[Info-vax] Unix on A DEC Vax?

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2013-01-20 16:24:44 +0000, MG said:

> On 20-jan-2013 17:02, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
>> For those not so inclined to build their own box, a Mac Mini or Mac
>> Mini Server is a sleeper.
> 
> My system has a faster and more recent CPU, four times the amount of
> memory, a faster HD and cost about half of the most expensive one,
> the Mac Mini Server (from what I just saw in the pricing on the Apple
> site).

Yeah; but the current the 16 GB configurations with the i7 and the SSD 
(or a fusion drive) are no slouch...

> So, it also depends on the size of your wallet...

Alternatively phrased as having different values around expending the 
time and effort and support and integration involved, and/orfor access 
to OS X, or for various other reasons.

>> OpenVMS has no new entry-level servers available — this as David
>> Dachtera has been fond of referencing — and the "low-end" Itanium
>> boxes have somewhere between substantial and massively excessive
>> performance for many applications.
> 
> The zx2000 is a nice system, but it's hard to come by and the few
> who have them seem to be firmly holding on to them.

The zx2000 is not a new system, not officially supported by OpenVMS I64 
— albeit it usually works nicely, in my experience — and is not likely 
hardware to be chosen for or used in a new production deployment.  It 
is probably the most practical Itanium box available for a hobbyist, 
however.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-ZX2000-Itanium-2-900MHz-4GB-36GB-DVD-A7844-84002-/300333964940?pt=US_Thin_Clients&hash=item45ed4c9e8c 


The current "entry-level" dual-socket boxes offering recent Itanium 
chips are either going to be part-populated, or serious overkill, or 
both.  For a number of the OpenVMS applications I've worked with over 
the years, a small single-core box would do very nicely.   The current 
entry-level rx2800 i2 and i4 boxes are some serious power, and rather 
more complex (and correspondingly also more expensive) than necessary.  
That's before you add in the cluster license prices, too.  All of which 
were part of what Mr Dachtera was often commenting on, in past years...


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