| Re: Sun vs PC Linux - Anyone making the shift? [message #29280] |
Tue, 12 February 2002 06:50 |
Ken Mankoff
Messages: 158
Registered: February 2000
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Senior Member |
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On Tue, 12 Feb 2002, Gert Van de Wouwer wrote:
> Has anyone gone in either direction (Sun to Linux or visa versa)
> and what were your experiences?
I use both Sun and PC Linux daily. They are unequal machines in terms
of disk speed, processor and ram, so I cannot compare performance. But
I prefer the Linux environment for one reason: The UI (Sawfish) is so
much better than CDE. I know one can compile gnome and such for Sun,
but I cannot myself (I have tried and failed).
I am not just talking about looks here. On Linux I never need to use
the mouse because the keyboard can switch windows and desktops. That
is much *much* easier on my hands which get tired if I use the Sun and
its mouse all day. Again, it is possible to set up your .Xsession to
do this, but it is a much more complicated process to get a Sun
behaving exactly the way you want vs. a Linux box.
From the sysadmin dept: Linux requires more security patches than Sun,
but they are easier to install.
From the misc dept: I have an easier time streaming audio and playing
CDs of mp3s (legally) and other stuff like that while I work on the
Linux box than on the Sun. Of course, I can have audio playing out of
Linux while I work on the sun b/c they are right next to each other :)
Also, Linux comes with better graphics programs than Sun (gimp vs xv),
and if I need to touch up some IDL graphics I always end up ftping it
to the Linux box. Of course, MacOS X solves this problem, but that is
a different topic.
-k.
--
Kenneth Mankoff
LASP://303.492.3264
http://lasp.colorado.edu/~mankoff/
http://lasp.colorado.edu/snoe/
http://lasp.colorado.edu/marsrobot/
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| Re: Sun vs PC Linux - Anyone making the shift? [message #29282 is a reply to message #29280] |
Tue, 12 February 2002 04:51  |
Gert Van de Wouwer
Messages: 21
Registered: January 2002
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Junior Member |
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META content="MSHTML 5.00.3315.2870" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I think your test proves that performance/price
ratio has turned in favor of pc's. Although it's not 'cool' to think so; aren't
we all suppose to say unix workstations are the best, windows pc's are for
kids...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>but I am surprised that linux pc's where not faster
than windows pc's.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I used to work on HP unix stations (mainly c-code
with gcc-compiler), and now windows pc's. Althoug Microsoft's
not 'cool', it works for me - and I like working with Visual studio much
better than fiddling around with emacs and gcc...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV>"My questions are:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Why are inexpensive PC archictectures beating pants off of Sun machines
that cost twice as much (but not alphas)?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>What are Windows machines ahead of PC linux machines? I would have
thought the oppositive would be true.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Has anyone gone in either direction (Sun to Linux or visa versa) and what
were your experiences?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If I get enough responses, I will post a IDL Sun vs PC summary.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Michael</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>
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| Re: Sun vs PC Linux - Anyone making the shift? [message #29292 is a reply to message #29282] |
Mon, 11 February 2002 13:28 |
Rick Towler
Messages: 821
Registered: August 1998
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Senior Member |
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> Why are inexpensive PC archictectures beating pants off of Sun machines
that >cost twice as much (but not alphas)?
Because Sun can't scale their processors as quickly as AMD and Intel (their
business model requires relativly long product cycles and lifetimes). Plus,
they never had a superior design like the Alpha to begin with. That being
said, their latest US-IIIcu procesor at 1050 competes quite well with the
latest offerings from AMD and Intel. I don't think you can get the new cu
processors in your SunBlade though.
Ace's SPECmine has the details:
http://www.aceshardware.com/SPECmine/index.jsp
FWIW we are sticking with our Sun for the foreseeable future. It may not be
nearly as fast as our x86 machines but it is the core system in our lab and
the price was worth it. OS maintenance is simple and the hardware has been
flawless.
Speaking of price, you should really look into their .edu deals. We got our
ultra-60 direct from Sun for a steal by trading in an old IPC!
-Rick
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| Re: Sun vs PC Linux - Anyone making the shift? [message #29296 is a reply to message #29292] |
Mon, 11 February 2002 11:07 |
Pavel A. Romashkin
Messages: 531
Registered: November 2000
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Senior Member |
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> Michael Lefsky wrote:
>
> Why are inexpensive PC archictectures beating pants off of Sun
> machines that cost twice as much (but not alphas)?
I think raw processing (floating point ops) is just plain straight
dependent on the clock speed, as long as multithreading is supported.
I/O is not well tested, so Sun's faster i/o is not really kicking in.
> What are Windows machines ahead of PC linux machines? I would have
> thought the oppositive would be true.
Graphics/OpenGL is better on Windows, so any graphics operations are
faster under Windows. Linux compilers are not yet optimized (this is
what I've heard).
> Has anyone gone in either direction (Sun to Linux or visa versa) and
> what were your experiences?
We tried Sun vs. a Mac G4 and found G4 to be about 10% faster than the
Sun. Of course, running Fortran models on a Sun is the normal practice,
but getting a G4 for runnig IDL ad-hoc and testing the results was
feasible given that the G4 costs 10% of what Sun does.
Pavel
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