POWER6 p520

[ClassicHasClass]

Not really a "conquest" per se, since I bought it retail (all told around $10K), but I realized I never posted it here. Meet my new-to-me dual-core 4.2GHz POWER6 p520 with 8GB RAM, GXT145P video and three 15Krpm 146GB SAS drives in RAID 5 running AIX 6.1. This weekend I need to get it up to Tech Level 6 and then have it start subsuming network functions, taking over for three of my machines ultimately. It's so fast!

It's interesting to compare it to my Apple Network Server, which is, as everybody I'm sure knows, Apple's only non-Macintosh server and also runs AIX (in this case AIX 4). The POWER6 has all the advanced features of newer Power Systems boxes and ASMI for low-level administration, though its control panel is so primitive compared to the "luxurious" user-programmable LCD on the ANS. However, booting the POWER6 into Open Firmware feels like working on God's Power Mac, and obviously when they both enter the kernel their /dev/lft0s function identically. This is nice, because this machine is the ANS' eventual replacement (though I'm still going to keep the ANS as a toybox).

http://www.floodgap.com/iv/1149

Unboxing

http://www.floodgap.com/iv/1150

Booting for the first time

http://www.floodgap.com/iv/1201

diag and lft0

 

[CJ_Miller]

:O :O :O

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[quinterro]

What he said.

 

[QuadSix50]

Indeed! Count me in on that response. :O 8-o :O 8-o

 

[Gorgonops]

So here's the *real* question: Can you get SheepShaver to run on it (with PPC-native CPU execution) and load it up with System 7.5.5?

 

[ClassicHasClass]

I intend to do just that -- the "fastest Power Mac ever" -- just gotta get the userland set up, I have a lot of FOSS to build on it before it's ready to go. Although it would be fun to run SheepShaver on a Power 795 ...

Yes, the cost was pretty high, but the ANS was also around 10 grand when it came out in 1996. My ANS came to me nearly new as part of a consulting deal in 1998 and it's served me as my primary box continuously since then (it hosts http://www.floodgap.com, http://www.classilla.org and http://www.tenfourfox.com). That's 13 years out of a machine that other than AIX 4.1.5 has had no operating system updates or support -- all of my BOS patches I did by hand (I've never considered Linux or NetBSD on these guys to be a good option). So imagine how long I can wring out of a machine IBM actually supports (and will probably support for many years, unlike a certain fruit company we could mention). Considering that, $10K is a bargain.

Did I mention it was fast? As soon as I get gcc up and running, the first thing I'll be doing is running a benchmark (probably dhrystone since I only have dhrystone numbers for most of my historical machines).

 

[redrouteone]

Did you get a PowerVM license with it? The micro-partitioning is a pretty cool feature.

You can setup IVM in VIOS and get almost all of the features of the HMC.

I have thought about leasing a POWER box. Maybe once I get my consulting stuff setup I will. Would be nice to have some business income to pay for it.

 

[ClassicHasClass]

Nah, it's just one big partition (that's what I want, actually). The HMC is cool but I'm happy with ASMI and manual management.