| Re: IDL and 64bit Linux [message #40710 is a reply to message #40552] |
Wed, 01 September 2004 01:33   |
Nigel Wade
Messages: 286
Registered: March 1998
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Senior Member |
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On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 10:02:12 -0700, JD Smith wrote:
> On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 09:19:44 +0100, Nigel Wade wrote:
>
>> We are in the process of finding a replacement for our ageing Origin 2000
>> system. One absolute requirement is that it be able to run IDL.
>>
>> We are looking at SMP systems and 2 likely contenders are the Sun Fire
>> V40z (hopefully an 8 processor version will be available sometime) and the
>> sgi Altix 350. The Sun Fire uses Opteron and the Altix Itanium 2, neither
>> of which is supported by IDL.
>>
>> I've mailed RSInc to ask them if they are likely to include support for
>> either on Linux in the near future, but so far I've not received any reply
>> at all.
>>
>> So, I'm hoping that someone here might have tried IDL on one of these
>> platforms, to test the water, and can tell me whether it runs, and if so,
>> how well it performs against a 32bit processor (I'm concerned that the
>> Itanium has no native 32bit capability and may run IDL very slowly in
>> 32bit emulation, the Opteron is very much an unknown quantity).
>
> See:
>
> http://www.rsinc.com/services/techtip.asp?ttid=3635#current
>
> Relevant quote: "An announcement as to availability (post-IDL 6.1) [of
> 64-bit IDL for Linux] will be forthcoming following further
> investigation."
>
> I've heard lots of rumbling about getting a 64bit IDL for linux, which
> could address some rather large chunks of memory, and perform long64
> integer arithmetic at healthy speeds. Anyone have use for fast 64bit
> integer arithmetic? Do 64-bit doubles ("double doubles") have any
> appeal to anyone?
>
> JD
Sorry, I've been on holiday, so haven't had chance to keep up with this (I
really shouldn't post questions just before I go away).
I've read the official RSI position on Linux as stated on their web
site, and it's not clear where they intend to go at the moment. The gist
of the current position on 64bit Linux seems to be that "it's time to
start thinking about it", so not much hope for a quick solution.
I've had more positive feedback by private email that IDL should run OK on
the Itanium using the latest IA32EL at up to 85% of the CPU performance.
I've heard nothing about AMD64 platforms, though.
--
Nigel Wade, System Administrator, Space Plasma Physics Group,
University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
E-mail : nmw@ion.le.ac.uk
Phone : +44 (0)116 2523548, Fax : +44 (0)116 2523555
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