Messages

1

Operating Systems and Porting / Re: [NEWS] Linux 6.2 brings new qspinlock to bolster large system scalability

« on: December 21, 2022, 03:10:47 am »

[..]testing on upwards of 16 sockets with 1,920 CPU threads[..]

Probably not, we only have two sockets. I also don't believe that 16-socket machines are over-the-counter computers.
I thought these days most companies run their stuff on virtualized commodity hardware #strengthinnumbers.

2

Blackbird / Re: [changed my mind! keeping] Blackbird, 8 core CPU, 32GB RAM, & Radeon Pro W5500

« on: December 14, 2022, 03:17:01 am »

Stickin' around like a proper German climate activist glues themself to the road, I hope. POWER is probably going to be one of the very few options we have in the foreseeable future.

I guess this topic can be closed?

3

Operating Systems and Porting / Re: [NEWS] Debian 11 is out

« on: December 02, 2022, 06:05:46 am »

Sorry guys, if I want to update mesa drivers and firmware on Debian 11, which procedure should I use?  Thanks always!

One solution might be to dist-upgrade to testing (currently Bookworm) where things are more up to date. On my test system it's stable (though the number of updates you get each day feels a bit like a rolling-release distro).

Testing doesn't usually get security fixes as quick (or at all), though, unless you get those from unstable. So that's something to keep in mind. Then again it's more difficult to keep the system up to date with an increasing number of packages installed from source. With just the graphics stack built from source that's probably not going to be a problem, so that would be another option I guess.

4

Talos II / Re: Temperatures and rotational speed of fans

« on: October 11, 2022, 06:22:30 am »

You could check the allowed operating temperatures for your device with the manufacturer. For all PCIe adapters I can think of setting a warning temperature of 45 degrees doesn't seem to be useful.
Many NVMes have an operating temp of up to 70 degrees. While I wouldn't want to operate at the maximum I wouldn't worry about having 50 degrees. If I would, I would add a heat sink and/or improve the air flow situation.

5

Applications and Porting / Re: Thunderbird not working Debian buster (1:68.12.0-1~deb10u1 & 1:78.4.0-1~deb10u1)

« on: September 20, 2022, 04:13:33 am »

Yes, I'm aware that there are other email clients available. And yes, they all suck. That doesn't solve the problem we have with Thunderbird if a customer is hell-bent on using it, though :-) I don't think there's a technical reason. Most people just want to use what they're used to and avoid change, I've read that's what the brain prefers.

So I'm still looking for useful suggestions from the hackers we have on board here.

Not having to try Ubuntu will save some time, for some reason I thought the grass is greener over there. Thanks MauryG5.

6

Applications and Porting / Re: Thunderbird not working Debian buster (1:68.12.0-1~deb10u1 & 1:78.4.0-1~deb10u1)

« on: September 19, 2022, 03:08:00 pm »

That looks like the system-provided version of sqlite

That is what is supposed to work

Debian's packages don't use that by default, that is why they fail to work

2 years later and I tried Thunderbird 102.2.2-1 (from Debian bookworm/testing). Still the same problem(s) as you describe them.
With the (probable) exception, that I get new email notifications. They do not appear anywhere else, though.

Did someone find a fix?
If not, what can we do about it?

That should bite Firefox too, no?

No problems with Firefox (102.2.0esr-1).

7

General OpenPOWER Discussion / Re: Request for proposals: Who to donate my Blackbird and Power 9 CPU?

« on: September 15, 2022, 08:07:13 am »

Perhaps you could send this over to us (Aachen, Germany) for ~three weeks?

I'm waiting for Tim to fix some listing/pricing issues (e.g. bundle more expensive than individual pieces) before ordering Blackbird boards. In the meantime, I want to see if our newly ordered TFX PSUs can adequately cool the CPU with a 2U passive heatsink, if we need to print an air shroud, and also find other desktop, under-desk, and media center cases to improve our listings (store.vikings.net).

I could then forward it to whomever you want after.

8

General Discussion / Re: HighPoint SSD7505 RAID tools for ppc?

« on: August 12, 2022, 09:00:06 am »

Slightly off topic:
What is your reasoning behind "mdraid is not optimal for SSD/NVMe devices"?

In my experience the exact opposite is the case: hardware RAIDs are inflexible, often require proprietary tools (as is the case with the HighPoint adapters) and can't be fixed without the device/propr. driver/tools . If there's an issue with an mdraid I can fix it with any other computer and with tools I have ready on any other computer.

In our data center HBAs with mdraid are the gold standard if a RAID is required.

9

General OpenPOWER Discussion / Re: Request for proposals: Who to donate my Blackbird and Power 9 CPU?

« on: August 12, 2022, 06:58:36 am »

I can host this machine in our data center in Germany if it is used for development of libre software on PPC.

10

Talos II / Re: Indium pads required for 18-core CPU on Talos II Lite?

« on: July 30, 2022, 04:15:03 am »

Both thermal paste and thermal pads have their advantages. As system integrators we found that Indium pads produce (very slightly, to the point of "meh" unless you go for every single degree C) worse thermal results and are harder to handle (gloves and razor blade required to remove the pad if you want to re-use and it's still fiddly).

For someone who only assembles their computer once and then forgets about it, thermal pads are fine. The same goes for thermal paste.

If you want to go with thermal pads we found that the brand shouldn't matter as long as the product is targeted towards CPU cooling. Because of the high pressure system the pads become heavily compressed, more than with known x86 sockets, so that thermal conductivity or thickness didn't make a difference worth mentioning for the small selection of pads we've tested (IIRC RCS's brand and Arctic Performance)

I'd recommend using thermal paste (or pads) on all CPUs, including the 4c, because the CPU will run cooler and more quiet under load.

I'm aware of the RCS wiki disagreeing with most of the above.

11

General OpenPOWER Discussion / Re: Raptor CS fediverse presence?

« on: July 08, 2022, 04:00:52 am »

FWIW Raptor Engineering has a/an low-volume/abandoned GNU social presence: https://social.raptorengineering.io/

Mastodon seems to be under more heavy development compared to GNU social, so using that instead would probably be a good idea if you want constant new features and bug fixes. At least if you don't care that the maintenance of Mastodon can be a PITA sometimes. Using a hosted instance is the 2nd best alternative. I've heard https://hostux.social/ is quite nice.

12

General OpenPOWER Discussion / Re: Raptor CS fediverse presence?

« on: June 18, 2022, 10:06:17 am »

+1

13

General OpenPOWER Discussion / Re: Story Time

« on: May 05, 2022, 03:42:39 pm »

The die hard D16 board. We still have some of those running, fully specced with dual CPU and 256GB RAM. Rarely any issues and the only server-grade X86 hardware that runs coreboot without blobs (except CPU microcode updates you probably want). They are okay while they last - though we prefer the Talos II line-up for the well functioning BMC, better performance and much more RAM. I'm planning to replace all D16 boards with Talos II by 2023 for our hosting offers.

There is someone who recently started coding new boot firmware for the D16, which probably will add a couple of years to its live-span if that will work well:
https://docs.dasharo.com/
https://blog.3mdeb.com/2022/2022-02-03-kgpe_d16_status/

What I find odd is that they ignored the KCMA-D8 so far.

14

General OpenPOWER Discussion / Re: The Vikings store (european reseller of RaptorCS products) is open again

« on: March 03, 2022, 08:26:38 am »

the price of the equipment increased by 6.5% in a month

Yes, this sucks! We are currently seeing the biggest inflation rates in decades, worldwide. Small manufacturers are not only the first to feel this, but also the first to go down if they do not act in time. Broken supply chains are the next problem that play into this. Even without covid and a full on war going on, the inflation would've been around 4% p.a. (instead of the ~8% we can except right now). For some categories, e.g. energy, inflation is expected to be more than 30% in 2022. Right now, things are looking really bleak, but we all have to accept the new reality and that it won't be over anytime soon and that waiting for prices to improve could be a bad decision: it's been a while since there's been deflation

That's what you get for hijacking a thread; another rant 

15

Mod Zone / Re: 2U or 3U Heatsink Assembly Wanted

« on: December 22, 2021, 04:20:04 am »

I'm probably able to help out.