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20000327: PC as a Unidata LDM ingestor and application server

>From: Eric Pani <address@hidden>
>Organization: Northeast Louisiana University
>Keywords: 200003272256.PAA08972 PC Solaris x86 hardware warranty

Eric,

>We are looking at replacing our SPARC20 ingestor with a PC running
>Solaris x86.  Here is the configuration we are considering:
>
>1 Minitower enclosure
>2 Intel P3-733 MHz CPU
>512 MB PC800 ECC RDRAM (2 RIMMS)
>Diamond Viper V770D 32 MB Video Card
>Ultra 160/M SCSI Controller Card
>36 GB Ultra2/Wide SCSI 10,000 RPM Hard drive
>17" M780 Monitor
>LS120 SuperDisk
>
>DELL gives us a quote of $5241.

This sounds like a reasonable machine, but our system administrator, Mike
Schmidt, had this to say:

o you could probably do better pricewise by going somewhere other than
  Dell

o the monitor seems pretty small

o if you havn't already, you should look at;

  http://soldc.sun.com/support/drivers/hcl/index.html

o we've run into problems supporting that latest and greatest SCSI (U2W)
  at one point, so make sure the SCSI chipset is supported

o the Superdisk doesn't appear to be supported by Sun, but may well be by
  others.  Based on my experience with our x86 systems here, I would
  max out the memory configuration (1GB on most system) if possible

Have you asked Dell to certify that the components listed will be
supported by Sun Solaris x86 (they probably won't, but you should
ask)?  When we purchase PC, we specify in our purchase agreement that
the machine and all hardware components have to work with the latest
releases of:

Sun Solaris x86
RedHat Linux
Microsoft Windows NT

I have included the quote for the latest systems that we purchased at the
end of this email.

>We would also need to get C++ and Fortran compilers.

You would need to purchase the Sun development environment.  The latest
release is SC5.0.

>Your comments on the machine and suggestions about the compilers would
>be appreciated.

The machine sounds like ones that we ordered recently.  The only
difference is the video card and the 36 GB hard disk.  One thing about
Solaris x86, its support for the latest in video cards is minimal.  One
can get around that by purchasing a commercial X window system and
installing that instead of using what comes with x86, but that will add
another $200 or so to your total.

>We want this box to last us for a while and to act as
>our ingestor.

The lifetime of this machine will be no more and most likely no less
than other machines: about 2 years.

>We would also like it to be able to share its data with
>other PCs acting as X-terminals.

What you really mean is to run multiple invocations of whatever
software that you want to use (e.g., GEMPAK/GARP (do you use McIDAS
anymore?)).  For this you would have to worry about total amount of
memory used.  You will be suprised how fast 500 MB of memory can
disappear when you are running multiple instances of display/analysis
packages.  I agree with Mike and recommend that you max out this system
with 1 GB of RAM.

For a comparison of your machine and ones we have purchased fairly recently,
please check out the 'platforms' search page:

Unidata Home Page
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu
  Search
  http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/glimpsedocs/glimpse.html
    platforms support e-mail archive
    http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/glimpsedocs/ghplatforms.html

>thanks.

January 26, 2000

Base System:  Dual Intel Pentium III 700 Mhz Coppermine CPU w/256 KB Cache
                ASUS P2BDS Dual CPU SCSI ATX BX AGP Motherboard
                Single Edge Connector Pentium II Slots
              One AGP, Four PCI and Two ISA expansion slots
              (2) 16550 serial ports and (1) hight-speed parallel port
              AGP Video Support and Two Stacked USB Connectors
              Integrated PCI Ultra DMA Hard/Floppy Drive Controller
              Teac 1.44 MB Floppy Drive
              Qty 2 - High-end ball-bearing CPU Fan
              Enlight 8902 Full Tower Case with 300 Watt UL LIsted Power Supply

Memory:       756 MB SDRAM (Ztech to Provide ECC Registered Memory)

Hard Drive:   Qty 1 - 18.2 GB IBM 10,000 rpm U2W SCSI hard drive w/2 MB Cache
              Qty 1 - Enhance Technology ER4610 Removable Hard Drive Rack
                w/lock and fan

Controller:   On-board Adaptec Ultra 2 Wide Chipset
              On-board Bus Mastering Ultra DMA IdE controller supporting 4
                devices

Monitor:      21" KDS VS-21E SVGA monitor

Video Card:   8 MB ATI Xpert 98 ABP 2x video accelerator

Multimedia:   Creative Labs 52X IDE CD-ROM

Network:      3Com 905B-TX PCI network adapter with driver software

Software:     N/A (customer supplied)

I/O:          Keytronics PS2 Windows 95 keyboard
              Logitech 3-button PS2 mouse

Warranty      Technical Reference and Manuals
and Support:  Lifetime Toll-Free technical support
              24 hours of testing
              3 year Parts and Depot Labor Warranty

Price:        $5,295
 
Contact:      Lyndon V. Hanson
              Vice President - Contour Systems Group
              contoursys.com

I hope that this helped.

Tom Yoksas