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RS/6000 Linux Box
According to Infoworld, later this year, IBM will release an RS/6000
machine capable of running Linux, as
well as AIX. While the article mostly discusses AIX, it says that IBM
expects Linux to be very popular with ISPs and ASPs. Let's hope so. What's the architechture count up to now, anyways?
I'm currently on a contract at IBM in the Component Broker (CORBA-based middleware) development group. Many of the folks here came from the AIX/PS2 (or its successor) project.
From what they tell me, it died. That's too bad, because for a short time in late '89, I worked on that project. It wasn't a bad os, had some neat clustering technology, and at the time was one of the few Unixen available for the Intel architecture.
-- Craig Miller Austin, TX
Probabely be easier to go back to the source and work on getting linux's SMP support working better, and on more CPUs
You'd be suprised at the quality of morons who start ISPs these days. I recently asked one why she chose to use NT... "because a 14 yr. old hacker told me unix is not secure."
this raises the question yet again of Linux's high-end scalability. the box in the article is a lower-end model. there was no mention of linux with the higher-end (24 processor) model. we all know linux is slightly behind in this category (compared with other UNIXs), it would be nice if IBM contributed to this effort... it's a nice thought.
-- adraken
While I'm happy to see support from IBM on this, RS/6k's running Linux are not new. Lower end models have been capable of running LinuxPPC (and possibly hiTech pacific's and YellowDog Linux's versions, which are based on LinuxPPC) for quite a while -- at least since last September, when I started to care about LinuxPPC as I purchased a mac, and probably long before. According to linuxppc.com, the following RS/6k models are supported:
IBM
RS6000 (PowerPC-based), 830, 850, 40P, Nobis, INDI
Additionally, PReP, CHRP, an dBeBoxen are supported.
RS/6000 boxes are not cheap. They're more than similar Sun boxes. The software that's available for AIX/6000 is a small fraction of the software that's available for Solaris. So, if you're looking for a commercial UNIX system, unless you have some brand loyalty to IBM (which many shops do), Sun boxes are a better choice than IBM boxes.
If IBM wants to stay in the RS/6000 business, then, it has to do two things. First off, it has to make the boxes cheaper. The PowerPC and PPC reference-architecture hardware can make that possible. Second off, it has to have an OS that has as much or more software as the competition. Like NT or Linux.
It costs a lot to build and maintain a commercial UNIX operating system. Especially if you insist on doing everything The IBM Way. It probably is costing IBM an arm and a leg to keep AIX development going. Using an existing OS (or two, or a few) as a base and adding in RS/6000 specific features to that would probably be a very cost effective move.
This assumes, of course, that IBM is interested in making a profit. Sometimes, I wonder.
We've been using RS/6000's at work for years. They are ludicriously overpriced machines. Now we're buying PC-based linux boxen. You just can't beat the bang for the buck, and even better, we don't have to deal with IBM -- possibly one of the most annoying organizations we've had the displeasure of doing business with. We can't even open a box and install/swap a peripheral without voiding our maintenance agreements! To me, one of the best things about Linux is that it makes the commercial Unices (and expensive proprietary hardware) unnecessary for most applications. Show me an RS/6000 with a bang/buck ratio similar to a Dell PowerEdge, and I might care.
Oh darn! I was going to get that thing out of the closet and use it for something useful.
:-)
:)
That thing was pretty cool though, for its time. Too bad I used up all its 16K ram trying to write a program for it once.
I must have been like 12 years old back then
You know what?
Even though one of my goals in life is to get Linux running on every RS/6000 there is, you won't catch me touching this Model 150 reissue running Linux.
IBM's jumping the gun. They're quick to point out it can transfer 6.4GB/s. (one of the slower RS/6000's. The S80 is rumoured to be breaking 16GB/s, and I've had my S70's at work moving nearly 7GB/s via multiple 100bFL and QFE.) but it's pointless.
Linux is nowhere near ready for the RS/6000. The TCP/IP stack and various NIC drivers are so poorly written and/or implemented, that you actually can't go anywhere NEAR that. Linux just can't do that.
Let's get down to specs. The 'Pizzaz' is basically a reissue of the 43P Model 150 (7043). What's the 7043 got in it?
PowerPC 604e @ 375MHz, 128M to 1G of ECC, 5 PCI slots, 4.5G to 54.6G of disk via an onboard SCSI-UW controller, onboard sound, keyboard, mouse, tablet, ethernet, serial, and parallel.
That's in the TOWER configuration. Put it into a 2U rack, and here's what you HAVE to lose in that single box; 54.6G won't fit in a single 2U case. Nor will 5 PCI slots, unless they go with a PC-style ATX 2U case. To meet NEBS compliance, I suspect they'll have to scrap other things as well, but only on internal expansion. Either way, you end up with somewhat less of a machine.
Now, what're the possible gains? Well, 604e's will do 400MHz without any complaints; I'm running dual 604e/400MHz processors on a development machine. It's NOT an RS/6000. It's a Motorola MTX+-based system. But it runs AIX, so it's a similar enough test bed. The onboard ethernet can be replaced with non-proprietary single, and quad fast ethernet cards, like the Digital DE21x40 based ones that are everywhere. But then you lose some PCI slots. IBM will probably put some sort of video onboard, to save space. But that takes the system further away from single-point-of-failure. The LED operator panel gives you a single point to determine most failures, but the numbers are not always exact. (888 - boot medium not found. Why, it doesn't say.)
The Model 150 is a workstation. Not a server. IBM's basically trying to turn one of my favourite workhorses (I had two on my desk at one point) into something it just can't be; a server. The Model 150 is a workstation designed for heavy duty graphics (ie; CAD/CAM) and programming work. It's not a server. If you want a server, look at the F40 (and try to ignore the disaster that is Linux SMP on PowerPC) or F50.
Sure, maybe it's something for the ISPs, but for what it's going to cost, you may as well get a Motorola MTX+. For about $4k, you get dual Digital DE21240's onboard, dual 604e/400MHz, onboard SCSI-UW, and 7 PCI slots, all in a configuration you can put in a PC ATX case and mix-and-match standard PC parts with.
-RISCy Business | Rabid System Administrator and BOFH
your company here.
shelby != ford
As the others have sort of pointed out, it would only take around 1.73 days to serve up one page to everybody on earth (approximately six billion people), not 112 days.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Yes, Linux/PPC has run on many RS/6000 boxes for quite a while. But the story is longer than that - it's not just "low end" boxes. Infact, the really low end may never run Linux.
A lot of people don't seem to realize, the PowerPC is more IBM's cost cutting triumph than it is Motorola's technological triumph.
For ages, IBM has been using the Power archetecture in RS/6000 systems. The problem? Too freakin expensive to build systems with several (like 64) processors.
Enter Motorola with an ageing, dead-end CISC design, and tons of experience with low-cost design and manufacture.
Getting Apple to use the new, cheaper version of the Power line, the PowerPC, really made life a lot easier for IBM, who has based their high end workstations and mini's on PPC chips ever since. RS/6000, AS/400, you name it.
I'm frankly not sure what an S/390 like Pacific Blue uses - something else entirely, from all reports. (Or was it S/360? it's late, and I'm watching monstervision)
Anyway, just wanted to clear that up. Old Power-1 and Power-2 based boxes will probably never run anything but AIX.
This is just like television, only you can see much further.