| 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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