Linux To Power NWS's Storm Prediction System

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Linux To Power NWS's Storm Prediction System

Posted by timothy on Tuesday December 9, 2003 @10:41PM from the mind-the-ups-batteries-please dept.

Mr. Plow writes "The National Weather Service is migrating to Linux-based IBM workstations and has purchased 900 IBM computers and 160 servers to do so." He includes links to coverage at Forbes (a Reuters wire service story there), Government Computer News, and Computerworld.

18 of 154 comments (clear)

Of course... by kinnell · 2003-12-09 22:43 · Score: 5, Funny

With windows all you see is blue

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If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
1. Re:Of course... by Ske · 2003-12-09 22:46 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  and with IBM it is BIG blue...
linux to power.... by mrsev · 2003-12-09 22:46 · Score: 4, Funny

... I use electricity for power. Should I change to this "linux". Maybe linux is more secure.
One Problem... by JamesD_UK · 2003-12-09 22:46 · Score: 5, Funny

Who wants reports favourable to penguins?
Interesting by frankthechicken · 2003-12-09 22:52 · Score: 4, Interesting

Interesting, according to this

Linux first appeared on the NWS scene in 1995 in the form of Slackware

And in comparison to their previous HP-UX systems:-

. . .the switch has helped increase data processing speed.

"The performance that we measure with our benchmark has increased by over 100% since we completed phase one of our Linux migration," happily boasts Piercy.
1. Re:Interesting by 4of12 · 2003-12-10 02:14 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  That's the key issue.
  
  The purchase price of high performance RISC machines has always been O(US$10^4) and the acquisition cycle a period of several years.
  
  While you can still get high performance RISC workstations for those prices, it doesn't make any sense when comparing price/performance.
  
  In 1993, PC's significantly underperformed RISC machines, so paying 5-8 times the prices was worth it.
  
  In 2003, PC's perform equitably to the best RISC workstations: you need a really good reason not get a really great Linux workstation for $6-8K instead of high-end RISC hardware for $20-100K.
  
  --
  "Provided by the management for your protection."
Re:Bravo by kinnell · 2003-12-09 22:53 · Score: 4, Insightful

That's a increase of about 48 times of computing power and the app just loads 3 times that fast? Something has to be seriously wrong with this setup!
Startup times are affected more by disk access times than processor speed. Disk access times don't increase anywhere near as fast as processor clock frequencies.

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If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
We have are workstations already by Xenolith · 2003-12-09 22:59 · Score: 5, Informative

I'm a NWS forecaster. We have our new workstations... they are pretty darn nifty. They are dual Xeons (2.4 ghz) running RedHat 7.2. These are much improved over the old HPs, which were J200 (overview). The bad news is that the database and application servers are still the old HPs. These are scheduled to be replaced in the near future as well.

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Journal
1. Re:We have are workstations already by girouette · 2003-12-10 00:52 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  The computing context is similar where I work (Meteorological Service of Canada). There is a big difference between the forecaster's (technical) desktop and the clerical desktop. Our technical desktop never belonged to MS WIndows. Cost remains a concern, obviously, which is why we are moving away from proprietary Unix.
  
  For what it's worth, our next-generation workstation is going to be java-based. (Joint effort with a handful of European countries led by Germany.) http://www.dwd.de/de/Technik/Projekte/NinJo/ (German language)
  
  Dunno about the NWS, but for our clerical desktop to move away from Microsoft would be nothing short of miraculous.
Windows by RevMike · 2003-12-09 23:01 · Score: 4, Insightful

Of course... With windows all you see is blue

Of course, the NWS is using Linux to replace HP-UX workstations.
Re:So what's the forecast? by SpaceLifeForm · 2003-12-09 23:04 · Score: 4, Funny

They keep saying that the 5 day forecast is just as in-accurate as before, but now, they know this fact with more accuracy than ever before.

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You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
Linux replacing Unix : just standard evolution by slb · 2003-12-09 23:05 · Score: 4, Interesting

What would have been far more interesting is a Windows to Linux migration with the same improvement in performance and TCO.

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http://www.transparency.org
Maybe this will help Linux's respectability by Maestro4k · 2003-12-09 23:08 · Score: 4, Interesting

Having someone big and respected like the NWS using Linux and announcing it publically should help Linux's respectability quotient in the US a lot. I'm glad to see this happening, both because it increases Linux's usage out there, and because it'll save us money (IIRC, the NWS is taxpayer funded), and probably lead to more accurate forecasts. It seems every time the computers they use get faster/more powerful, the forecasts get better. :)
Important to mention... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-12-09 23:09 · Score: 5, Informative

That the migration is from HP UX boxes to Linux, not from Windows as some people might assume.
Re:So what's the forecast? by Xenolith · 2003-12-09 23:16 · Score: 5, Informative

Well, to throw one stat out at you. In 1987, the NWS had a probability of detection score for tornadoes of 25%. This past year it was nearly 80%. Now given, part of that improvement is better trained employees and an excellent skywarn/spotter network. But yes, bigger and better computers are helping to improve the NWS mission.

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Journal
lies by n0k14 · 2003-12-10 00:23 · Score: 4, Interesting

Almost every day I read about a department, agency, company or even country switching to linux. I rarely read about switching from linux back to windows. Where is this inconceivebly high implementation and training cost for linux that micosoft keeps whining about?
Why not using distributed.net... by Ummite · 2003-12-10 01:12 · Score: 4, Interesting

Why not using free systems like distributed.net, wich is 1) more powerfull and 2) free. People would be glad to help predict better weather, since actually they can't predict correctly 24h in advance ....
Re:powered by linux.... by Orp · 2003-12-10 02:31 · Score: 5, Insightful

I, for one, give a shit. I am a meteorology professor who has been using Linux for over a decade. Having the NWS transition over to Linux means it is possible for me to run the same software that NWS operational forecasters are using. In fact, that's already possible - I have a copy of the AWIPS software on a CD-ROM sitting in my office, ready to install. This, in turn, opens the door for research possibilities and just as importantly, allows me to expose students to the kinds of software they will be using should they opt to work for the NWS (many do).

I visited the Grand Rapids NWS office a month ago and most of the workstations were already running Linux. The SOO (Science Operations Officer) seemed to be pretty happy with this. Why shouldn't he - hardware and software costs go down, machines are faster, and the OS is something that most scientists are using anyway.

Leigh Orf

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A squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous, got me?