| Choice of 64-bit platform for IDL [message #39483] |
Mon, 24 May 2004 05:55  |
Wolf Schweitzer
Messages: 21
Registered: October 2001
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Junior Member |
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We are evaluating the purchase of a 64-bit platform for IDL.
The Apple Powermac G5 does not support 8 GB of RAM for a single process
so far and no one at Apple , and the performance of IDL under X11 is
slower than on a simple IBM Thinkpad running the Windows IDL version, so
we are getting ready to move. Of course, the G5 is very productive on
all other fronts, and "we all hope" that in due time, the G5 will become
the prime 64-bit-visualisation system in scientific computing.
There's no 64-bit-Linux support because those developments are probably
too recent, there's no 64-bit Windows so far, so we're left with a
choice of Unix platforms.
What we want to do is analyze, work with, and visualise, 3D-volume data
that ranges around 900 MB to 2.5 GB.
Which are your recommendations?
- AIX: As I saw on older posts on this list, AIX was ready to be dropped
from IDL customer support. What's the current situation? Is AIX having a
large customer base @ RSINC, or are the numbers dwindling? Is IDL under
AIX on current IBM systems, such as the Intellistation Power 275, very
fast? The Power 275 seems to be rather fast according to the Spec2000
(www.spec.org). Can someone confirm this, maybe include a time_test2 times?
- SGI: Is IRIX still a main system supported by RSI, or are they getting
ready to drop that, too? As far as I found, this board did not report
too many negative experiences with SGI. On the other hand, these systems
are very expensive.
- Solaris: Are Sun Blade workstations a good choice? Is Solaris very
common among IDL users?
- HP/UX: What about the Itanium support? Itanium 2, maybe? No news by
RSI yet, right?
Thank you very much for any suggestions on how to choose a good 64-bit
workstation for IDL,
Wolf Schweitzer.
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| Re: Choice of 64-bit platform for IDL [message #39547 is a reply to message #39483] |
Tue, 25 May 2004 07:04  |
Philip Kershaw
Messages: 5
Registered: March 2004
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Junior Member |
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"Wolf Schweitzer" <shwi@irm.unizh.ch> wrote in message
news:40b1f080$1@zinews.unizh.ch...
> We are evaluating the purchase of a 64-bit platform for IDL.
>
>
> The Apple Powermac G5 does not support 8 GB of RAM for a single process
> so far and no one at Apple , and the performance of IDL under X11 is
> slower than on a simple IBM Thinkpad running the Windows IDL version, so
> we are getting ready to move. Of course, the G5 is very productive on
> all other fronts, and "we all hope" that in due time, the G5 will become
> the prime 64-bit-visualisation system in scientific computing.
>
> There's no 64-bit-Linux support because those developments are probably
> too recent, there's no 64-bit Windows so far, so we're left with a
> choice of Unix platforms.
>
> What we want to do is analyze, work with, and visualise, 3D-volume data
> that ranges around 900 MB to 2.5 GB.
>
> Which are your recommendations?
>
> - AIX: As I saw on older posts on this list, AIX was ready to be dropped
> from IDL customer support. What's the current situation? Is AIX having a
> large customer base @ RSINC, or are the numbers dwindling? Is IDL under
> AIX on current IBM systems, such as the Intellistation Power 275, very
> fast? The Power 275 seems to be rather fast according to the Spec2000
> (www.spec.org). Can someone confirm this, maybe include a time_test2
times?
>
> - SGI: Is IRIX still a main system supported by RSI, or are they getting
> ready to drop that, too? As far as I found, this board did not report
> too many negative experiences with SGI. On the other hand, these systems
> are very expensive.
>
> - Solaris: Are Sun Blade workstations a good choice? Is Solaris very
> common among IDL users?
>
> - HP/UX: What about the Itanium support? Itanium 2, maybe? No news by
> RSI yet, right?
>
>
>
> Thank you very much for any suggestions on how to choose a good 64-bit
> workstation for IDL,
>
> Wolf Schweitzer.
Not sure if this applies to your application but a customer has asked us to
deliver some s/w using IDL Data Miner for connectivity with a database.
This only runs as 32-bit! Not sure if this applies to any other IDL
add-ons?
We've used Solaris here on 64-bit architecture for a while. IDL seems more
robust than on Windows. I have encountered some problems though with some
of the widget functionality for X Windows. Most of these bugs seem to have
been ironed out for IDL 6.0.
We've just ordered a Sun Blade 1500 with 3GB memory. Price was very
reasonable.
Cheers,
Phil
____________________________________________
Philip Kershaw
Space Science & Technology Department
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
UK
____________________________________________
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