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HP Lets User Take Linux for a Virtual Spin
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."
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.
HP has had this for years. This is like saying "Microsoft just released a new operating system called Windows XP".
/. editors. Job well done.
Thank you,
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.
"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?
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.