Date: Sat, 02 Jun 2012 11:27:05 +0200 From: "O. Hartmann" <ohartman@zedat.fu-berlin.de> To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Why Are You NOT Using FreeBSD ? Message-ID: <4FC9DC69.6090907@zedat.fu-berlin.de> In-Reply-To: <20120601194621.GA83046@e-new.0x20.net> References: <CAOgwaMvsv3e1TxDauV038Pp7LRiYeH7oAODE%2Bw-pxHt9oGrXMA@mail.gmail.com> <2730bd1bab4223e718193254cb8bbd60@dizum.com> <CADLo838vpbVP3caXG7LF7st4inWnMLi5zB3U1hD2dkXwf8ZLBg@mail.gmail.com> <20120601194621.GA83046@e-new.0x20.net>
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This is an OpenPGP/MIME signed message (RFC 2440 and 3156) --------------enig755C0B8F8FDDDA269E806171 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On 06/01/12 21:46, Lars Engels wrote: > On Fri, Jun 01, 2012 at 08:32:08PM +0100, Chris Rees wrote: >> On 1 June 2012 16:20, Nomen Nescio <nobody@dizum.com> wrote: >>>> Dear All , >>>> >>>> There is a thread >>>> >>>> "Why Are You Using FreeBSD ?" >>>> >>>> >>>> I think another thread with the specified subject '"Why Are You NO= T Using >>>> FreeBSD ?" may be useful : >>>> >>>> >>>> If you are NOT using FreeBSD for any area or some areas , would you = please >>>> list those areas with most important first to least important last ?= 1a) On "scietific production systems", FreeBSD has been banned due to the lack of HPC compilers and appropriate mathematical libraries. The lack of professional/academic support, like that from NAG in the late 1990s, has been droped for FreeBSD as well as the presence of C/C++/F95 compilers. 1b) The lack of GPGPU. This has become so important to HPC these days. We use nVidia GPU based TESLA boards with OpenCL software (CUDA is luckily not necessary). The lack of professional drivers for 64Bit on FreeBSD was long time an issue, nVidia now provides drivers, but they don't provide their CUDA/OpenCL libraries along with their nvcc compiler natively for 64Bit FreeBSD/amd64. The Linuxulator isn't any option. 2) Disk and network I/O issues under load. We realized that FreeBSD has some issues in multithreaded environments. Even on 6/12 or 12/24 core/thread systems, under heavy load (especially network and CPU load), disk I/O was (is?) poor. This is a no-go in a HPC environment. 3) Outdated ports OR not available ports: some important software maintained by the US government (USGS, NASA/JPL) is only provided for Mac OS X and some Linux derivatives. We created our own ports for some of those, but maintaining these, especially those provided by the USGS (ISIS3) is hard work. Other software, like the AMES StereoPipeline, seems to be crippled by intention when it comes to the sources (essential portions are "vanished" in the repositories). Developers are unwilling - by intention, lack of time or lack of capabilities. 4) The lack of clustering capabilities. The lack of a clustered filesystem grows more and more important in the area of HPC, where storage systems get spread over a department. I lost track in the development on FreeBSD since around 2003. At the moment, for me personally this issue isn't so important, but in combination with items 1) through 3) and the migration towards Linux (we use prefereably Ubuntu server, some Suse and on some servers CentOS/RedHat, which suffers from the Linux-narrowminded deseas as well, in my opinion, but you'll get support by Dell and others - in times of strangling contracts, a more and more restricted freedom of science in favor of "business" ... another story ...) Well, item 3 isn't a real FreeBSD issue. I have the impression that since the good old UNIX times, mid 1990s, a deadly Virus spread around called Linux, attracting development schemata known from Microsoft/Windows: narrow minded Linux-only sources, nearsighted development, shortcuts due to political reasons, even if the sources are available for all. I regret this development of "open software" very deeply and it is not the *BSD UNIX developers fault (excluding item 1 and 2, that are political issues and a burden of the BSD folks having made political decissions in the past!). I do not speak for my department and I do not speak for my colleagues. I speka for myself and my opinion. Personally, I use FreeBSD private and under my desk - and I really suffer from the lack of GPGPU, since even some opensource, high performance software like "Blender" benefetis tremendously from using CUDA/OpenCL if GPU is available. Regards, Oliver Hartmann --------------enig755C0B8F8FDDDA269E806171 Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" Content-Description: OpenPGP digital signature Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="signature.asc" -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.19 (FreeBSD) iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJPydxwAAoJEOgBcD7A/5N8TZcH/2/F+S8e9U94ulDyqrXgDHNg E11sW6rlJeVzoheCpMG6XDimR88vt2cuhrqdH0DgQ3PASxbe3eJpDK76OW8r5Ozl VYcVVhdyoNIBzywph8vtj4q/oXKsj75QpXW4L726Xj0dB1hI3WrvLaZmJPh1YpwT Rj4bS5FawpQ7MNr9anBak3hlFNB9MgyofPXpegMAXgi45FbG4Uz8BIrTGtltZ4yA TZ2Eo4QKUHJuAaVrVSEiroSCrP0A781Nd/qAV3RNbeMvmEVGxK/+iT0x6NAD6vss mgGtliCBPKAAHhA4xAgzecFkSEh5MCJvNvqjvmNRqECh/ew4nRt00+AfqbiJtoI= =mwGK -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --------------enig755C0B8F8FDDDA269E806171--
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