> The ANS 500 looks impressive, but your stuck running one version of AIX and
> there is no support for anything newer then what shipped with the unit (sure
> there is probably a version of Linux for it). There really isn't much
> information about these units around, must have died a quick death in the
> market.
Actually, all false ^_^
The ANS can run Linux and NetBSD (NetBSD even boots directly on it, although
there is no internal video support yet -- you can get a true console either
through serial, or with any OF-compliant (read Mac-compatible) PCI video
card). There are actually two versions of AIX, 4.1.4 and 4.1.5, which are
available; and they actually died a lingering death. The margins were good,
but they sold a dismal number of them (list price was over $10,000 when new,
which probably soured even people used to Apple's high markups).
> I don't see why an AWS95 isn't considered a real server since it was the
> best/last platform for A/UX, has a 300 watt power supply, security key that
> controls power, and room for lots of scsi drives internally and externally.
I don't consider the AWS95 a true server because 1) the only reason it was
forced to run A/UX was the PDS lockout card -- pull that and it becomes a
Quadra 950 2) conversely, it's just a Q950 with a lockout card to make it
run A/UX only. The only thing that makes it a "server" (as opposed to the
workstation it was based on) is just the name.
The ANS series have tonnes of drive bays, a special fast SCSI backplane, six
PCI slots (only the 9600 matches this (at least for released Macs)), and
the 700 even has hot-swappable redundant power supplies and fans. While it
started life based on the 9500 architecture, the ANS went far beyond simply
an operating system facelift.
--
---------------------------------- personal: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ --
Cameron Kaiser, Floodgap Systems Ltd * So. Calif., USA * ckaiser_at_floodgap.com
-- FORTUNE: You will be hit with a lot of money. Avoid armoured trucks. -------
Received on Mon May 24 2004 - 16:29:11 BST