Compaq has a Offical Linux Web Page 42
David Dula writes "Compaq has put something up official about
alpha hardware for linux with prices and everything. No compaq software support yet but
there is hardware support offered. "
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Compaq has a Offical Linux Web Page
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Always draw your curves, then plot your reading.
Re: Would Linux work on a Compaq Presario 920 CDS (Score:1)
Opps (Score:1)
Notice Compaq spelled Linus as Linux..
2 Steps forward, 1 back..
Faster? (Score:1)
I'm honestly curious, because the prices are really high but who knows, maybe the performance (video, CPU, IO, disk) makes up for it?
Also I love the idea of owning a non-Intel Linux box but I've become lazy and am too used to simply installing binary RPMs for 386, and I imagine there are alot fewer RPMs for Alpha. Also I imagine that alot of programs out there used on Linux don't work on the Alpha
More significantly (Score:1)
No Subject Given (Score:1)
Linux can't use more than 512Mb RAM... (Score:1)
"Currently 512MB of memory is the maximum supported on the DS20 with Linux"
Errr.... I kind of thought half the point of going with 64bit architecture and OS was so you could use lots of RAM and disk.
Anyone know if this is a:
1. limitation of Linux
2. limitation of the Alpha port of Linux
3. limitation of the RedHat distro of the Alpha port of Linux
4. some other reason
5. a complete lie
???
please enlighten me (Score:1)
Memory bandwidth is twice as much as Intel.
66Mhz, 64-bit PCI slots. There is now way you can use a duplex GbEthernet in a PC, unless it is very low traffice (let alone the fact that there are no 32-bit 33Mhz adapters available)
Processor/memory bus is based on a three-way switch, making DMA transfers faster, and optimizing memory access and SMP.
They are built. The prices you have quoted are for components only, you didn't include the cost of assembly, testing, and burnin. The machine you listed does not have a 3-year, enterprise-level, on-site service contract. How much is that worth?
You're paying for the Compaq name.
Again, these are SERVERS, not workstations. The components are usually much higher quality than the components you purchase for your PC.
The Alpha CPU is 64-bit, great for huge databases and other memory-oriented or transaction-oriented applications.
FP kicks ass. You might by these for heavy-duty scientific applications.
For some applications, the PC you just built might be good, but for other applications the Compaq Alpha servers are better.
For a better comparison:
AMI MegaPlex Quad Xeon m/b
2MB built-in ATI video
8 32-bit PCI, 4 64-bit PCI, 2 ISA
Includes custom chassis
3 600-watt power supplies
3 boards total
~ US$10,600
2 Intel Xeon 400Mhz 1MB cache
2 @ ~ US$1,995 == ~US$3,390
128MB ECC PC100 SDRAM DIMM
~ US$200
Total: ~US$14,190
That is the rough equivalent of the DS120 system, which appears to be a bare-bones system. This board has more PCI slots, and can physically hold more memory, but the Xeon is pretty much the end of the line for the P6 core, while the 21264 has a much longer life ahead of it.
This is the core system, and I'm already beyond US$14,000. This is the very rough equivalent of a DS20
IRC (Score:1)
Faster? (Score:1)
Its an interesting fact that single-processor EV6 beats quad-processor Xeon in specFP...
This'll become more interesting as Samsung brings their production up, EV67 (750Mhz+) is released, and Slot A commodity motherboards become available. I expect EV67 CPU+MB to cost around 3000$, which should beat crap out of anything intel puts up.
Who is calling whom clueless? - Answer (Score:1)
www.spec.org, other sources.
The memory bandwidth of the DS20 is 5.6GB/sec, it has two independent 64-bit PCI busses (think gigabit ethernet and the multichannel 64-bit RAID cards) one or two 256 bit wide memory busses, 2MB of L2 cashe per CPU, double the spec-int and 4x SpecFP of a high end Xeon or PII system (400-500MHz)
This DS20 is a server. Don't do this at home.
Happy? I don't like it when insulting language is used either.
JRDM
Machine specific. (Score:1)
Linux has been tested on Alpha boxes with 2 gigs
of RAM and works properly. Any problems here wold
be specific to the server.
Onless it's 2.0.xx which has memory problems of
it's own.
I would prefer a Compaq... (Score:1)
|such a major pain in the ass to open and close,
|it's ridiculous.
I dunno. The case on our lab's Dimension XPS P90 is easy to open, though it doensn't seem to be a very sturdy case. At any rate, it's easier to get into the Dell than the Gateway boxes.
However, we've also had the most trouble with the Dell. I'd rather have a more-difficult to get into case that I didn't need to get into so often.
Faster? (Score:1)
|box but I've become lazy and am too used to
|simply installing binary RPMs for 386, and I|
|imagine there are alot fewer RPMs for Alpha.
On the Alpha, as well as on the other non-x86 Linux systems, rpm --rebuild on a source RPM is your friend. Half the time, I download source RPMs anyway when available, as that way I can feed my Alpha and my Cyrix off of one download.
|Also I imagine that alot of programs out
|there used on Linux don't work on the Alpha
Binary-only programs you'll have trouble with, though you can run some of them through em86 (the Intel emulator). You can get Applixware for Alphas for "office" type work.
There's no native Alpha-Linux Netscape. On an Alpha, you need to use Digital Unix netscape ($$$ for the libraries you need to run it), x86 Netscape under em86 (slow and buggy), or a natively compiled Mozilla (faster and buggy). Or, you can use kfm if you want all the KDE baggage. A Mozilla compiled with lesstif can be had on my homepage (see URL above), and other ones can be had on the Alpha-Linux page (http://www.alphalinux.org).
I would prefer a Compaq... (Score:1)
Compaq's resume (Score:1)
I think it's cool that Compaq put up a "community" page that describes DEC/Compaq's historical contributions to the Linux Community (tm).
Compaq machines and Linux Compatibility (Score:1)
It sucked.
The boot process hung on the CDrom, whether I was booting from floppy, or the functioning CDrom itself. Turns out Compaq's out of the box config is cable select slave for the CDrom. It *works*, but it causes problems. Windows doesn't seem to care, but hey, I expect that.
On top of that, the on board Ethernet, USB interfaces, and the Video *SHARE* IRQ 11. Luckily for Compaq you can change this in BIOS, or I'd be building the next Mars Pathfinder out of this fat desktop case. In retrospect, I'm thinking this may not be such a bad thing. It's good for the clue quota, anyway.
Beyond these two glaring caveats, I'm pretty happy with the Compaq. I can routinely bring any machine to it's knees, but this one performs pretty well under a good heavy load of E DR.15, x11amp, bladeenc, Netscape, a teeming horde of Eterms, and numerous other X apps.
Oh, and Redhat Support cheerily reports that Rasterman is doing well on his diet of bread and water, and that they gave him a bigger cage. =)
Dear Genius (Score:1)
back to the SGI NT Workstation threads. (Score:1)
Your beefy Pentium box would be like a Camaro with a blower. Ok on the strip, but I wouldn't want to be driving it around all the time.
And if anyone is curious, my AS200 4/233 runs X with KDE beautifully with only 32 MB ram. Only one crash in the past month. My Compaq PII 400 has 256MB ram and still crashes at least once a week.
Look at what you're buying (Score:1)
email Digital, not Compaq (Score:1)