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HP Lets User Take Linux for a Virtual Spin

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the my-kind-of-test-drive dept.

Jane Walker writes to tell us TechTarget has an interesting article on HP's new TestDrive program. For many small business owners this new site could allow for the benefits of testing many different platforms without having to make the investment up front. From the article: "The program, called TestDrive, is accessed online via the TestDrive Web site. It allows free-of-charge access to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Novell SuSE Linux and other open source operating systems like Debian, FreeBSD and OpenVMS. After registering with the site, each user is allowed 1 GB of space in which to work and is granted access to HP hardware housed at the HP Linux Expertise Center in Marlboro, Mass. Access to the system includes the use of 64-bit processors like Integrity, Alpha, and PA-RISC; and SMP x86 and Opteron ProLiant servers."

39 comments

  1. New? by cbiffle · · Score: 3, Informative

    This isn't new per se; I used it several years ago (back when they were Compaq) to get to TRU-64, OpenVMS, and iPaq-based build machines for Linux.

    Other than that, it's still neat tech.

    1. Re:New? by Qwell · · Score: 1

      Yeah, definitely not new. Perhaps the OSes and/or distros they offer are new, but the "TestDrive" program has been around for a few years.

      --
      As of 10/06/03, I hate COBOL developers.
  2. "new" program? by Yonder+Way · · Score: 2, Informative

    HP has had this for years. This is like saying "Microsoft just released a new operating system called Windows XP".

    Thank you, /. editors. Job well done.

    1. Re:"new" program? by LeninZhiv · · Score: 1

      This has indeed been around for years, but it is an opportunity to point out an advantage of the program which I have benefitted from that may be of interest to other slashdotters: yes, it is an opportunity to get to know VMS, HP/UX, and Tru64 Unix (and a few Linux distros, but you have no excuse for not running those on your own hardware). Granted, given the current shift in direction of HP away from (non-Windows based) server tech it is probably not that valuable as career knowledge to familiarise yourself with these OSes, but is still neat for people interested in exploring different operating systems.

      But the Test Drive program also gives you access to compilers for a few languages that are tricky to find or unavailible in free software. IIRC you get Fortran 95 on Unix (which in 2006 may be less of a big deal than it was awhile back when there were no decent Free compilers for fortran, as I understand there has been progress on that front lately in gcc-land), and on VMS (if it's still the case--I whined specifically for this back when Compaq was running the program and they added it) you get a COBOL compiler--which there is still no full-featured Free software version of (yes, probably for good reason). Nonetheless, people interested in learning Fortran 95 or Cobol may find the TestDrive program to be the most accessible way of gaining access to these languages.

      (And a third benefit, IIRC a few of the servers have Oracle already set up for you, which may be handy for people wanting to learn Oracle but unwilling/unsuccesful in installing it themselves. Although the argument could be made that managing to install Oracle yourself should be the first step in going about learning it...)

    2. Re:"new" program? by mnmn · · Score: 1

      Yeah. My testdrive account has already expired... and I didnt need it since I bought a PARISC workstation from ebay, its memory and disks and got it up and running. ... then I read about it on slashdot!

      --
      "Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
  3. OpenVMS Open Source? by sydb · · Score: 2, Informative

    Don't think so. And like others have said, not news. I used Test Drive four months ago, and others have clearly used it a lot longer ago. Slashdot article quality control? Priceless. Nothing changes!

    --
    Yours Sincerely, Michael.
  4. OpenVMS? by Pantero+Blanco · · Score: 2, Informative

    "It allows free-of-charge access to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Novell SuSE Linux and other open source operating systems like Debian, FreeBSD and OpenVMS."

    Last I checked, you could run OpenVMS for free under a hobbyist license, but it wasn't anywhere close to being open source. Did I miss something?

    1. Re:OpenVMS? by forkazoo · · Score: 1
      "It allows free-of-charge access to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Novell SuSE Linux and other open source operating systems like Debian, FreeBSD and OpenVMS."

      Last I checked, you could run OpenVMS for free under a hobbyist license, but it wasn't anywhere close to being open source. Did I miss something?


      The only thing you missed is the strange brain fever that apparently effects the submitter and "editors."
  5. Here's why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, look who posted the story: "editor" SkuttleMonkey, otherwise known as Zonks understudy.

  6. Redundant? by Nimey · · Score: 1, Troll

    What's with all the -1, Redundant modding? A couple of those were good posts.

    --
    Hail Eris, full of mischief...

    E pluribus sanguinem
    1. Re:Redundant? by SpaceLifeForm · · Score: 1

      Especially that First Post. Man, was that redundant!

      --
      You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
    2. Re:Redundant? by the_humeister · · Score: 1

      Well, since all events in time have or will have happened, but not necessarily all at once, it was/is/will be a redundant post.

  7. Test Drive by James+Chamberlain · · Score: 4, Informative

    As the former sysadmin of the Test Drive Program, I can say pretty definitively that Test Drive has been around for years - since before Compaq bought Digital, I believe. It's nice to see it mentioned, since I know the folks in MRO work pretty hard to keep it going. My admittedly biased feeling on the subject is that Test Drive is a pretty good place where anyone can go to try out operating systems and software on HP hardware to which they might not otherwise have access. They also make sure there are compilers on each system, so you can try our own code on other platforms as well. You can also check out the definitive list of current systems in the program.

    1. Re:Test Drive by eric76 · · Score: 1

      Since they only allow telnet and ftp and no outbound connections, I don't guess there is any way to use X windows, is there?

    2. Re:Test Drive by James+Chamberlain · · Score: 1

      I can't speak for them now since, as I said, I'm no longer there; but that was certainly the case when I was there. There was just too much risk of abuse to generally allow outbound connections of any sort. It's a pretty unique environment, from a security perspective. You have to consider the external network to be more trustworthy than the internal.

    3. Re:Test Drive by vwnlinux · · Score: 1

      Pretty neat program even if it has been around for years. Great concept to allow a test drive of various OS's on HP hardware - before spending the money for the hardware. Also pretty cool to just try out operating systems that I wouldn't be able to play with otherwise. Way to go HP!.

  8. Tests by Psithe · · Score: 4, Funny

    I remember a co-worker signing up for this a few years ago, but getting kicked out in a couple hours. Seems like they don't like you using it for testing Seti@home...

  9. OpenVMS? by the_humeister · · Score: 1

    That's not an open source operating system.

  10. Another good reason to like HP, dupe story or not. by martinultima · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I have to say that I've been pretty happy with HP lately – really nice to have a company supporting open source development efforts, you know? Right now I've got an HP box to develop an AMD64 port of my Linux distro – AMD64 3200+ with 512MB RAM, PCI Express, 80GB SATA disk – love the thing. Runs my system nicely, and dead silent too. Plus it was only $300 at an auction. Lucky me.

    (As far as printers are concerned, on the other hand, not exactly thrilled with some of the newer DeskJets – I tend to be an Epson guy myself, the DeskJets tend to break too easily. Although then again, I still have yet to have any problems whatsoever with one of the original DeskJets, which I still use even today, despite it being older than I am. Runs like a charm.)

    --
    Creative misinterpretation is your friend.
  11. Free dot-com swag!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, I've got to ask, does anyone else still have their little toy cars that were given away when Compaq started doing this back in '99 or so? Ah, the good ol' dot-com days with the free crap everyone would give you. =)

  12. Hmm... by elronxenu · · Score: 1

    I wonder if they installed John the Ripper?

  13. mod parent up funny by popeguilty · · Score: 0

    Please!

  14. Here's something new for you. by twitter · · Score: 1
    HP has had this for years. This is like saying "Microsoft just released a new operating system called Windows XP".

    No, it's more like calling Vista "new".

    Just the same, the review is worth reading if you are not familiar with the program or have any interest in free software use. This fact jumped out at me:

    That said, of the 300,000 unique TestDrive users, almost 60% have chosen Linux as their operating system for evaluating their business on Itanium hardware.

    I'll bet you didn't know that.

    This shows the program is popular and working. If it did not work, people might avoid Linux. 300,000 users is more than I'd have expected.

    --

    Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.

  15. Re:Troll? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    And the list of uselessness goes on as far as the user cares to browse.

    You took the time to go through someone else's posting history? That's interesting. If I look at yours right now I can see 5 troll mods. If one digs a little deeper one finds things like these, of which I'm sure there are plenty more. I'd say the list of uselessnes goes on as far as the user cares to browse.

    So... you were saying?

  16. IBM by eric76 · · Score: 1

    Doesn't IBM have a similar program for some of their machines?

  17. Use and Adoption Statistics are New by twitter · · Score: 3, Interesting
    From the fine article:

    300,000 unique TestDrive users, almost 60% have chosen Linux as their operating system for evaluating their business on Itanium hardware.

    That's news to me. You might have known that, but I did not. That's a lot of people driving.

    --

    Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.

  18. Re:Troll? by Nimey · · Score: 1

    Cool! I'm getting well-known enough to get flamed by name. :-)

    --
    Hail Eris, full of mischief...

    E pluribus sanguinem
  19. Re:Another good reason to like HP, dupe story or n by woolio · · Score: 1

    Plus it was only $300 at an auction.

    Damn! What auction was that??? State surplus?

  20. new ? come on by updatelee · · Score: 1

    I used testdrive almost 10 years ago !!! was 97 I think

  21. Re:Troll? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

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  22. Re:Troll? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Holy shit...

  23. Hmm by drspliff · · Score: 1

    All in all this isn't really new is it? Just HP marketing with a 'its about Linux... come and lap it up children' theme going on.

    Like most of the people here, I've been using this servce for a good few years (since around 2000 when they were still Compaq) and nothing seems to have changed.

  24. IBM AIX Test Drive by kolpackov · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I wish IBM will get a clue and follow with a similar thing for AIX along with XL C/C++ suite. Those things are way to expensive (XL C/C++ for AIX is over $3K) for open source developers to test their code.

  25. Re:Another good reason to like HP, dupe story or n by Decker-Mage · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It seems that the server division lost their way for a while but frankly I think they've found it with a vengeance lately. I'm quite impressed with the new machines they've come out with, especially their broad range of OS support across the line. Sun is also another company, albeit off-topic, that seems to have had a renaissance in their hardware line. Decisions, decisions. Maybe I'll buy both lines! Yeah, that's the ticket ;-).

    --
    "[I]t is a wise man who admits the limits of his knowledge or skill, and that pretending either causes harm." --Terry Go
  26. Re:Another good reason to like HP, dupe story or n by NateTech · · Score: 1

    You call crappy overpriced Opteron-based boxes a "renaissance" at Sun?

    Uh... yeah. Sure. Whatever you say.

    --
    +++OK ATH
  27. ok so its been around for a while.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ok so its old, who cares, I bet many people didnt know about it (me included), I'll be checking this out and am glad I found it via slashdot

  28. Re:Another good reason to like HP, dupe story or n by martinultima · · Score: 1

    Local auction at some thing for ye olde local university's English department (my dad teaches there). Donated by some local tech company. Either way I'm not going to argue, it's one hell of a machine... compiled X11 in only an hour and a half, which I'd have to say is pretty damn good considering that it's such a horribly bloated package.

    --
    Creative misinterpretation is your friend.