I have an ex-cow orker whom I regard as somewhat of a mentor. He introduced me to all things IP, Unix and HTML. He also shared my early fascination with Linux. I learned a lot from him, and perhaps above all else this is the reason I am now being paid megabucks to run very expensive computers.

He has one failing, though and this is an endemic problem with Linux users. A new server is required? Fine, we'll put together a Linux box. I have no quarrel with that for the most part, Linux does what it does quite well. However! The instant you get hold of a new computer system, they want to install Linux on it. The more obscure it is, the greater the urge.

Him: "Wow, you have an Indy now?".
Me: "Yes, I just need to get hold of IRIX and it will be up and running."
Him: (somewhat surprised) "What, you're not going to run Linux on it?"

Linux won't do a fraction of what IRIX will do on an SGI system. So yes, heretic that I am, I prefer to run the native OS.

I even read a report recently of a Linux user trumpeting about how he'd got it to run on an multiprocessor Enterprise 10000 domain. Yes, porting linux to Sparc is a great achievement. Solaris however, is generally a better option for an E10k. Why you would run Linux on such a machine is beyond me.

I can only pray that it was a "So we can say we did it" deal, a bit of OS penis waving, similar to comparing BogoMIPS.


Additional:

It is now evident that SGI are throwing their full support behind Linux, and providing support for linux developers. This was not entirely true when this node was written.

I did actually install linux on my indy just to see what it was like, but it was unstable and had very little application support. I installed IRIX again very soon thereafter. I stand by my assertion that IRIX is still the only option for this platform.

Over the course of the last five months, I have run headlong into a wall. The Wall. The Linux Wall. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, in fact it has been a great learning experience for me. It was on December 23, 2000 when I was handed my first copy of Linux. Not just any version however, it was Debian, the mother of all. I took home that coveted OS, and pondered for what seemed like hours as to which box I was going to run it on.

I determined that I would take my E-Machine, and grace it's hard drives with the OS. Little did I know that my pre-emptive thinking that I was going to run Linux was a big mistake. It was at approximately 2:30 in the morning that I was translated from the Windows based technical world that I was so good at and thrust into the world of Penguins, Hours of IRC Support, and Red Hats. It was at that very moment that I had renewed my purpose in life, and knew that I was destined to become a Linux Geek!

Since that time, I have successfully run Linux on a Gateway Profile 2 (which has no Linux Drivers. Period.), a 486 POS with 32 Meg of RAM and a 2 Gig Hard Drive, a Micron Client Pro, an HP Netfinity Server, an I-Mac (Purple), a Nintendo 64 Game Console (with some serious hardware "tweaking" to get the peripherals attached...thanks to the previous work of some folks in...Germany???), and I even attempted to port it to the new PS2 Console (one piece of advice: Don't).

I now know Perl pretty well, I can run MySQL with my eyes closed, and have even been known to spend an entire workday discussing the benefits of Linux over Satan's OS...but why?

As semprini stated I believe, "The instant you get hold of a new computer system, they want to install Linux on it. The more obscure it is, the greater the urge." This in my mind derives from the need to prove that Linux is the Best OS out there in the market, to make known that it can run on your system! We can make it do that. At least that is how it is in my mind. If someone says it can't be done, it beguiles my techie spirit with mirth until I can prove it can be done!

To make this simple, I run Linux on 'THAT' because I must prove it can be done, but it is even better if I am the first to do it! Call me egotistical, because I am! It's the techie nature...

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