[rescue] E10k systems coming down in price

[Joshua D. Boyd]

On Fri, Jul 18, 2003 at 10:14:51AM -0400, Curtis H. Wilbar Jr. wrote:
> On a machine like an E10K, it would be nearly pointless to run anything but
> Solaris.
> 
> Currently even if Linux, FreeBSD, and NetBSD ran on the E10K (I do not believe
> any of them do yet), none of them would be anywhere near as efficient in
> MP/MT as Solaris.  Solaris's scheduling threads within the kernel alone makes
> a big difference in MT performance as your processor count goes up.
> 
> Don't get me wrong, I like allBSD, and Linux, and pretty much most UNIX,
> but for a box this big, the money you would save by running non Solaris
> is going to be lost in the performance penalty you will pay for not really
> "using" the hardware to it's fullest.

That theory only holds for people hoping to use the E10k for commercial
reasons.  For non-commercials reasons, all the money you save is money
you save, since the operating inefficiency doesn't result in lost
profits anyway.

Besides, how are the various free OSs supposed to get better if they
don't have machines to work on?