On Tue, Apr 30, 2002 at 02:22:48PM +0100, Robert Davies wrote:
> On Monday 29 April 2002 19:44, you wrote:
> > On Mon, Apr 29, 2002 at 11:34:48AM +0100, Robert Davies wrote:
> > > On Saturday 27 April 2002 11:20, you wrote:
>
> > Simon suggested Hardware Raid but that I guess would also cause problems
> > if the OS can't drive the card. So I guess that limits to basic IDE with
> > either a spare redundant drive and daily backups or tape?
>
> The IDE RAID cards are really software RAID, making use of a software RAID at
> the driver level, which is why these features aren't directly supported.
> Makes more sense to use normal Linux software RAID, than rely on these
> proprietary features.
That's what I'd heard, though there was rumour that either 3ware or
Promise used real hardware RAID. Can't remember which one the allegation
was based on though. They'd deny it I'm sure! ;-)
> The multiple mobo's in a case is the 'blade' idea, but don't go there, as
> unusual requirements are always expensive.
Strange you should say that: www.racksaver.com shows 2 full gigabyte
athlon mobos in a 1U case with good cooling, 512MB ram on each mobo and
one or two hdds per mobo for 1900 USD. I'm asking them for shipping info
but havn't heard yet. They seem to have done a fair few big server
installations and so probably won't be interested too much in a lone
server, but the price seems surprisingly good (I think I was looking a
their RS-1200).
> As for the comments on SMP and multi-media benchmarks, it really does depend
> on what you intend using the machine for. SMP does double speed of compiles,
> which can be significant, or simply leaves you with a responsive machine, if
> you just make on one cpu. It is true that SMP won't result in a
> noticeable speed improvement, in normal use under a desktop. Even software
> 3D rendering seems to be done in client process, rather than in the X server,
> which is wrong place to exploit a second CPU for a game.
Well the course is built around "Writing programs that actually work"
and I know that there is a major 2nd year project around Minix. Now I
doubt that Minix will run SMP, and there may be complications if I try
to run it UP though of course I really should check.
Thanks,
Matthew
--Matthew Sackman Nottingham England
BOFH Excuse Board: Smell from unhygenic janitorial staff wrecked the tape heads -------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.lug.org.uk http://www.linuxportal.co.uk http://www.linuxjob.co.uk http://www.linuxshop.co.uk --------------------------------------------------------------------
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