December 2004 - WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

Re: [Wlug] cheap Compaq at Staples

by Gary Hanley

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004, Jeff Moyer wrote: > And this gets back to the part from my previous email that you conveniently > left out: > I wouldn't call HT irrelevant. It really depends on your workload. I thought I responded to that. Anyway, my end-point is that dual-core/multi-core will be much more relevant than Hyperthreading will EVER be. > Having said that, what influences *my* buying decision is > sharkeyextreme.com. But I like to game. ;-) I used to read Sharky until he sold the site a few years back and it became rather dull. I haven't looked since then so maybe it's much better now...? I usually read: http://www.anandtech.com/ http://www.aceshardware.com/ -- Gary

Dec. 23, 2004

Re: [Wlug] cheap Compaq at Staples

by Jeff Moyer

==> Regarding Re: [Wlug] cheap Compaq at Staples; Gary Hanley <gary(a)hanley.net> adds: gary> On Thu, 23 Dec 2004, Jeff Moyer wrote: >> Under Linux, the SMP kernel has provisions to deal with HT. I'm sure >> Windows XP does, as well. As such, it isn't necessary for applications >> to directly take advantage of HT. gary> Sure, but how much of a boost is that going to get you from an app gary> that is single-threaded? I would argue that it is not enough to gary> influence a buying decision. And this gets back to the part from my previous email that you conveniently left out: I wouldn't call HT irrelevant. It really depends on your workload. Having said that, what influences *my* buying decision is sharkeyextreme.com. But I like to game. ;-) -Jeff

Dec. 23, 2004

Re: [Wlug] cheap Compaq at Staples

by Scott Venier

Gary Hanley said: > On Thu, 23 Dec 2004, Jeff Moyer wrote: > > Sure, but how much of a boost is that going to get you from an app that > is single-threaded? I would argue that it is not enough to influence a > buying decision. > It won't get you any boost on a single threaded app, but my linux box has 20 users logged into it right now, each running a different process as well as web, mail, dns, and mysql servers all running. Having the ability to schedule more then process at a time is an overall boost for my system. Of course, it's not as much of a boost as a dual core or dual CPU would be, but I'll take what I can get. Scott

Dec. 23, 2004

Re: [Wlug] cheap Compaq at Staples

by Gary Hanley

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004, Jeff Moyer wrote: > Under Linux, the SMP kernel has provisions to deal with HT. I'm sure > Windows XP does, as well. As such, it isn't necessary for applications to > directly take advantage of HT. Sure, but how much of a boost is that going to get you from an app that is single-threaded? I would argue that it is not enough to influence a buying decision. -- Gary

Dec. 23, 2004

Re: [Wlug] cheap Compaq at Staples

by Jeff Moyer

==> Regarding Re: [Wlug] cheap Compaq at Staples; Gary Hanley <gary(a)hanley.net> adds: gary> On Thu, 23 Dec 2004, Jeff Moyer wrote: >> I wouldn't call HT irrelevant. It really depends on your workload. gary> How about somewhat irrelevant? gary> I'm sure there are some apps that take advantage of it right now, but gary> I think that we won't see significant benefit until dual-cores gary> arrive. Under Linux, the SMP kernel has provisions to deal with HT. I'm sure Windows XP does, as well. As such, it isn't necessary for applications to directly take advantage of HT. >> As always, it depends. What is the price point? What is the machine >> actually going to be used for? gary> Hypertransport is a whole different animal compared to gary> Hyperthreading. gary> Apples and Oranges for sure. Right. -Jeff

Dec. 23, 2004

Re: [Wlug] cheap Compaq at Staples

by Gary Hanley

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004, Jeff Moyer wrote: > I wouldn't call HT irrelevant. It really depends on your workload. How about somewhat irrelevant? I'm sure there are some apps that take advantage of it right now, but I think that we won't see significant benefit until dual-cores arrive. > As always, it depends. What is the price point? What is the machine > actually going to be used for? Hypertransport is a whole different animal compared to Hyperthreading. Apples and Oranges for sure. -- Gary

Dec. 23, 2004

Re: [Wlug] cheap Compaq at Staples

by Chuck Haines

Any link for this or is this a in-store only? My dad is looking for a new desktop for cheap and doesn't need much and this would be perfect for him. CH On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 21:29:45 -0500, Bill Mills-Curran <bill(a)mills-curran.net> wrote: > Staples has a low-priced machine advertised in the Globe: $199.94 for > a Compaq Presario with an AMD Sempron processor. Any idea how this > might work with Linux? I picked up a cheap Compaq at Walmart a year > ago, and I returned it because it was such a dog. > > TIA, > Bill > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > -- Chuck Haines chaines(a)gmail.com ------------------------------------------- Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity TKE-ZM Web Coordinator ECE Systems Administrator ------------------------------------------- AIM: CyberGrex YIM: CyberGrex_27 ICQ: 3707881 ------------------------------------------- GPG Fingerprint: 303A AB50 4EA9 70ED 2E30 2368 C9CD CCB5 4BD7 0989 GPG Key: http://www.maxslack.com/gpgkey.txt

Dec. 23, 2004

Re: [Wlug] cheap Compaq at Staples

by Bill Smith

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004 01:25:15 -0500 "Charles R. Anderson" <cra(a)WPI.EDU> wrote: > I don't know, but Sempron is AMD's answer to the Celerons. I would > recommend getting a Small Business server Dell PowerEdge 400SC > instead. Those are Hyperthreading Pentium 4's, they work with Linux > (you can get it preinstalled if you like) and you are not paying any > MS-tax. In addition, they have an AGP slot (unadvertised) so you can > use them as a nice Linux desktop if you want. Dell has deals every > once in a while for these systems in the range of $300-400 in their > minimum configurations. Check slickdeals.net for the coupon codes. Geez, Charles... You're starting to sound like a Dell salesman... <g> Are you getting a cut of every 400SC they sell to WLUG members? :D Happy Holidays! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- William Smith wsmith-at-chezsmith-dot-com Fall River, MA http://www.chezsmith.com "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ." -- Patrick Henry, American patriot * TAG! v3.1a *

Dec. 23, 2004

Re: [Wlug] yum repository for Aurora?

by Bill Smith

On Sun, 26 Sep 2004 14:58:15 -0400 Brian Waite <linwoes(a)gmail.com> wrote: > As fate would have it, I just got my hands on an old Sparc. Thanks to > your mail I found a distro. While perusing the FAQ though I think I > found a pointer to your question. There is an up2date sever and > directions at: http://current-aurora.anthonymendoza.com/ > I hope it works for you. Here hoping I can even get a prompt :) At http://www.auroralinux.org there is a page that walks one through the upgrade process, step-by-step. It even uses Yum. As it happens, WPI has their aurora path yum-ified, so I was able to use that... It's on angus.ind.wpi.edu .... <g> I finally had the time to sit through the whole ordeal, which took a little longer than I would have liked (mostly because important things came up, like interacting with my kids. :) ), but the process was pretty-well documented. Barring any serious problems, it's fairly simple, though time-consuming. If anyone has a SPARC system lying about, you may be interested in playing with this. It's worth a look. For the un-initiated, here's how the Aurora version numbers compare to Red Hat: Aurora version Red Hat version 1.0 7.3 1.91 Fedora Core 1 1.92 Fedora Core 2 I understand from the mailing list that Aurora 2.0 is in the works, which will be bassed on FC3. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- William Smith wsmith-at-chezsmith-dot-com Fall River, MA http://www.chezsmith.com "You have to take a speed-yawning course to get through some of this stuff" -- Dan Rather, on the 2004 Democratic National Convention * TAG! v3.1a *

Dec. 23, 2004

Re: [Wlug] cheap Compaq at Staples

by Jeff Moyer

==> Regarding Re: [Wlug] cheap Compaq at Staples; Gary Hanley <gary(a)hanley.net> adds: gary> On Thu, 23 Dec 2004, Charles R. Anderson wrote: >> Those are Hyperthreading Pentium 4's, gary> Yea, but Hyperthreading is a nice idea that is still somewhat gary> irrelevant at this stage. Even with dual-cores on the horizon there gary> has is lots of optimizations to do before any of this power is gary> utilized. I wouldn't call HT irrelevant. It really depends on your workload. gary> More relevant now is Hypertransport, which for some reason AMD gary> doesn't brag about as must as Intel does for Hyperthreading. As always, it depends. What is the price point? What is the machine actually going to be used for? -Jeff

Dec. 23, 2004