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20000120: Non-support Question?



>From: Mark Tucker <address@hidden>
>Organization: Lyndon State
>Keywords: 200001202237.PAA04617 DEC platform

Hi Mark-

>I have a question for you and likely others there at Unidata.  I
>wasn't sure if this would be appropriate to submit to 
>address@hidden or not.   

I was out yesterday, so sorry for the delay in responding.

>On campus here we have a DEC Alpha 1000 which is being retired from
>service as our campus file server since Microsoft is no longer supporting
>NT on that architecture. It is only a couple of years old and can be
>upgraded at a reasonable expense to a multi-processor setup with OSF/DEC
>Unix/True64 Unix (or whatever it is that Compaq is calling it).  I worked
>with DEC Unix for a couple of years before working here so I do have some
>familiarity with the platform which is an advantage from my pespective. 
>I see that Unidata supports all packages are supported on this
>platform according to the web site.

All our packages are supported on this platform, so if you had problems
with this, we'd be able to help you.  Steve Chiswell used DEC Alphas to
run MM5 when he was in Hawaii, so has some closer hand experience with
that type of system.

>What I was wondering about is what are your practical experiences with
>supporting sites on this platorm?  We use nearly all of the Unidata
>packages on our server (ldm, mcidas, gempak, decoders etc..) and if 
>support is more difficult and troublesome than Linux I'd like find out
>before expending the time and effort in that direction. 

I don't have any personal experience with this platform.  We have an
old Alpha machine that is a dog, but only because is is a 133Mhz system.
One thing you will have to weigh is the long term maintenance costs -
OS upgrades, compiler upgrades, etc.  You will need the FORTRAN and
C compilers along with a current version of the OS and will need to
budget for keeping these current.

>We are currently running Linux on our server but I have been looking at
>other options to replace it for various reasons which I won't get into
>in this letter.  Is there a way I could contact other sites that are using
>DEC Unix to get their experiences running the ldm and other Unidata
>pacakages? 

You could send a message out to ldm-users (probably reach the most 
people that way).  If you do that, be sure to explain exactly what
hardware you are going to be running and what you are going to
be using the machine for.

>If it would be more appropriate to submit this to the official
>support address or one of the mailing lists I'll be glad to do so.  I am
>not attempting to circumvent the correct support procedures - at least
>that's not my intent.  I would just like to get some opinions well in
>advance of making a potentially expensive decision.  

No problem.  I'd say send a note to ldm-users and see what kind of
response you get.  You could also send to mcidas-x and gempak to get
questions specific to those packages answered, but most people on
those lists are probably on the ldm-users list as well.

If you have more questions, send the note to support (in case
I'm out).

Don
*************************************************************
Don Murray                               UCAR Unidata Program
address@hidden                        P.O. Box 3000
(303) 497-8628                              Boulder, CO 80307
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