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Linux Desktops Send NASA Rovers to Mars
joestar writes "It's not a secret that Linux has been used at NASA for a long time, and it appears that they have been using it quite extensively on the desktop. From the article: 'At the JPL, it is common to see Red Hat Inc., SuSE or Mandriva Linux running on users' desktops alongside Windows. [...] that's still a lot of Linux on the desktop.' More surprisingly, they seem to be reluctant to use Linux on servers: 'Our personal view is that Linux, period, is only for the desktop. We don't run our main servers on Linux, because there are too many flaws in main Linux kernel.'"
Our greatest strength is to know our flaws. I think any OSS appplies here.
FreeBSD: The Power to Serve!
Yes, that they've been using Unix and variants for decades, and while they may not feel confident of Linux on servers, they work in an environment where *nix is extremely common place, and very likely desirable as compared to alien operating systems like Windows.
Their choice of course, their money..oh wait, it's *my* money ( tax dollars ).
This kind of blanket policy is scary. Servers die, services need to go somewhere. Instead of wasting a couple grand per box on the OS alone, they should be investigating what's causing the issues they don't like and fixing them.
Now, I hear you saying, that's not their job. They just want something that works. So do I. So does everybody. It's likely more cost effective to pay a bounty to a programmer to fix these errors instead of paying for more licenses.
At the end of the day, the mighty buck rules. I'm just concerned they are not spending it as efficiently as they could due to lack of knowledge.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
if bill gates' wife was admitted to the hospital and put on life support managed by one particular OS, which OS do you think he'd actually trust?
No doubt you're implying that he'd opt for one of the heavily scrutinized Linux distros with native support for emergency room cardio equipment? What, Red Hat hasn't done that yet? No widespread testing yet for Hoary Hedgehog, EKG Edition?
If I were Bill, I'd probably choose Win2K... but that's not really the issue. It's the application, the drivers, and the comm interfaces letting the machine talk to the life support stuff. I'd want to be hooked up to whichever of those has seen the most hours of use in the most places under the most circumsntances. And if the O/S that happens to have been the platform on which all of that use-time was racked up happens to be Bill's, then so be it. Win2K is very, very stable - especially when you're not surfing to Russian pr0n sites, installing free casino software, or trying to overclock under a beta video driver for maximum frag resolution.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
No doubt, but... where, and which are?
There is a lot of NASA contrib at networking, drivers, etc, but the kernel flawed, that is interesting.
TFA also says that the NASA is a SUN shop, and they are still using Solaris 8, and they have no doubt to switch to Solaris 10. So this means that they have 6 years old hardware? Becose, I dont think that new SUNs hardware is supported by Solaris 8...
I wonder, do they buy comodity hardware? Becose, if you are planning to roll a massive linux installation, the first thing you do, is check for hardware compatibility...
The article, actually isnt very useful, to help for or detract the linux usage at servers or desktop. It would be nice, that this kind of public funded enterprises, to had their methodology at public access, so we can learn more about that kind of stuff...
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This is what Microsoft has never really understood, and because it's never put that much effort into getting *nix software to easily port over (they did have good intentions with NT 3.5), there are a huge range of applications, particularly at the high end, which will likely never be found on a Windows machine.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Probably it would be one of the tiny realtime OS's that nobody but embedded people care about.
I do kernel development for a living--I'd feel more comfortable with something a bit smaller and more easily understood running my life support.
I've worked at GSFC and a number of other heavily scientific work places. All of these places have a significant number of people using linux. This is not news. Anywhere there are engineers and physicists, there is linux (...and also macOS)...
I don't understand the assertion there are flaws in the linux kernel and this is why they don't use them as servers - my experience though is that this is likely a "policy" decision and that once you get a bunch of sys. admins used to Solaris (once also known as "Slowlaris") or other operating system, they don't want to change.
admittedly I don't anything odd with my linux boxen, but
I've never seen a kernel problem. They're much more stable
than any windows machine I've ever run. I do just the reverse,
linux servers only.
-- Programming with boost is like building a house with lego. It's a cool but I wouldn't want to live in it
But, I have seen many workstations running Linux...
To most people, a workstation is a desktop. "Desktop" itself is a very nebulous term, originally meaning a computer small enough to put on your desktop, but now meaning any client system you directly interact with. You also have the problem of many people using "desktop" to refer to a GUI operating environment. A "workstation" however, comfortably fits into all of the above. Workstations are desktops.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
You use an obscure OS just to make the geek technical analog of a fashion statement, instead of choosing a tool that helps you work efficiently and effectively? Our valiant Astromen in the Challenger may have suffered cheap deaths simply because you were more concerned with being a contemporary "cyber-rebel". This is what our scarce tax dollars are going to, paying a salary to someone who couldn't shed a high school anti-clique mentality? No wonder the USA lost it's technological lead in the 1980s.
But hey, you're the l33t haxor, right? After all, that's all that matters in your juvenile universe.