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HP Announces Linux High-End Workstations 45

Posted by CmdrTaco from the big-and-meaty dept.
montezuma writes "HP announced their high-end Visualize workstations running Red Hat. " That XL550 looks pretty spiffy. But its nice seeing that they're doin' it.
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HP Announces Linux High-End Workstations More

HP Announces Linux High-End Workstations

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  • ... running the unstoppable Linux OS... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Anyone else have to chuckle everytime they hear those HP ads for "...HP workstations running the unstoppable Windows NT..." ?? It just makes me laugh every time I hear it. Maybe they'll start running Linux ads. Prolly not, but it would sure be nice.
  • There is a beta driver for Permedia2 based cards.. more information at http://www.suse.de/~sim/mlx.html

    Also, Precision Insight is using 3dlabs hardware for their sample implementation. They demoed it on a 3DLabs GMX 2000 at Linux Expo.
  • Posted by skaffster:

    Firstly, Linux still has a long way to go in certain areas before it comes anywhere near commercial unices. For example, disk volume management, transaction filesystems and a half-decent NFS implementation.

    Secondly, the PA8500 will not be the last of the PA-RISC line. HP can see Merced going down the tubes, and there's still plenty of legroom left in the PARISC design.
  • "End task" just doesn't work!


    Who am I?
    Why am here?
    Where is the chocolate?
  • Why can't people sell their Real Machines with Linux? They worked with those Wacky Canucks to port Linux to the PA-RISC, the 8500 w/1.5MB on-chip cache is faster than fast, so why not ditch the skanky old HP-sUX and sell Linux on it?

    Hey, they could even enhance Linux a little! It's not like anyone in their right mind wants to run a commercial Unix on a workstation anymore. (oh alright, maybe Irix or Solaris, but not HPUX)

    The PA-RISC is a weird but well-engineered chip, and the 8500 is the last of them AFAIK... it would be nice to walk up to some random Linux box in a couple of years and discover it was running That 64-bit Chip That Got Steamrolled By Intel.

    Oh well, at least Intel isn't as evil as MS... instead of just destroying HP's stuff and forcing more x86 (the architectural equivalent of BASIC) down everyone's throats, they're actually sticking their necks out and producing something that works. Maybe. In the second generation...

    Meanwhile the PA-RISC chips work fine already.

  • I guess I'm just boasting but why pay their
    huge price.
    My new toy is nearly built and it should eat
    the 550xl for way less.


    Dual 666 mhz P III (already there :)
    Alpha coolers - direct outside air to coolers
    ducted from air cleaner
    HSDRAM 4.5 ns at 133mhz (maybe 140 we'll see)
    Scsi U2wide (the 500xl has fast wide) 9 gig
    I think the G400 for a card (nice to have JC
    working on this ;).

    I built my last machine three years ago, a PPro
    at 233 (a 180 really). I properly cooled it and
    she's still up, (she's been down, for hardware, kernels and upgrades only).


    Why pay for the name, hell might as well run..
    ... I won't mention that name here.

    CC

    My point is build yer own, ain't that what we
    suposed to be doing :o).
  • HP has also started spamming for their Linux Courses. I've received three different propositions today from hp.com.

    They really behave like flies attracted by fresh flesh... disgusting.
  • | They have given a really lame reason for only
    | installing Redhat Linux imho.

    Geez ... is Slashdot's anonymous coward population still on the anti-Redhat jihad? They pick one Linux distribution out of the herd because it's easier to support one distribution than six. Redhat also has name recognition. Would you rather HP make their own Linux distribution?

    Frankly, I don't see a problem here. It's all Linux.
  • I was just perusing through their FAQ page and they mentioned various solutions for Linux integration with Unix and NT. It seems to me they're extremely well-informed about options available with Linux. Are HP's PHBs clued-in from Slashdot-reading and Freshmeat-reading techies? How about other companies?

    I know Micros~1 and IBM techies roam in here as well...

    Just wondering...

    Today's English Lesson: Oxymorons

  • pot? kettle?

    How can an american criticise the UK when he probably can't find it on a map? pah!

    Jeez, at least we have a legal system that isn't laughable. Oh and Monopoly control that works.(except for untilities like BG/T/R).

    As for what we did for computers:
    Manchester Encoding,
    Turing,
    Babbage,
    Ada,
    Alan Cox,
    Sinclair Research,
    Manchester University,
    Cambridge University,
    Archimedes,
    Acorn,
    Edgar Allan Poe,
    HP Lovecraft,
    (where would UNIX culture be with out great literiture),
    Radio,
    Telegram,
    Telecoms,
    Leo (worlds first commercially used computer).

    Then you've got Switzerland that gave us hypertext, LSD, merchant banking.

    Scandinavia gave us Tannenbaum & Torvalds.

    There would be no networks (let alone internet), no silicon valley, no linux, no hypertext and no high quality artificial hallucinigens wihtout us 'unimportant' europeans.

    A.
  • Web JetAdmin 5.5 runs on Linux (RedHat 5.2, I believe). As for the 10/100TX JetDirect box, there is an LPD daemon running on them, so you can hook up to them. Just specifiy the IP name of the JD box as the machine and either "raw" (for PostScript, etc.) or "text" (for ASCII text w/o "stairsteps") as the queue.

    Have fun!

    Meow
  • Woo hoo!

    Speaking as a college kid who works for HP (but not for long--I'm in Test & Measurement), I'd certainly not mind being tasked to write printer drivers for Linux.

    But, alas! I can't seem to find the paths in the company to get transferred to a division that does Linux stuff.

    And I have been trying, trust me.
  • The problem is that people who aren't as learned about Linux mention that they're running "Linux 5.3".

    While usually it's possible to quickly (and gently) correct them, it's the people that don't get the right information that's worrisome.

    WHen they see new security holes or other bugs listed for kernel version 2.0.36 or 2.2.10, they are likely to think "Oh, well, I've got 5.3/6.0/some other number, so I must be okay. Boy are those people still using version 2 silly."

    This could be troublesome.

    I wonder if it would be too much trouble to ask the distro makers to say something like "Banana Linux 6.9 with kernel 2.99.88".

    Redhat, Mandrake and a few others are the most confusing as their versions are several higher than the kernel. Debian and Caldera (among others) are less of a problem when they share at least the same "first digit".

    (I'm not mentioning all the distros, and this isn't a sign of favouritism. The rest are left as exercises for the interested.)

    --

  • Oh, I know.

    I was just illustrating a point.

    --

  • what about their PA-RISC machines ??

    Alan cox has a machine in his study and belive me HP-UX sucks as a user O/S

    not bad as a server tho

    come on HP sort it out I would love to see what happens when they sort out a compiler for these PA-RISC machine 450MHz and 64 bit with prediction like IA64

    do it HP crush M$ and sort out linux
    HP is one of the BIG boys and they all seem to go to HP for their research when it all goes pear

    like with intel and IA-64

    ah well in for a long wait but go to Trimaran [trimaran.org] to see what compilers should be doing !


    a poor student @ bournemouth uni in the UK (a deltic so please dont moan about spelling but the content)
  • Linux is linux ... The idea is you get people use to at least some sort of linux and they will eventually learn more about the OS in itself and the other distros.. So when people worry that its just redhat just remember under all those different distros with thier different package management programs there is linux which not just software at least not anymore.. Its a concept.. As long as the concept is being spread let it be ...

    bottom line: Dont worry about distros its all linux to me....

  • Keyboard (Score:1)

    by qha ( 23486 )
    On this page: http://www.hp.co m/visualize/products/plclass/tech_specs/index.html [hp.com] it says that these machines have
    an "HP Multifunction Ergonomic Keyboard with programmable application shortcuts".

    Now I have a keyboard just like that. (It came with an hp brio.) It's really neat, it has ten extra buttons plus volume mute/inc/dec (that's three more), but I haven't gotten them to do anything besides giving error messages to the log.

    Does anyone know where I can get the program they use to support them? Does it handle that cute little fourth LED that's supposed to indicate new mail?
    Please let me know!
  • scum that we are, cruising along at -1 . . .

    anyway . . . one argument says "the bankers" won the war of independance. Another won says "the bankers" won the second world war.

    another argument says that the english bankers own the not just the bank of england, but also the US federal reserve.

    Sometimes I just love the gutter . . .
  • Sorry that you feel this about HP's effort in educating their customers.

    This just shows that they are very serious in their Linux commitment and not just doing lipservice to the Linux gosphel.

    The fact that HP delivers Linux workstations with full support is in my eyes one of most significant milestones in Linux getting accepted in enterprises.

    //Pingo
  • They're just a bit proud of them though. Too rich for me. =)
  • > remember that unlike x86s, PA-RISC has only
    > ever has HP-UX running on it

    NEXTSTEP ran on the HPPA architecture until release 4.1 (or was it 4.2? :-)

    -- Aris


  • It makes me wonder....

    When every systems vendor and their dogs jumped on the NT bandwagon (rolls along 22 hours a day, six days a week) all except for Sun, the Sun folks were proud to say they were the only vendor they stayed the course on Open Systems. (meanwhile I was pulling my hair out with SunOS to Solaris migration, but that's another story).

    Now it's 5 odd years later and Lo! Systems vendors are hopping on another bandwagon, and its an Open one to boot! But where is Sun? Maybe they're spouting lip service but can I order a Sun box with Linux pre-loaded?

    I work with Solaris as a career and I think it's a great server OS, but it annoys me as a desktop. Sure, if work would let me replace CDE with something else (no preference indicated) and pile on a pile of OSS tools, maybe I'd be less annoyed.

    And so it stands. Sun is work and Linux is tech hobby. Sun does not support my tech hobby while everyone else seems to be only too eager to come along for the ride.

    IBM Dell, HP, SGI: they're already on board. Will Sun be the last?

    -MikeR-
  • Oh yeah, they used Linux powered PA-RISC systems to calculate ballistic tables during the War. How silly of me to have forgotten.

    > And for those in england that think they wouldn't be speaking german without US help, get a
    > history book.

    Fine advice for all, including Yanks (and I'm not a Brit). The _fact_ of the matter is, by time the US got involved in the war, the Brits and their Commonwealth allies had already fought off the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain and had sunk enough U-Boats to keep those supplies coming in from their suppoerter across the Atlantic, Canada.

    The US helped to _win_ the war, _after_ the Brits, Kiwis, Aussies, Canucks and others beat themselves and the Germans bloody while maintaining one safe haven in Europe: the UK. The Yanks entered a 3 year old war nice and fresh and helped to end it. BTW, if the UK had been beaten during the first 3 years of the war, the US would have had no safe haven in which to build up its forces.

    Go read that history book now, and maybe read one that wasn't printed in the US. Those all show the US doing it single handedly. Not true in the slightest, whatever you may think.

    There now I'm off topic.

  • I have seen very few PII 400+es that do not have a plastic duct right over the cpu. And most graphics cards today have heatsinks +fans (Voodoo 3 3000 has a heatsink bigger than a low end PII one)
  • Its an ELSA GLoria card. If its Permedia-based, it is probably the Synergy. When hooked up to HP's gigibit networking, these things FLY.
  • They are using a Permedia2 based card which is a
    nice OpenGL-card for non-games software,
    atleast in NT. I hope that 3dlabs get there act
    together and will start making sure their hardware
    will be hardware-accelerated in XFree86.
    Wouldn't mind getting a Oxygen-card
    for use with Maya ( I just hope AW will port it someday).
  • Posted by Buffy the Overflow Slayer:

    I get the impression that HP, like SGI, is using Linux as their IA-32 Unix. I also noticed that their Linux boxes graphics have hardware 3-D support for OpenGL. It sounds interesting.

    -buffy
  • About companies reading slashdot its user's web pages to become more informed: I get more visits from tide*.microsoft.com and its robots [attaway.org] on my personal homepage than any other entity. Is there someone at Microsoft that likes me?

    Makes me remember that song by Rockwell: Somebody's watching me.
  • After speaking with my HP sales rep, and this is VERY UN-OFFICIAL. They are planning to release Linux on the C and J class macinhes. They are working on certifying the OS to work with their stuff. It might be as early as Q1 next year, they are very excited about this, the reason I was talking ot him is he just sent a quote to me for a few machines and wanted tolet me know what difference there would be in the qoute if I went with Linux. I cannot go with Linux just yet as our apps are certified internally and Linux is pretty low on the certification priority list, but I hope next year we'll get around to making it a corporate standard. Before everyone flames me, I do not certify anything, I just submit my humble requests and hope, we already run everything that is mission critical on Sun or HP, using Solaris or HP-UX, which both work fine.

    I am very happy to see HP doing this, it will show the large companies like the one I work for that Linux is a viable OS and not a joke. The high end offering we are no seeing is the step the manufactures have needed to take. This will snowball and we will see it happening. To quote Tony James " The Evolution Will Be Televised".

    Oh and one more thing, this is a "Good Thing" lets not turn this whole topic into RH bashing. GET OVER IT. I don't use RH (although I might now) but hey all around this is getting Linux good attention, if you go to HP's site you don't see "Red Hat Linux Systems", you see "Linux Systems". They don't even say it's RH until you read the specs. RH!=Linux but Red Hat Linux=Linux, Debian!=Linux but Debian Linux=Linux. It doesn't matter what flavor they install, at least they are installing it.

  • I used to work for HP in both their 'Computer Products' org that makes PC's, etc & 'Professional Services' org that does tech consulting. That's why I still troll thru their web pages occasionally.

    It appears that HP now considers Linux a 'supported operating system' which means that all
    the seperate divisions will do what they think
    is right for the Linux marketplace. This means
    stuff like bundling Linux on x86's, providing end-user phone support, ensuring device drivers
    are available, providing consulting services (there'll be a special group of consultants formed to do this) and generally incorporating Linux into what they do for other operating systems.

    The day it becomes 'strategic' tho is probably
    still a ways off for them. That will happen when
    the PA-RISC system folks announce support for it - remember that unlike x86s, PA-RISC has only ever has HP-UX running on it.

    Interestingly, SGI with Belluzzo, an ex-HP'er, seems to have picked up Linux much more quickly
    and are doing more innovative things like XFS source, etc.
  • It may be the coop advertising. From what I hear, if you mention NT used in your products, 50% of your advertising being paid by Microsoft can make or break your advantage over competitors. So HP has some NT and Intel featured in their ads and may be getting most generous help. Granted, those advertisements seem like oxymorons to me: "the unstoppable Windows NT!" I have always viewed HP products as bulletproof lab equipment and calculators that retain full value over the decades. You just may have to do a Linux conversion with their computers so they may be useful after the first year.

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