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Linux-only POWER5 server From IBM

Posted by Hemos on from the making-the-rounds dept.

vaporland writes "This story from Infoworld.com talks about IBM's new low priced POWER5 based servers which will ship with Red Hat or Suse Linux, but not IBM's AIX. My question is, will it boot up Apple's OSX Server?"

13 of 232 comments (clear)

  1. My answer is.... by Kenja · · Score: 2, Interesting
    " My question is, will it boot up Apple's OSX Server?"

    Odds are that it wont. Diferent (if similar) CPU and architecture. Also, since when is 5k$ low cost?

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    1. Re:My answer is.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      There are servers and then there are SERVERS.

      There is the server in my basement (most people's desktops have more power) and then there is the new server my ISP just bought. It has redundant, hot-swappable everything including mother boards. Each mother board has at least two CPUs and each CPU has two cores (I'm quoting him as accurately as I can here). It can replace all his other machines (a bunch). It is the size of several desktops. I asked him what it cost and he just said, "I have to pay for it on installments." I think it cost WAY more than $5k.

    2. Re:My answer is.... by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Why? You can get a 1U Sun system for under 1k$. A dual AMD 64 system comes in under 5K$ as well. I'm not saying that the IBM system isn't worth the money, just that it isn't "low cost".

      It appears that POWER5 wipes the floor with UltraSPARC IV. An 8-core POWER5 system has better performance (according to this benchmark) than a 16-core USIV system in every benchmark in which they are compared.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  2. AIX limitations? by kperrier · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Is there anything on the silicon they would prevent me from installing AIX on it?

  3. Re:Awesome, although I give it long odds by mrseigen · · Score: 2, Interesting

    A lot of people say that PPC Linux has been historically slower than X86 Linux but I honestly cannot see the difference when running my K6-2 and Power Computing machines side by side. Has this been squashed, or can someone provide evidence to the contrary?

  4. Virtual Performance Hit by grunt107 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    With the supposed capacity to emulate 20 servers virtually, can these low/medium-end POWER5s actually perform adequately (comparably to the single-servers they are targeting)? That seems like a bit of a stretch.

    It is commendable, however, that IBM is maintaining its Linux focus (at least on the servers). Now if they'd start pushing the desk/laptop a little harder...

  5. Re:No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've been fighting with one of these for the past few days and from what I can see it doesn't bloody run anything.

    It won't do much but look pretty and no-one inside big blue seems to know sh!t about it.

    Config is a nightmare, no success yet.

    Posted anonymously should any senior management be reading this...

  6. What would be more interesting... by iamdrscience · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I would be much more interested in IBM dropping prices on a Power5 desktop. It seems unlikely, but I would buy that thing in a second.

  7. Good news by hackstraw · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is good news. Currently, there are few 64bit platforms where the hardware and software (Linux) are supported by the vendor. I wonder how well these will perform, and more importantly will IBM release a good compiler for them so that we can use them.

  8. Redhat on Power architecture? by Dr.+Evil · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When did IBM start using Redhat on the Power achitecture? It's been SuSE for a long time now hasn't it?

  9. Re:No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No, because OSX does checks to look for Apple-specific hardware on boot.

    Interestingly, if you boot OS X using Pear PC a message appears during verbose boot stating "Warning: Apple Mac I/O Self Test fails", but then continues to boot. It would seem that OS X knows it's not Mac hardware, but doesn't care.

  10. Re:No by extra+the+woos · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I can confirm this... PearPC always made me wonder why people AREN'T making mac clones right now!!! It's definately possible... Obviously i doubt you could get a special deal on os X or sell it advertising it that way, but nothing against you selling a ppc box with a retail copy of OS-X bundled with it...

    --
    replacing it with NEW Folger's Crystals! (lets see if they notice the difference)
  11. Re:No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    If you're having HMC problems, call support.