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| Subject: | RE: GISList: Moving from Sun (Unix) to Intel - ESRI Style |
| Date: |
11/09/2002 09:21:36 PM |
| From: |
Dimitri Rotow |
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>
> We have been "migrating" for several years now. The problem is that
> there are too many occasions when a Wintel machine chokes on a process
> that runs on a SUN. We even bought a new SUN this year. I would like
> to recommend that you hold on to your old Unix machines until you are
> sure that you can do everything that you need to on the Intel side. If
> you don't do any heavy duty number crunching, you will probably be fine.
>
If you compare price/performance on "number crunching" there is no
comparison between using an Intel P4 clocked at 2.5 gigahertz+ loaded up
with a couple of gigabytes of cheap RAM and whatever passes for hot
performance in SUN these days. Because of immense competition between many
players, you get a lot more bang for the buck in Intel architecture
marketplaces than you get in a proprietary market like SUN's.
That's why, by the way, when people assemble supercomputers out of hundreds
of smaller machines they turn to Intel architectures. In the current top
500 supercomputer list, positions 35 and 47 are clusters made up of generic
clones (in both cases using AMD, 512 and 480 processors respectively). The
biggest trend in the top 100 is to build clusters out of generic Intel
clones. You have to go all the way down to 111th place on the list before
you find a SUN cluster, which is about half the power of the AMD cluster
even though it uses 896 processors. People who really know number
crunching, the supercomputer crowd, are avoiding SUN and are more and more
using generic Intel clones.
Regarding "choking" on processes: It sounds that perhaps you might want to
invest in some consulting with Wintel computing to avoid whatever elementary
mistakes you made that caused you difficulty with Windows. Considering that
94% of humanity uses Wintel it should be very easy for you to acquire
first-rate expertise at low cost.
Four things to keep in mind:
1) "Intel" is not the same as "Windows." Intel-architecture processors (be
they made by Intel or AMD or anyone else) are the world's most popular
processors for UNIX and Linux as well as for Windows. Most UNIX/Linux runs
on PC clones, not on SUN boxes.
2) It's true that if you use obsolete versions of Windows you will find that
your system will "choke" on applications that would run fine (if you could
find their equivalents) under Linux or UNIX, either on Intel or on the
Solaris/proprietary processor combo in your SUN box. However, no one in
their right minds uses obsolete versions of Windows. You should be using
XP, which is extraordinarily reliable and works absolutely fine.... run for
years without rebooting, 99.999 % uptime, etc.
3) If you are running in Windows, of course it makes sense to run an
application written by a company with deep experience coding large Windows
applications. Given that Arc8 is ESRI's first experience at writing a
major, sophisticated Windows application from the ground up it is not
surprising they made a number of newbie mistakes. Errors in Arc8 are not
any reason to complain about Windows. Take advantage of the incredibly rich
array of Windows software that provides faster, smarter, more sophisticated
and more reliable GIS products than Arc at a twentieth of the price.
4) The latest interactive applications (this means GIS, of course) are all
coded first for Windows. These days many vendors don't even bother porting
to generic UNIX operating systems, let alone proprietary variations like
Solaris. So, when you make comparisons you should be clear that you may be
comparing obsolete junk in the Sun world (like archaic forms of Arc stuff)
to modern, improved versions running in Windows. You cannot even get really
elite stuff, like Manifold, in UNIX at all. The very best in GIS is today
available only in Windows.
>
> >We are going to slowly move our operations out of the Unix world
> to a completely Intel based lab. (Arc8) Are there any gotcha's
> or things I should look out for in the move (either OS based or
> Software)? Personal Experiences? Things that don't work?
> Things that work better? Web Links for peoples experiences?
> Anything would be helpful. thanks!
> >
> >
Tips for success:
1) Run XP. 2) Don't be shy about using AMD as well as Intel. These days
you can get a slightly faster top end with Intel but better
price/performance using AMD. 3) Take advantage of cheap PC clone pricing to
buy *lots* of RAM. RAM is dirt cheap, so why not load up with a couple of
gigabytes of RAM? 4) Buy large hard disks and don't waste money on SCSI
disks. Clone interfaces are now so fast it's more effective to buy large,
fast 7200 RPM disks and put some extra money into RAM and faster processors.
5) Consider using motherboards, like
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