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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."
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.
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...