[rescue] Movin' on up (long)

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

Okay, I've got a uniprocessor Octane, an Ultra 10/360, and a decent PC[1].
In short, I've got a lot of decent hardware on my network, and, as soon as
I get the insurance settlement on my auto accident, I may have a Powerbook
G3 to replace my dead laptop.

In short, there's a decent amount of processor power, graphics power, and
storage on my network.  The problem is that it's all too distributed for
me.  Each of the machines individually is a bit too sluggish for a decent
hammering:

  1) The PC is a PC.  While I like the games available for Windows, most
     of my software these days targets either Solaris or OpenBSD, neither
     of which will play nicely with the hardware in said PC.
  2) The SGI's only got one 195MHz CPU.  Start loading a page Netscape and
     run GCC and the whole GUI goes unresponsive.  It also only has room
     for 3 internal 3.5" SCA devices.  Adding a dual-CPU module might
     help, but I'd still need the Sun for Solaris/Windows development.
  3) The Ultra has enough CPU for anything I throw at it, but it's also
     the only box not running Postgres queries at the moment.  I have a
     feeling that if I abused it like I abuse the Octane, it would hold up
     about as well as the uniprocessor Octane, and adding a second CPU
     isn't an option.

So, if I split up what I'm doing across the network, I -might- get things
happy, but then I've got N points of failure for what I'm doing.  Also,
since I don't have terrific cooling, starting as few computers as possible
is preferable.

I don't mean to sound whiny, but I feel like I've got a -lot- of computing
power here, and I'm not utilizing it properly, either because I'm stuck in
a PC single-system mentality or because the distribution of power isn't
optimum.

To fix this, I'm toying with the idea of selling every system I have and
consolidating into something that might do what I need.  That is: lots of
disc, basic audio, multiple SCSI buses, FastEthernet, multiple CPUs, and a
decent GUI console w/ excellent 2D performance[2] and so-so 3D
performance. Primarily what I do:

  1) Lots of C development.  Mainly client/server apps, the occasional
     web or Java frontend, and the occasional desktop application.
     Databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, or Berkeley DB) are almost always
     involved.
  2) Windows development (VisStudio).
  3) A tiny bit of OpenGL development.
  4) Clerical crap: doc-processing in LaTeX or HTML and a little image
     manipulation in GIMP.

I'm considering:

  1) A Sun E3000.  Sounds great, but I can't verify that it has UPA for a
     decent framebuffer.  Bill also warns me that parts are scarce, as
     they're not interchangeable with the rest of the Exx00 family. 
  2) A Sun E450.  Dual UPA, quad CPUs, lots of PCI64, and plenty of space
     for memory and internal disc.  Not nearly as expen$ive as the E3000,
     either.  However, it's still a current model, so replacement parts
     could be prohibitively expensive should anything go wrong.
  3) A homegrown box based on a Sun axMP.  All the advantages of the
     E450, but the disadvantages of having to hunt down a decent ATX case
     (is there such?) and having to -find- an axMP on the used market.
     Also, I can't confirm anywhere that there are UPA slots on the axMP,
     and all the decent framebuffers require UPA.

I'd consider a multiprocessor RS/6000 (as both they and the Suns have
great bang/buck), but I'm just starting to learn AIX, and I'm comfortable
with Solaris.  Also, I have a SunPCi (which I may swap out for a SunPCi
II, should people start paying me enough for Win32 development for it to
be justifiable) for Windows development.

Would anyone be so nice as to give me advice as to what I should be
looking to obtain?  Suggestions on how to make better use of my current
hardware would also be greatly appreciated.  I keep getting the feeling
that what I have should be sufficient, so maybe I'm just missing a nuance
of how to use my hardware effectively.

--Jonathan
[1] Decent as in: relatively stable and fast enough for me.
[2] If I can watch the pixels being painted on the screen in XEmacs or
    Netscrape, it grates on my nerves.