Linux&PowerPC - View topic - RS6000 Model S70

It is currently Sat, 18 May 2013 20:39:04 GMT

RS6000 Model S70

Author	Message
<asmus.. #1 / 12	RS6000 Model S70 I work at a company that has just decided to close the office that I work at. As a result we have an S70A that never went into production that will not be doing anything for several months until the site is closed down and the box is moved to another location. Anyway, since we aren't that busy at the moment we thought we'd try and see if we could load linux on this thing. I checked out linuxppc.org and yellowdoglinux.com, and I couldn't find this hardware either on the known to work or on the known not to work lists, so I thought that I would drop a note here and find out if anybody knows for sure if this can be done or not, and save ourselves the trouble if this is a model that is known to be incompatible with linux at this time. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks. Shawn Asmussen
Tue, 16 Jul 2002 03:00:00 GMT

I R A Darth Agg #2 / 12	RS6000 Model S70 On Fri, 28 Jan 2000 20:44:47 GMT, asmus...@home.com <asmus...@home.com>, in [about a RS/6000 S70a] + Anyway, since we aren't that busy at the moment + we thought we'd try and see if we could load linux on this thing. I checked + out linuxppc.org and yellowdoglinux.com, and I couldn't find this hardware + either on the known to work or on the known not to work lists, so I thought + that I would drop a note here and find out if anybody knows for sure if this + can be done or not, and save ourselves the trouble if this is a model that + is known to be incompatible with linux at this time. Any info would be + appreciated. Thanks. I'm unfamiliar with the RS/6000 series, but you may want to look at: <url:http://www.debian.org/ports/powerpc/inst/install> and see if it is on the debian PPC list. I see lots of "ny" (not yet?), tho... James -- Consulting Minister for Consultants, DNRC The Bill of Rights is paid in Responsibilities - Jean McGuire To cure your perl CGI problems, please look at: <url:http://www.perl.com/CPAN/doc/FAQs/cgi/idiots-guide.html>
Tue, 16 Jul 2002 03:00:00 GMT

Tony Hammit #3 / 12	RS6000 Model S70 Sorry dude, no chance in hell. Maybe by the end of the year if IBM keeps its word about deploying Linux across the whole server line. An S70a is just too advanced/rare to have Linux support yet. Too much specialized hardware. To the other people in the newsgroup: An S70a is a 4-12 processor 2000 pound server that takes up to 16GB of RAM and has up to 114 PCI slots. It takes 2 or 3 6' system frames and 3 phase 220V power. Not a home computer. They cost at least $300000. The basic rule with Linux for PPC boxes is that they have to be able to be picked up and carried =-) Bigger than that and there's no way. Kick ass system, I had one for testing purposes at my old job. I'm probably the only one in the world who had a 'personal' S70. AIX works very nicely, it may not be Linux but it is a good OS. Cheers, Tony
Thu, 18 Jul 2002 03:00:00 GMT

David Edelsoh #4 / 12	RS6000 Model S70 The RS/6000 S70, S7A, and S80 all are 64-bit systems. Linux/PPC currently does not support 64-bit PowerPC chips at all. David -- =============================================================================== David Edelsohn T.J. Watson Research Center d...@watson.ibm.com P.O. Box 218 +1 914 945 4364 (TL 862) Yorktown Heights, NY 10598
Thu, 18 Jul 2002 03:00:00 GMT

Andrew J. Bre #5 / 12	RS6000 Model S70 I always here that 64 Bit PowerPC chips exist, but I cannot find any information about them. What are their names? What's the difference (apart from the 64 Bit registers/data bus?)? Where are they being used (only RS/6000)? And what for? -- Fan of Woody Allen PowerPC User (MacOS, Linux, BeOS) Supporter of Pepperoni Pizza
Thu, 18 Jul 2002 03:00:00 GMT

John McCalpi #6 / 12	RS6000 Model S70 There are two families currently shipping. The first is called the "RS64" family (sometimes "PowerPC AS"), which is a line of 64-bit PowerPC processors that are used in both the RS/6000 models mentioned above and in IBM's AS400 line of computers. Two recent versions of the "RS64" are discussed in: http://www.rs6000.ibm.com/resource/technology/pulsar.html http://www.rs6000.ibm.com/resource/technology/nstar.html The second family currently includes only the Power3 processor, which is discussed in: http://www.rs6000.ibm/com/resource/technology/power3wp.pdf Both families will be replaced by the Power4 processor that is currently under development, and which was discussed at Hot Chips last August. A preview is available: http://www.rs6000.ibm.com/resource/features/1999/power4.html There are some changes in the VM model to support larger address spaces. Recall that the PowerPC architecture is segmented, and that in order to get to larger address spaces, something needed to change. Rather than changing the segment size (256 MB), the architects chose to increase the number of segments from 16 (in the original Power1 architecture) to a very large number. (I don't have my book handy -- maybe 2^16 or 2^24 segments?) There are also some changes to re-unify the instruction set, which had a number of variations across the 601, 604, Power, and Power2 implementations. The latest version of the PowerPC architecture reference manual discusses the 64-bit architecture in detail. I don't have the ISBN handy for the new version.... Right now these are only being used in IBM systems, but it includes both the RS/6000 line of workstations and servers and the AS/400 line of servers.
Thu, 18 Jul 2002 03:00:00 GMT

Andrew J. Bre #7 / 12	RS6000 Model S70 Thanks for the information, I'll look up the URLs you provided. Thank you. -- Fan of Woody Allen PowerPC User (MacOS, Linux, BeOS) Supporter of Pepperoni Pizza
Thu, 18 Jul 2002 03:00:00 GMT

Shawn Asmusse #8 / 12	RS6000 Model S70 Thanks for the info. For the curious, this particular server is a 12 processor machine with 8 gig of memory, and is one of three, the other two of which are in production, and this one was going to become the other side of an HACMP cluster with one of the ones already in production. You're right, there's nothing wrong with AIX (Other than not being open source, of course. : ) ), but as we've been reduced to twiddling our thumbs most of our time for the next month or so until they figure out how and when we're going to move all of our stuff to another facility in another state, we thought that Linux might make a fun project on it if it was possible, especially since they want us to reinstall AIX from scratch on it before we move it anyway. We've got quite a bit of Linux experience, but neither of us has ever used it on anything that wasn't an x86 box, so we were completely clueless on what sort of hardware was supported on the ppc front. Oh well, it was worth a check anyway... Maybe we'll hop on the bandwagon, and take some of our decommisioned SCO boxes, and build a beowulf cluster instead... <chuckle> Shawn Asmussen
Fri, 19 Jul 2002 03:00:00 GMT

Tony Hammit #9 / 12	RS6000 Model S70 Actually, the RS64* line of processors are both 32 and 64 bit at the same time. The processor can have 32 and 64 bit threads running concurrently. It detects the length of the instruction and acts accordingly. Applications and libraries have to be compiled as either 32 or 64 bit but there are no restrictions on which ones you can run when. The 32 bit apps will be about 10% faster than 64 bit ones since they use the single-segment 32-bit system libraries. So you have to examine your software carefully to decide whether you can take advantage of the larger address space enough to compensate for the slight speed reduction. Obvious 64-bit apps are Oracle and other databases. At my old job I had the toughest time getting this point across to the developers, they had recently made the painful transition from VAX to Alpha and thought that anything 64-bit capable wouldn't run 32-bit apps. I never convinced some of them, a conservative lot. Well, anyway, I hope IBM gets Linux ported to the big boxes soon. OBtrivia: The S70 and above have exactly the same CEC (central electronics complex) as a class of AS/400s. Until the box gets far enough in the boot procedure to hit the disks and load the OS, it _is_ an AS/400... Regards, Tony
Fri, 19 Jul 2002 03:00:00 GMT

Jared Solom #10 / 12	RS6000 Model S70 How about loading the setiathome client and getting some major work units done?
Fri, 19 Jul 2002 03:00:00 GMT

<asmus.. #11 / 12	RS6000 Model S70 I'll go look and see if they have an AIX client yet. For a long time I checked every week or so to see if they had one, but I finally gave up. Shawn Asmussen
Fri, 19 Jul 2002 03:00:00 GMT

Tibor Pau #12 / 12	RS6000 Model S70 Sure? The Linux Kernel source include code for the POWER3 (PowerPC 630). I don't know if the port ist finished. But at least the work has begun.
Fri, 19 Jul 2002 03:00:00 GMT

Page 1 of 1

[ 12 post ]

Similar Threads

1. Linux on RS6000 model 7024

2. Linux on RS6000 43p model 140

3. Older model RS6000 port?

4. determine RS6000 model for firmware upgrade

5. RS6000 43P Model 150 booting problems

6. AIX wanted for IBM RS6000 (model 7011-220)

7. FA: RS6000 43P model 140 good Specification

8. questiion for memory upgrade for RS6000 43P Model 150

9. Hello RS6000 model 250

10. Help on Reflash of Mainboard(IBM RS6000, 43P Model 140)