Re: [gentoo-amd64] Re: experiences with Tyan S4881?

[Ryan A. Rice]

We sell a configuration that utilizes the S4881.  It works very well 
with nix.  We loaded Gentoo on it at LinuxWorld '06 in Boston.  
(actually, some of the gentoo guys, namely Chris Gianelloni loaded it)

We also had the M4881 plug in there, allowing us 16 cores with 64GB ram 
installed.  See the GWN on it :-)

http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/20060417-newsletter.xml

Regards,

Ryan A. Rice
Operations Manager
i*hydra, Where Price and Power Converge.
http://www.ihydra.com
rrice@××××××.com
Direct: [phone]
Toll Free: (866)-433-1238
Fax: [phone]

Any and all information/attachments are strictly proprietary and confidential.  If you have received this message in error, please delete it immediately, and notify rrice@××××××.com  Thank you. 

+---------------------------------+



Duncan wrote:
> "Tamas Karpati" <tkarpati@×××××.com> posted
> bd453d7f0606200445o335db209rc64b9a3940c22314@××××××××××.com, excerpted
> below, on  Tue, 20 Jun 2006 11:45:39 +0000:
>
>
>> I have good experiences with Gentoo on dual AMD (both Athlon and Opteron)
>> systems,
>> as well as with dual core Intel so I just want to be sure before
>> recommending the
>> S4881+Gentoo combination for scientific computations...
>>
>
> Tyan is one of the better choices for high-end multi-socket solutions on
> Linux.  They tend to be one of the more Linux friendly board
> manufacturers.
>
> I'm not running anything quite as high end as this board, but I am running
> a dual-socket s2885 that I've been /very/ happy with, originally
> single-core but now dual-core ready due to a BIOS update (I'll probably
> be upgrading to dual-cores later this year). Before purchase, I verified
> that Linux supported the chipset and various board hardware had drivers.
> Tyan even had an lm_sensors config file for the board!  They also have
> various Linux specific support pages. After purchase, I noticed the manual
> even listed certifications on Red Hat, TurboLinux, and SuSE.
>
> I haven't checked recently but back then (~2 years ago now) the Linux
> support pages did still assume access to an MSDOS floppy for BIOS updates.
> I wrote in, asking about FreeDOS for BIOS updates, as I no longer have
> anything MS around, noting that one manufacturer (ASUS maybe? IDR)
> actually shipped FreeDOS BIOS update floppy images. The reply was friendly
> but non-committal. After I went ahead and tried it, I wrote back
> confirming that it worked, and suggesting they at least add it to their
> Linux documentation pages as a suggestion from a user, or something of the
> like.  Again, I've not checked to see if they actually did it or not, but
> I've used FreeDOS images for all my updates since then, mounting the
> generic FreeDOS OEM image and copying the BIOS updater to it before dd-ing
> the image directly to the floppy.
>
> Checking the tyan pages for that board, I don't see the 4881 listed for an
> lm_sensors config file (there's one for the 4882).  I'd verify the chipset
> and hardware has Linux drivers, then, given the price of that class of
> solution, I'd mail Tyan directly and ask about it.  As I said, they are
> quite Linux friendly and will likely be able to tell you it's certified
> with various Linux distributions.  If not, they'll almost certainly be
> able to point you to one that is.
>
> Or...  try the 4882-D, if you don't specifically need PCI-E and can use
> PCI-X instead.  It's the same base AMD chipset I'm running in my 2885, and
> it does have an lm_sensors config available on the Tyan site, so support
> for it should be a given.  If I were in the market for a 4-socket model,
> I'd certainly not hesitate on it, given my experience on this one.
>
> Meanwhile, there's another angle you can try.  A number of Gentoo devs
> (and users) have participated in the Gentoo exhibit at various
> conferences.  Given the from-source nature of Gentoo, it's popular with
> various hardware exhibitors as well, and I recall mention in GWN and on
> the dev list of at least a couple times when Gentoo was installed on 4-way
> or higher systems "live" at the conference exhibit.  Going back thru the
> GWN issues and getting in touch with the devs involved to get the details
> on what the hardware was exactly might be informative and give you
> additional specific details of Gentoo on specific hardware.
>
>
>
>
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