Hey daniweb, 1998 called
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| herzeleid Oct 29, 2008 11:59 AM EDT |
and they want their linux on mainframe article back.... |
| gus3 Oct 29, 2008 2:04 PM EDT |
The term "mainframe" might be a bit misleading, because most people associate it with "big iron." An IBM Power system that's roughly twice as large as a typical desktop system, weighs five times as much (and hurts a lot more when you drop it on your foot), and might still qualify as "micro"(?!?). Given how much time a desktop PC sits idle, waiting for a user event, it still makes sense in a corporate environment to centralize a lot of the program execution. As a bonus, the lighter the desktop system, the lower its power consumption. Thing is, the mainframe world (Unix and VMS in particular) have had multi-user multi-processing in their GUI's practically since the beginning, but That Other Redmondian OS is still single-user. Only one interactive user at a time may be logged in.The only way it becomes multi-user is through a virtualization add-on, and the proprietary licensing is dicey even for that! Virtualizing through Citrix, is "good," while doing the same within Bochs or LKVM is "evil," sez them. Although, just think of the Folding@Home points you could get with all those desktop systems... |
| herzeleid Oct 29, 2008 5:32 PM EDT |
The mainframe still has it's place - there are a couple of them here where I work - and it's also true that mainframes these days are using chips not unlike those in the powermacs. My only nit was that linux has been on the mainframe for years and years. AFAIK, open solaris is actually the newest mainframe OS, having just recently been ported, while linux on the mainframe actually started happening in the 90s. |
| gus3 Oct 30, 2008 3:17 AM EDT |
And believe me, if I had the raw cash to obtain, and power, a VAX-11/750, you bet I'd grab it right up. But as it is, I'd need an air-conditioned room, a high-voltage connection, and a special agreement with the power company not to take a kidney if I couldn't make a payment. |
| Sander_Marechal Oct 30, 2008 5:59 AM EDT |
@gus3: Well, I have a nice ProLiant Dual Xeon HT (4 logical cores total), 1 GB RAM, 6-disc hardware RAID if you're interested.Quoting:roughly twice as large as a typical desktop system Check Quoting:weighs five times as much Check Quoting:hurts a lot more when you drop it on your foot Check :-) Quoting:I'd need an air-conditioned room Nope, but a closed cupboard isn't ideal either. Quoting:a high-voltage connection Nope. Standard will do fine. Quoting:a special agreement with the power company not to take a kidney if I couldn't make a payment Nope. It uses about 300W, or about $50 a month in power. |
| jdixon Oct 30, 2008 10:32 AM EDT |
> Nope. It uses about 300W, or about $50 a month in power. Ouch! You pay $0.23 per kilowatt-hour? (0.3*24*30=216 Kwh) |
| gus3 Oct 30, 2008 11:47 AM EDT |
The VAX would require all that, and then some. When I was in college *mumblety* years ago, the air conditioning failed in the server room. What nobody knew was that the temperature alarm had also failed sometime earlier. When the network admin opened the door to the room, a wall of hot air hit him in the face. That was how they learned about the failures. Immediately, the VAX admin took VMS down to single-user mode, while the rest of the staff grabbed as many fans as they could, to push some room-temperature air in where it was needed. Fortunately, they didn't need to power down the VAX; it would have taken two hours to do a full reboot from power-up. And a few years ago, I saw an 11/750 in the Computer History Museum. *snif* |
| Sander_Marechal Oct 30, 2008 12:44 PM EDT |
@jdixon: Yeah. Something thereabouts. You understand why I replaced it with a <100W Dell Quad-core. |
| number6x Oct 30, 2008 2:26 PM EDT |
The latest Z series mainframes use CMOS air cooled chips ( the Power PC family) and are much more powerful than any old Vax mini... :) Of course you have to think about the mainframe design. For instance, all of the disk I/O is offloaded to separate dedicate disk drives. There are a lot of things that come standard in a mini or X86 based server that are not in that Z-box. (Most of the people buying the Z already have that equipment) |
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