[Gllug] Icewm

[Tethys]

>PS the Regattas can run Linux too, but you have to split them into
>logical partitions first

Logical partitions on an RS6000? Tell me more. I thought that was
only available for AS400s and S390s (sorry, pSeries, iSeries and
zSeries, respectively). I have several unused RS6000s, and if I
could use LPAR to get multiple Linux servers, I can put them to
good use...

>I think because they have too many processors (ours have 24).

That shouldn't be a problem for Linux itself, which runs quite happily
on 32 CPU Sparc, Alpha and PPC machines. Perhaps the POWER port doesn't
support that many CPUs, but given that IBM have been putting a lot of
money into the Linux POWER port, I'd be surprised. That said, running
on that number of CPUs and utilising them efficiently are two entirely
different things. I think Linux strays from linear scalability once
you get past 8 CPUs or so.

>To be honest though, I can't think why anyone would want to, the
>price of AIX (about 1000 UKP) is quite insignificant compared to the
>price of the hardware (about half a million).

OS price is rarely a reason to chose any OS, Linux included. Every
OS has strengths and weaknesses, and Linux and AIX are no different.
I'd guess on small numbers of CPUs, performance on Linux would be a
fair bit better than AIX. Linux also has all the GNU tools installed
by default, and you're more likely to be able to find administrators
with Linux experience than AIX. Equally, AIX has better scalability
to large numbers of CPUs, and things like smitty and HA-CMP. It's
just a case of using the OS that best suits your environment and
workload.

Tet

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