      However, if you look at the Top 500 Clusters Site You will see many a IBM Linux cluster on there. Specifically numbers 41, 106, and 125. There are numbers more that aren't listed on that site that are going into many a commercial account every month.

      --

      As a rock-in-roll Physicist once said, No matter where you go, there you are.

    2. Re:At last a professional Linux cluster by LinuxHam · · Score: 2

      IBM has a mature Beowulf program. I am being groomed to join the people deploying in the northeast. Check out this Redbook:

      Linux HPC Clusters

      --
      Intelligent Life on Earth
    3. Re:At last a professional Linux cluster by lovebyte · · Score: 2

      I am looking for a 3d Rendering farm using clusters any idea ?
      Sure. In France : Artabel. I don't know any other company doing the same.

      --

      I'll do it for cheesy poofs.

  27. LINUX by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    I heard LINUX was just for communists. I dont want that to be true becasue I love LINUX. How could such a good thing be from such bad people? I hate communists.

  28. Imagine... by beee · · Score: -1

    Imagine a beowulf cluster of a IBM Linux cluster of these!

    not even close to first, but do I care?

    damn you rabbit you smell like fuckin' piss!

    --


    + Donald Gunth
    + Email: dgunth@quicktek.net
    "Caffeine is the greatest lubricant ever created." -ESR
  29. ms fighting linux expansion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's good to see more linux successes. MS has really been perking up though. Take, for example, the recent link here to the leaked memo to theregister where linux is stated to be the threat. http://slashdot.org/articles/01/11/12/136243.shtml MS has really been perking up. Check out this little tidbit; looks like MS is now dumping copies of winxp at universities to try and combat the fact that intelligent people are using other systems. http://www.browndailyherald.com/stories.cfm?S=0&ID =5668 The MS drones are already out in force; you should leave a little feedback...

    1. Re:ms fighting linux expansion by ethereal · · Score: 1

      Not only that, they're calling it "free software" all over the place. Those bastards! :)

      --

      Your right to not believe: Americans United for Separation of Church and

  30. Obligatory Bewoulf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wonder what it would be like to have a Bewoulf cluster of these clusters?

  31. No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I really can't imagine that.

  32. "Offically"??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hemos, don't you "Preview"?
    Don't you use a spell checker?

    Jeez...

  33. And the obligatory comment... by jht · · Score: 3, Funny

    Boy, I'd really like to see a Beowulf cluster of those!

    What? Oh, okay - never mind...

    --
    -- Josh Turiel
    "2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
  34. Think thin client by gempabumi · · Score: 2, Informative

    In the corporate market, most Linux installations are going to come in as X servers and thin clients (see ltsp). This has huge advantages for maintenance and support, as well as hardware upgrade paths.

    In this case, wine, or other emulators, are not necessarily the best solution for legacy windows apps. Look at using windows 2000 terminal server to host the windows apps and rdesktop to access them from the clients. Very simple to integrate and maintain. The drawback is the cost of the seats on windows 2000 terminal server - but that cost will certainly be offset by the cost orf managing and debugging an emulator.

    Of course, terminal server / emulator is to be thought of as a temporary solution until the legacy app is ported to something which is client independent.

    1. Re:Think thin client by Havokmon · · Score: 1


      Terminal Server is a decent alternative, but the costs are on par with just running Windows on your desktop.

      I'm referring to "What I think needs to be done to allow Wine to replace Windows in fairly generic environments."

      Ie. My environment is FoxPro-based apps, and MSOffice.

      Both on the desktop, and in the pocketbook. yes, rdesktop can be used to negate the licenses, but I'm talking legally. At this point, the cost of running Windows on the desktop is less than attempting to convert all the users to Linux, and running the app through rdesktop.

      --
      "I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
  35. Finally some real advertising for Linux. by i_am_nitrogen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What's even more fun is that Linux has now received some serious television advertising. Up until now (at least in my area) the only "advertising" Linux has received has been the mention of Linux as a possible training route at the computer schools popping up all over the place, as well as being lumped in with all the "UNIX systems that will crash at Y2K because it's so old, but you don't have to worry because nobody uses UNIX any more." -- that was said on one of the news stations here. I sent an e-mail to the channel's producers explaining to them that the use UNIX every day to run their servers (they were running Solaris), produce their graphics (they were running IRIX), and so on. I never heard back from them.

    Anyway, this advertising thing is something I've been wishing I could do for a long time. It's one of the few things still really holding Linux back. I've just never had enough money to put together a campaign, and that's the major shortcoming of Linux: lack of awareness due to lack of significant cash flow. This, together with the DoJ statement that Microsoft can no longer use boot loader restrictions to leverage its monopoly position, will lead to a truly competitive desktop OS market in the near future (I say desktop OS because Linux is already taking over the servers, as evidenced by this commercial).

    1. Re:Finally some real advertising for Linux. by Black+Parrot · · Score: 3, Interesting


      > Up until now ... the only "advertising" Linux has received has been the mention of Linux as a possible training route at the computer schools popping up all over the place, as well as...

      Being listed by the computer schools is probably a strong indicator that Linux is hot stuff. These schools operate on a for-profit basis; they teach what they think people want to learn. If the people going to these schools think knowing Linux is worth paying for, that's another milestone for visibility, mindshare, and mainstream acceptance.

      --
      Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    2. Re:Finally some real advertising for Linux. by vanza · · Score: 2

      Up until now (at least in my area) the only "advertising" Linux has received has been the mention of Linux...

      I don't know if anyone remembers, but IBM has been marketing Linux for some time now. When I was in Boston and San Francisco last July, it was hard to walk a block without seeing a billboard or a bus ad of the "Peace, Love and Linux" campaign, among other stuff from IBM marketing Linux.

      I remember even seeing some of these in Toronto...

      --
      Marcelo Vanzin
    3. Re:Finally some real advertising for Linux. by seann · · Score: 0

      isan't toronto in japan?

      --
      I'm a big retard who forgot to log out of Slashdot on Mike's computer! LOOK AT ME.
  36. Hey... by 7608 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    ObSlashdotComment: Hey, imagine what we could do with a beowulf cluster of these!

    --
    Trapped in Time... Surrounded by Evil... Low on Gas.
  37. Less Performance!! Woohoo! by Isldeur · · Score: 1

    Linux is appealing because of its price and performance, which can be less than with a comparable Unix-based system, Quandt said.

    Less performance!! Woohoo!!

    Reminds me of the Simpsons when Homer starts his own (internet?) company: "I'll make myself president!! No.... VICE president!!!"

  38. Tivoli on linux? by Jon_E · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Isn't this article more about Tivoli on linux and less about clustering?

    Keep in mind it's IBM software on linux that IBM promotes more than linux (partly because AIX is so lame and was never that widely adopted) ..

    1. Re:Tivoli on linux? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hope that comment about AIX was actually a joke. It's so far from the truth it must be. While Linux is a fantastic operating system, it has miles to go before it reaches the stability and robustness of AIX, not to mention ease of administration.

    2. Re:Tivoli on linux? by perky · · Score: 1
      have you ever used AIX? Do you know anything about it? idiot.

      --
      "The new wave is not value-added; it's garbage-subtracted" - Esther Dyson, Dec 1994
  39. Easier for me by Dunall · · Score: 1

    This is great. Hopefully it'll help to bring Linux into the corporate world more as a mainstream solution. I find that with about 90% of the solutions I come up with, I'm met with hostility, disdain or disbelief at my suggest of using 'An unproven, unsupported OS'.

    Thank god! Mabye my job will be a bit easier now.

  40. This adds new meaning.... by BurritoWarrior · · Score: 1

    To the term clusterf**k.

    At least in Redmond...

  41. competes with??????? by slashpunto · · Score: 1

    Its insteresting how the author chose to avoid the obvious fact that linux competes with windows.

    Linux is free open-source software, which means that all code is public and can be adapted by companies and individuals. It competes with other operating systems, such as the popular Unix operating system.

    1. Re:competes with??????? by czardonic · · Score: 1

      Its insteresting how the author chose to avoid the obvious fact that linux competes with windows.

      Not according to Linus.

      --
      Takahashi Rumiko made beats! DON, taku, DON, taku. . .
    2. Re:competes with??????? by Dunall · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I wouldn't say that Linux was a direct competitor against MS. Instead, I'd say it was an alternative.

      Competitor implies that they're working towards a common goal, just using different methods.

    3. Re:competes with??????? by LinuxHam · · Score: 2

      Competitor implies that they're working towards a common goal, just using different methods

      But isn't that exactly the case? MS just doesn't actually say their goal is world domination. Both camps are "working towards the same common goal, just using different methods".

      --
      Intelligent Life on Earth
  42. IBM Clusters at NCSA by dlapine · · Score: 5, Informative
    We already have two here. Check out:
    http://access.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Releases/011018.Titan. html

    Top500 org (http://www.top500.org) has the latest rankings out and Platinum is ranked #41 in the world with a 594 rating and Titan is at #34 with a 677 rating. These are not slow systems, but they do require a knowledgeable support staff. Both systems are IBM "out-of-the-box" clusters, running RedHat Linux versions.

    I'm just glad to see linux advertised in the mainstream media. Name recognition helps.

    More information is available at the main website: http://ncsa.uiuc.edu

    --
    The Internet has no garbage collection
  43. It's called looking at the big picture... by Havokmon · · Score: 1


    You can't apply Linux this to Linux that?

    --
    "I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
  44. Clusters aren't magic! by DreamTheater · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What most people fail to understand about this type of cluster (high-performance, rather than high-availability) is that your apps don't *magically* become faster because you have N more nodes to run them on. Cluster applications require coding to an interface such as MPI or PVM to reap the benefits of the hardware. I don't know of any MPI-aware Quake or Apache servers though ;-)

    1. Re:Clusters aren't magic! by NerveGas · · Score: 1

      Well, if it's something like Apache, then you just put a traffic director (like the Linux Virtual Server) in front of the cluster, and yes, it is as simple as plugging in N more machines, and up to the limit of your traffic director, it will scale pretty much linearly. And if you can't get your hands on a machine or two to use as traffic directors, even round-robin DNS can do somewhat effective load-balancing.

      Not magic, but darn nice.

      steve

      --
      Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
    2. Re:Clusters aren't magic! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      MOSIX and a little bit of 'fork' (man pages. wish you could <a href="man:fork">man fork</a>) and yes it's magic. you could try that with apache too. i think someone has done it. although i'm about to find out about sockets and mosix in the next few days. (i'm in the middle of compiling a mosix-ified kernel myself...)

  45. Why IBM is so important? by Begemot · · Score: 1, Informative

    Clustering is such a fascinating area on its own and the article is so shallow that I'm curious why they've published it at all. They could mention the potential benefit of cluster computing as well as examples of some working clusters like Beowulf or Mosix or even the famous fact that there is a cluster among top 500 supercomputers.

    1. Re:Why IBM is so important? by NerveGas · · Score: 1

      Why is IBM important? Mainly, because when a company like IBM trusts and supports Linux, corporations are much more willing to listen. What does that mean for Linux? It means a lot more people working not only on Linux itself, but on all Linux-related software. Kernel enhancements are only the beginning.

      Look at what happened with SGI - they start working on porting Linux to their machines, we get their coders porting XFS to Linux. IBM ports Linux to their machines, we get AFS, and more is in the works. IBM is also active in helping Linux run efficiently on "big iron". Companies whose business model revolves solely around Linux have been dropping like flies, but companies like IBM and SGI have the ability to keep the Linux side running, and give a lot back to the community.

      steve

      --
      Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
    2. Re:Why IBM is so important? by dlapine · · Score: 1
      Actually, your reference is a little old. There are at least 3 clusters in the top 50! We have 2 of em! :)

      I like the fact that one of our clusters is composed dual pentium PIII at 1.0GHZ- nothing you couldn't buy yourself. Ours are in a 1u form factor so that we can fit 30+ in a rack, but otherwise the basic node isn't that far out.

      We do use some fancy networking equipment to pump up the message passing speed, and those NIC's aren't cheap, but what we have in production is inexpensive and effective for a whole new level group of potential users- those whom CRAY and SGI ignore.

      --
      The Internet has no garbage collection
  46. This is not TheRain... I repeat... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    MOD parent up hahaha! that is hilariouse!! haha

  47. AIX lame? by Jason+Cwik · · Score: 1

    Remember that the world's fastest supercomputer runs AIX.

    What exactly about AIX do you think is lame?

  48. Linux vs. UNIX??? by BadDoggie · · Score: 1
    Am I the only one who noticed that throughout the article, Linux was only compared to UNIX, and there wasn't a single mention of MS?

    Really? I was?!

    woof.

    Every two weeks (max) I have to explain to some "Administrator" how to make Microsoft Clustering work with various software. I haven't ever in my life had to explain it to someone working in UNIX or Linux. Any ideas why?

    1. Re:Linux vs. UNIX??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, this is actually good from a marketing standpoint. It's called association. The trick is not to mention Windows in the same breath as UNIX systems. This is especially good when talking about high-performance system such as these. The big UNIX boys can do it, and Linux is up there (arguable I guess).

    2. Re:Linux vs. UNIX??? by WebMink · · Score: 1

      Maybe it's because IBM makes so much money from selling Windows hardware and software? AS Linux supporters go, they are stunningly pro-Microsoft. I've noticed they insist on making constant distinction between Linux and UNIX when, compared with everything else, Linux and UNIX are blood brothers.

  49. slashdotting testing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hmmm, for those of you intested in this issue, you may want to check out this link, as it has an article which will interest you.

  50. For old times' sake... by DrCode · · Score: 2

    ... I'd like to see them run an ad featuring French-speaking nuns.

  51. Well, it depends... by Begemot · · Score: 1

    I agree as long as you talking about Linux. Nonehteless, apparently, this article was designed to project it on truly exciting field of cluster computing, where it, IMHO, fails.

    As for Linux it's simply a tool of choice being among a small number of operating systems able to facilitate such an extensive research that clustering (especially the branch of global computing) necessitates.

  52. IBM Cluster Book by LinuxHam · · Score: 2

    Hey everyone, check out this Redbook, published by IBM. I've loved their Redbooks for years, and now that I work for IBM e-business, I've been asked to study this guide before I start deploying HPC clusters.

    --
    Intelligent Life on Earth
  53. Uhhh... IBM has been selling clusters for a while by Hedonistic+BOFH · · Score: 5, Informative


    The announcement may make it 'official', but IBM has been selling turn-key style clusters for over a year now.

    How do I know, and why do I care? 'Cause I work for IBM, and design and build Linux clusters for a living.

    We rack purpose-built 1U's (x330's) built for easy large-scale mangement (built-in daisy-chain KVM capabilities, integrated service processor network, cool blinky lights, etc, etc), have internally developed mangement software and system imaging solutions, and ship them to customers at a point where all they need to do is plug them in and log on.

    The only real issue is almost no one has a 'standard' cluster application. Almost every one uses a different IPC mechanism, and usually an app is only validated against one very specific software image. So to get the most out of a cluster, customers still need to spend time tweaking.

    Maybe someday soon, we'll all be able to 'apt-get install damned_big_cluster', but until then... <shameless>just call IBM.</shameless>

    --Matthew
    slashdot at sigalrm dot com

  54. The Holy Grail of CLustering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    The Holy Grail of CLustering is being able to migrate an open socket from one machine to another without disrupting it. I have a trivial solution but there is not enough room in this Windows message box.

  55. A no-FUD brochure by Sara+Chan · · Score: 2
    What I find interesting about IBM's Demystifying Linux Brochure is that it seems to be wholly honest. I couldn't see any attempt to mislead. It paints things positively, but nothing beyond that. The facts speak largely alone.


    Compare this with Microsoft's advertising, which is sometimes grossly misleading, occasionally even other-worldly. I feel good about IBM being on our side. Let's hope lots of Slashdot'ers forward this to their top IT management.

  56. Re:Every high end rendering pacage alredy has that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Most of the high end rendering pacages have that
    built in , just install the client and hit go .
    And it wouldnt benefit from the cluster.
    Each frame has to be subdivided and kept in memory ,
    would you want all nodes accesing that huge amount of data from the network ?

  57. It's true, the commercial says so! by snake_dad · · Score: 2

    If they keep promoting these servers as in this commercial then at least we'll get a couple of good laughs out of it :)

    --
    karma capped .sig seeking available Slashdot poster for long-term relationship.
  58. yeah, really... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    '...the brains of the computer...'

    and that's 'news for nerds'? what next? speakers == 'mouth of the computer'?

  59. so does this mean... by GISboy · · Score: 1

    that a utility to check your cluster's file system is called:

    Clusters.fsck?

    --
    If it is not on fire, it is a software problem.
  60. But Does it Mean Anything? by Zspdude · · Score: 1

    It's definately refreshing to see Linux getting some mainstream advertising, and it surely raises some hopes as to the future of Linux distribution. Unfortuately, whether or not this is significant in any way and whether or not it is representative of any sort of development can only be seen through time. Breaking open the OS market is something that Linux isn't going to do anytime soon. Possibly in some years, we might see this happen, but I'm afraid it's the sort of thing that, barring any absolutely huge events which completely revolutionize the OS market, will take a very long time and I remain unconvinced as to how important this actually is.

    --
    What's in a Sig?
  61. Three types of cluster by Macka · · Score: 2, Informative


    Clusters are clusters, but not all clusters are equal.


    You have high speed compute clusters like Beowulf.

    Then there's the first type of High Availability clusters -- the hot standby/failover configuration, where services and storage on one system are reassigned and restarted by another if the first goes away. Most Unix and Linux implementations haven't got beyond this yet.

    Then there's the more grown up version of High Availability clusters, where all the clustered systems have concurrent access to the same storage, cluster wide lock management, and can run multiple cooperating instances of the same application on all systems. Like Oracle Parallel Server. VMS pioneered this ; Tru64 Unix has it now, and Linux is working towards it with GFS (the Global FileSystem).

    GFS has got to be one of the most exciting current Linux developments in my book. I've had a taste of this kind of clustering on Tru64 Unix, and believe me, once you've experienced it you don't want to go back.

    1. Re:Three types of cluster by kinkie · · Score: 2

      GFS is now commercial-only (fairly "cheap" from a business point of view - 1000 US$/node before rebates and special offers, but completely unreasonable for home hackers who'd like to try it for the heck of it - might be fun trying to combine it with iSCSI).

      OpenGFS seems to have taken off in the free software side of the camp.

      Cluster-wide locking requires applications understanding it, so it's not easy. I'm not sure, for instance, what would MySQL (a popular app that might benefit from this) if two processes tried to access the same storage read-write concurrently - even if the locking semantics were perfectly implemented by the filesystem.

      Where I work I'm trying to set up a mixed active/standby+active/active configuration (shared Fibre Channel-connected storage, applications that can run independently do so, and those who cannot run in hot-standby). I'm almost ready to go live (glee).

      --
      /kinkie
  62. Leveraging IBM for college Linux/BSD installfests? by SgtChaireBourne · · Score: 1
    The article about Brown points out that the students do not get the MS-Office package. MS-Office being the main reason most people keep Microsoft products on the desktop. To top it off, they don't even get any support.

    It looks like Bill's now desperate to hook students into paying for MS-Passport.

    As an example, the Nov. 13 issue of PC Magazine points out that even Microsoft's online privacy statement Generator requires hooking users first to MS-Passport. In contrast, IBM's generator does not.

    So, it is good to see IBM using positive examples. If enough new people give up on pathways that lead to guaranteed vendor lock-in, then we'll see even more Open Source and Free Software and more useful applications.

    --
    Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
  63. Reason company's like point and click OS's by quilb · · Score: 1

    Well the reason that company's want a point and click based OS is because they can hire cheaper workers and there is less chance of major problems since most people use point and click OS's at home.

  64. Double version of the commercials ? by bockman · · Score: 1
    I'm not fully positive (I overheard them just two or three times) but I sort of remember that initially the commercial ended with something like (translating to english):
    A : "what is Linux?"
    B : "it makes you save money"
    Now it says:
    A : "what is a server?"
    B : "it makes you save money"

    Can anybody confirm/deny that ?

    (BTW this sort of 'ads fixing' seems to be a standard practice: I've seen it happen lots of time. They sort of analyse people reaction and 'fine tune' the ad accordingly)

    --
    Ciao

    ----

    FB

  65. mosix for rendering by brianr · · Score: 1

    have you considered using a mosix cluster

    --
    brian is at entropy dot net
  66. Imagine a Beo... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Never Mind. Karma Sucks

  67. Another commercial that mentions Linus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Check out http://www.adcritic.com/content/ibm-linux.html