Re: Which Sparc is best?
[Note: I've read the exchange with steve prior to replying]
On Tue, Jul 23, 2002 at 06:46:56PM -0400, Craig Morehouse wrote:
> I'm new to Debian, but am going to be buying 30 workstations for a new
> operation, and I'd like to use Sun hardware running 3.0 Woody.
I've run Debian Potato, Woody, and SID on several Suns, ranging from an LX
to my current workstation, an Ultra2. My "production" server is a SS20 with
dual SM61s. So there's my debian-sparc cred :)
> Question, which Sun box has proven to be REALLY good and solid with Debian? Are
> the Ultra 2's better than Ultra 5's or 10's, or vice versa? Should I
> build a bunch os SS20's with 4 cpus, or should I get the latest Blade?
My personal experience doesn't include the blades (on any OS), but I have
had zero stability issues with linux on sun hardware. My personal best
uptime of all time is 198 days on my LX, which was doing light-duty LAN
serving at the time.
I have a personal bias against teh U5/10 because I feel they're PC-grade
hardware with a SPARC soldered on the mobo. But like I said, that's
personal. I'll defer further elucidation for a moment...
> We're going to be using these machines for Typesetting and Editing,
> primarily. Being able to configure for wide variety of languages is BIG
> plus. We'll need GIMP and XFig graphics, and lots of XEmacs
> configurations.
You don't want SS20s then, no matter how many CPUs. The GIMP on an SS20 is
creakily slow, at least with SM61 modules. Maybe the SuperSPARC II in the
SM71s and up would perform better, but I personally wouldn't bother.
Maybe HyperSPARCs, if you're just dead set on using 20s? They, after all,
traded the huge (for the time) L1/2 per-CPU cache of the SuperSPARC modules
in order to scale their clock speed up, so they were more workstation (in
the modern sense of "a computer a single person uses") oriented.
Tangent: Multiple CPUs get you nothing extra from the GIMP, but I would
recommend any machine you build be SMP. The server benefits are obvious and
in workstation use it lets you set one CPU chewing on something large while
the other responds to your input, for a silky-smooth experience. Mostly.
I would suppose that low-end Ultra gear is the current sweet spot as far as
Sun hardware goes. My Ultra2 with 2x200MHz modules and 512M of RAM is
actually acting as an XDM server for three terminals, one of which is in
constant use, one of which sees regular light-duty use, and one of which is
usually powered off. It works great and there's plenty of CPU to go around,
unless someone is going a large image transform or recompiling the kernel or
something.
Another tangent: are you dead set on XEmacs? I used to be a diehard XEmacs
user, but GNU Emacs 21 was so sweet it brought me back into the fold. Just a
thought.
> If you don't think that Sun is the right platform for these things,
> please say so. I have access to all architectures, basically. I'd like to
> be using Sun/Sony monitors and the Sun keyboards are ideal for these
> uses, particularly the older 5 versions.
Sure sounds like you want to use Sun gear. If I was going to recommend
anything else, though, it'd probably be PPC. Modern PPCs (G3 and forward)
scream under linux, in stark contrast to their hobbled showing under the
oppressive yoke of OS X's Quartz engine (okay, that only applies to G3s).
That is also personal experience talking.
> Cost is not particularly an object (Though I am not going to buy Ultra
> 80's for this), but reliability definitely is.
You know as well as I do that Sun gear is where it's at for reliability and
deadliness as a projectile.
So, that's my 2 or 3 cents worth.
--
Shawn Boyette | ...this is the grievous thing about ignorance, that
mdxi@collapsar.net | those who are neither good nor beautiful think they
| are good enough, and do not desire that which they
| do not think they are lacking.
| -- Plato, Symposium
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