[rescue] Sun 711

[Gregory Leblanc]

On Wed, 2002-05-01 at 16:07, Shawn Wallbridge wrote:
> Yup. x86. No choice. The software only runs under Windows.
> 
> Basically this is going to be a video playback machine. 2048x1556
> uncompressed tiffs x 30fps. Steady. It CAN'T drop frames or it is useless.
> The 'plan' so far is.....

I don't have any faith that x86 can do this.  :-(  I've not tried a lot
with uncompressed video on x86.  However, given what I know about x86's
capabilities, CPU power, and video decompression are a LOT more
available than I/O bandwidth.  I know, this isn't at all what you're
trying to do, but I think you're going to be a lot more likely to get
what you stated above using some sort of compressed video than you are
"streaming" tiffs a 30fps.  

But, since that's not what you asked for, I'll comment in a more useful
fashion (if I can).

> 
> Dual 1.6GHz Athlon MP's on a Tyan Tiger MPX (64/66)
> 2GB Ram
> 2xU160 RAID controllers
> 16-24 36GB 15k Cheetah's

These drives claim to be able to deliver 50MB/sec, though I'd think that
assuming 40MB/sec would be a lot safer.  16-24 drives means that you'll
almost certainly be maxing out the SCSI bus bandwidth before any drive
can't keep up any more.  

> Radeon 8500 (I have no idea why ATI)
> 24" Sony monitor
> 
> I am just trying to find something to put the drives in. I would like to get
> a couple 711's, but I need to know if they will operate at U160 or not (I am
> checking docs.sun.com now).

Are the 711's JBOD?  If so, and if they don't have an internal
terminator, then you should be OK.  U160 SCSI is wide LVD at 80MHz.  

> I was thinking FC-AL, but then I need to find an enclosure, cards that can
> do 150MB/s (I have no clue about FC-AL). And ensure my boss that I can get
> it all working.

I don't know that you'd be any better off with FC-AL, actually.  You'll
want to keep your cables as short as possible, and make sure that you
use a good quality LVD terminator, and really good quality cables.  The
whole thought of this makes me nervous.  :-)  Ack, I know, I'm a
pessimist here, but I can't help it, I hate x86 whenever high-bandwidth
IO is required.
	Greg

-- 
Portland, Oregon, USA.