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Cheap PPC Linux Machines From IBM

Posted by timothy on from the alert-the-darl dept.

ksheff writes "According to this story, IBM is planning on introducing low-end SMP servers and deskside machines based on the PPC970. The machines would be able to run Linux and AIX. A 4-way machine is expected to cost less than $3500! IBM expects a 20x increase in the number of PPC Linux servers by 2006."

4 of 531 comments (clear)

  1. We already know..... by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 1, Troll

    That cheap beowulf boxen are better in general. And if 1 component in Beowulf fales, it's a "Plug'N'Chug" for a new box.

    1 Word. Cheap.

    And since it's running linux (if it was Macos, it'd be from apple), why does hardware platfor matter? I thought the Linux branches to X hardware platforms were something Linux-kiddies always yelled?

    Nice. But irrevalent.

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    1. Re:We already know..... by lethalwp · · Score: 1, Troll


      why does it matter? for desktop because of stuff like this:
      enemy-territory]$ file et.x86
      et.x86: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (GNU/Linux), for GNU/Linux 2.0.0, dynamically linked (uses shared libs), stripped

      try to run that on a ppc and tell me how it worked?

      most commercial compagnies release already only windows software, some of them do linux, but binaries only, they won't support all platforms, don't believe in that.

      But if you only use open source soft you can recompile, maybe others platforms would be better , cheaper, and provide competition, what is damn needed in this fscked capitalism world where big compagnies mostly don't care about "1 user"

    2. Re:We already know..... by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 1, Troll

      >>the PPC970 is a 64 bit cpu...

      Point being? Doesnt give my programs "Super-root" abilities.

      >>How can you compair a Athlon to a G5?

      Simple. How useful is it in general use (or per category)?

      Server? Probably. Still, you have problems if _that_ box goes down, you're down. With a cluster, all of them have to go down before "IT" is down.

      Graphics workstation? Get me a SGI.

      Workstation (non-graphics intensive)? Offload my data processing to a SUN server and get me X86 dual.

      >>Yes If you want a cheap dual smp rig then Athlons are fine. But if you want a powerfull workstation, backed by a huge company, THis is a pretty cool idea.

      I take it you dont know what other products AMD does. Go look at those nice "IBM motherboards". Half of those components will have that nice AMD insignia that's been on their products since the 70's. And after INTEL was created by developers who broke off of them. AMD just doesnt make clone chips...

      >>im sure since IBM is the creator of a G5 they are going to be able to support them better than anything else they sell. Companies are going to see this and they will realize that these machines will be quick and easy for IBM to repair.

      I know how that goes. Just like all those damned Compaq Servers that even the drive bays are non-standard. I cant wait.

      >>Oh Sure these companies can call Bob's computer warehouse, but we all know how much better IBMs support will be....

      The last thing I want to do is call tech support that might have the product out by next-day. Some parts, I need now.

      >>If I worked for a Multimillion dollar company I wouldnt want the computer repair guy going to walmart to pick up spare parts for their new server/workstation.....

      Oh yes. I'm sure that a IBM nic is soo much more different than the 30$ nic shrinkwrapped in walmart. Just IBM had their name on it, so it's suddenly 50$ more.

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    3. Re:We already know..... by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 1, Troll

      >>>>You seem to be confusing 'expensive computer' with 'beowulf cluster'.

      Nope, I dont. If you can compute without continual deadlocks of data, then it's usually clusterable. Databases use a heavy amount of locks to prevent data corruption, and therfore not allow clusters.

      >>>Clusters have a great price/performance ratio for a small class of problems. Climate modeling, fluid dynamics, some life sciences, etc.

      >>>The machines from IBM are designed to do , in enterprise speak, 'transactions'. SQL querys, web services, distibuted software, etc.

      Read my other coments on this thread. I already mention it.

      >>>A cluster makes a very shitty web server.

      I disagree. If you use 1 DNS name bound to 6 servers (function of BIND poor man load balancing), you get round robin rotation between 6 servers. Now you can build a cluster of web servers that pull from one backend (DB server running heavy iron). Each Server can do it's own web page data processing, while distributing the load.

      And in that last situation, all you'd need is redirects if the user does another DNS lookup to redirect him to thr proper server that originally gave ihis DB user request. Or you could just send a unlock to the DB server after marking some table like Last_Server_IP to null and then re-running the data to verify goodness.

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