Re: Unix Comparison -- MIDRANGE-L



On Wed, 10 Jan 2001, oludare wrote:

> Thanks Scott, I'm becoming enlightened already.
> 
> The comparison I'm seeking is in the area of limitation (storage),

This is a hardware issue, AFAIK.  I'm certain that a major UNIX platform,
like RS/6000 can do many terrabytes, just like the AS/400 can.  I believe
that FreeBSD on my PC can do 16TB, but I'm not completely sure.  

> data acceptance (packed, Zoned etc)

This has nothing to do with the operating system.  You need to ask the
people writing programs/compilers, not the people writing the OS.

> reliability (AS/400 is known to be #1 in  this area),

There are probably 100 different flavors of UNIX, and they're all running
on different hardware platforms -- I think you'd have to take this on a 
case-by-case basis.  But I have a few thoughts:  The RS/6000 is made by
the same people at IBM that the AS/400 is, so I would expect comparable
stability.  The flavor of UNIX that I run is called FreeBSD.  I have a
friend who has been running a FreeBSD system on PC hardware for
over 3 years without a single reboot/downtime.

> openness (cross platform flexibility),

This is what UNIX is best known for.  IBM frequently refers to UNIX type
systems as "Open Systems".  In this respect, the AS/400 pales in
comparison.

> portability (can any programming language be use on platform),

I think this will vary from one flavor of UNIX to the next.   I have yet
to see a good RPG for a UNIX platform.  With IBM's new commitment to
Linux, maybe they'll port VARPG?  I don't know.  The flavors of UNIX that
I've worked with come with C, C++, perl, and various shell script
languages built in.  You can also get other languages such as Java,
Python, etc that you can install seperately.

> midrange (AS/400 is a midrange),

I'm not sure what your question is, here.  AFAIK, only the AS/400 and its
predecessors refer to themselves as "midrange".  You'll have to answer for
yourself what the term "midrange" means to you.

> Server capability (AS/400 can be partitioned for NT, OS400 etc).

???  Not sure what you're looking for here.   A UNIX machine can act as
a server for PC's, in the same manner that an NT server can, etc.  In my
experience UNIX will perform MUCH better than OS/400 in this scenario.  

If you're referring to putting an IPCS card (or whatever they're calling
it this week) into your AS/400, then no -- I've never heard of a similar
solution for UNIX.   Probably because its unnecessary...   

Maybe you should talk to the people who sell these systems?  Ask IBM about
the RS/6000 line...  talk to Sun Microsystems...  talk to the people at
BSDi, etc.
 
Also, theres tons of info on the Internet about UNIX.  (Most of the
technologies that the Internet is run on were developed on UNIX machines.
Most of the big web servers and mail servers are run on UNIX machines.)



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