topic Re: PA-RISC Gentoo or Debian? in Operating System - Linux

PA-RISC Gentoo or Debian?

Fred K. Abell Jr._1 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:46:10 GMT

For those running HP-UX 11.i v1 on a PA-RISC chip, software support ends 2013. I will load Linux on a B-2600 class workstation and want input from people who have explored different flavors of Linux on HP workstations.

Which flavor seems best for ease of use?
What do you like and dislike.
Any general comment would be welcome.

Thanks

Fred

Re: PA-RISC Gentoo or Debian?

Steven Schweda — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:37:20 GMT

> I will load Linux on a B-2600 [...]

Why?

If you're changing operating systems, then
why keep the old hardware at all? I'd expect
GNU/Linux software to be more commonly
available for an Intel CPU architecture.
What's the advantage to running it on an old,
slow, PA-RISC workstation?

Are you using the graphics or the audio? Are
they supported under your proposed OS?

Re: PA-RISC Gentoo or Debian?

Steven E. Protter — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:35:13 GMT

Shalom Fred,

With regards to feature sets, the PA-RISC ports of Linux are much more limited than the Intel CPU versions.

No open office, limited compiler choices.

You might find it better to keep the PA-RISC devices on HP-UX even after support drops. Just download all the possible depots for 11.11 and keep them handy for when you need them.

I've explored the possibility a few times and always ended up leaving the system on HP-UX

SEP

Re: PA-RISC Gentoo or Debian?

dirk dierickx — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 05:30:03 GMT

first, do you have any expirience with linux? then pick the one that mostly resembles the one you are used to.

that said, i only have installed debian on parisc before. i'm not bothered with gentoo as it will probably take more of your time then it's worth.

Re: PA-RISC Gentoo or Debian?

Fred K. Abell Jr._1 — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:24:11 GMT

I was going to explore these OS's on a B-Class workstation to check it out. I have 3 J6750 workstations with about 10Gb ram each to process large data files. Looks like I should not bother with Linux on risc chips.

Thanks all!

Fred

Re: PA-RISC Gentoo or Debian?

Steven Schweda — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:17:54 GMT

> [...] Looks like I should not bother with
> Linux on risc chips.

It depends on what you intend to do. (And
whether it would be possible. Or practical.)
A description like "process large data files"
doesn't tell me enough to permit serious
advice. It might be educational to run the
experiment on some stray workstation. If the
software all works, and if the more serious
hardware would be costly to replace, then it
could make some sense to run Linux on it.

Perhaps HP's software support ends in 2013.
(These are all "workstations", so 11.11 is
the end of the line in HP-UX?) Who's
supporting Linux on PA-RISC, and how long?