Extreme Linux Server Available to North America

jcasman writes "CNet is covering an announcement from Japanese Linux provider Plat'Home on a low-cost, super tough Linux-based server, now available in the US, that can handle extreme heat and cold. 'The OpenMicroServer is kind of an "extreme" use server pushing the boundaries for normal, low-cost hardware. In a 624-day endurance test, the OpenMicroServer performed normally under 122 degree F conditions. The unit also employs a power efficient AMD Alchemy (MIPS) CPU and precise part placement based on thermo-fluid analysis to achieve semi-hermetic construction.'"

That would be

[cephah (1244770)]

50 degrees Celsius for the rest of the world.

Re:

[by Anonymous Coward]

latin: statim

Re:On that note

[vux984 (928602)]

What is the difference between celsius and centigrade?

In practical terms nothing.

In technical terms 'centigrade' scale is defined as having zero at the melting point of ice, and 100 at the boiling point of water at standard atomopheric pressure. While celsius is defined as the kelvin temperature - 273.15.

The reason for the difference was that the melting point of water is hard to measure precisely, due to the mechanics of melting creating an insulating layer of meltwater around the ice, that you can't simply stir to remove because that would introduce heat...which obviously is counter productive.

So they redefined it in terms of Kelvin which could be measured more precisely, and renamed it to make it unambiguous which definition was being used.

And where does "stat" come from when used in medical dramas?

stat is from the latin 'statim', which just means 'immediately' or 'at once'.

Re:

[atraintocry (1183485)]

Regarding Celsius/centigrade, while the name change happened a few years after the change in definition, I don't think you can consider them to be separate scales. Some people still say "centigrade" and when they do so you have to assume that they're just using the wrong name, rather than start converting.

Plus, Kelvin is itself based on the triple-point of water so we can't say that Celsius is based on water and centigrade isn't. They're really just synonyms.

Re:On that note

[TheThiefMaster (992038)]

You need two points (or one point and the size of one step) to define a scale.

In kelvin's case it is:
0 K is at absolute 0
273.16 K is at the triple point [wikipedia.org] of water

Celius is defined with the same two points, as -273.15 C and 0.01 C. This definition makes the freezing point of water approx. 0 C and the boiling point approx. 99.9839 C [wikipedia.org]

Some of the above may have been shamelessly ripped from Wikipedia. "Degrees" character removed because Slashdot mangles it into "Â".

Re:On that note

[danbert8 (1024253)]

Acutally, you can survive a limited amount of time exposed to space. See 2001: A Space Odyssey. Arthur C Clarke knew what he was talking about.
 
Yes, space is very very cold. But vacuums are very good insulators, so there isn't much to take the heat away from you other than radiation, which is a very slow process to lose heat by. Your blood will boil from the low pressure before you'd freeze or suffocate.

Re:

[Digi-John (692918)]

Scully, are you familiar with the Apollo 18 mission? It was a secret launch to test the survival times of unprotected humans in space.
But Mulder, that's crazy, the government would never--
Would never what, Scully? Never kill to hide the TRUTH? Never cover up what the public has a right to know?

Re:On that note

[MichaelSmith (789609)]

An interesting side note though: I wonder how reliable those estimations are. I mean it's not like we've exposed human test subjects to outer space to check how long it takes them to die, right?

One guy was exposed to vacuum when a pressure suit failed during tests. He was recompressed without incident after about a minute.

Chimpanzees were deliberately exposed to vacuum in testing. They survived as well.

Extreme use?

[by Anonymous Coward]

So this server shouldn't get slashdotted?

I say we test it.

Ummm..freezing is now 0 F?

[Seakip18 (1106315)]

It can handle down to the freezing point (0 degrees F), too.

TFA can't be right. Though I got an American education, I'm pretty sure freezing is 0 C/32F. Looks like the article writer didn't read the specs.....sounds like somebody in Norway.

Re:Ummm..freezing is now 0 F?

[Adambomb (118938)]

sounds like somebody in Norway.

Nah, its just intended for a NASA re-entry module computer.

Re:

[Ethanol-fueled (1125189)]

Noway also means yesway? Man, what a country!

Re:Ummm..freezing is now 0 F?

[OverlyGenericUsernam (1189255)]

My dating chances have vastly improved!

Re:Ummm..freezing is now 0 F?

[joggle (594025)]

The value of Fahrenheit is that it has greater precision than Celsius (when just reporting the integer part of course). The other is that it is a bit easier for people to relate to: 0 degrees is cold!, 100 degrees is hot! Whereas in Celsius 0 degrees is somewhat cold and 100 degrees, well you're way past dead at that point.

Re:Ummm..freezing is now 0 F?

[The real PoD (734939)]

I think what you're trying to say is "Fahrenheit is easier for me because it's what I'm used to".

As a South Aussie, Celcius is perfect,
0 = bloody cold
10 = cold
20 = just right
30 = quite warm
40 = hot

What should I wear if it's 65F outside? Without converting to Celcius I'd have no idea.

Re:Ummm..freezing is now 0 F?

[CrazedWalrus (901897)]

I think that's what he meant when he said "(when just reporting the integer part of course)." People tend to think you're being overly anal retentive when you start quoting them decimal points in everyday conversation.

In other words, Farenheit gives you greater precision without making you sound like a dick. :-)

Re:Ummm..freezing is now 0 F?

[Ethan Allison (904983)]

Not to mention it's suited better to everyday life.

the metric system for distance is pansy BS. if i'm going 100 of something, i want it to be legitimately fast. the metric(type) system for temperature is also BS. When it is hot, the temp should be in triple digits, not at 38C. the metric system just isn't scaled for awesome, and that's why the US doesn't use it. -Drew Heyman [jalopnik.com]

Re:

[MichaelSmith (789609)]

Just imagine what the scale would have been like if he'd worked in northern Alaska....

Same as Kelvin I suppose.

How about some details?

[Ungrounded Lightning (62228)]

Ok, so it's wide temperature range, low power, and low cost. How about some more detail?

  - Actual power consumption. (How does it vary with load and temperature? What voltage (range) is required?)
  - Price.
  - Processor speed.
  - Internal memory. (Disk? Flash? How much RAM?, ...)
  - I/O ports. (How many? What are they?)

Etc.

TFA was fluff.

Re:How about some details?

[harrkev (623093)]

Try to RTFA. There is a link to most of this stuff (except price). Dual GB and one 100 ethernet (not bad). USB connectors. The problem is that the thing appears to support CF as the only internal storage option. Great for an embedded system, but there is no way to add a hard drive, short of the USB ports.

Re:

[Ironsides (739422)]

Las I heard, CF and IDE were essentially the same. All you will probably need is a pin adapter and a power supply for the drive.

Re:How about some details?

[harrkev (623093)]

For the link-challenged:
http://www.plathome.com/products/microserver/oms/oms_spec.html [plathome.com]

Re:

[Seakip18 (1106315)]

http://www.plathome.com/products/microserver/oms/oms_spec.html [plathome.com]

Re:

[kwalker (1383)]

Here's where I found more info: http://www.plathome.com/products/microserver/oms/oms_spec.html [plathome.com]

This looks like a tough SLUG with some slightly better hardware.

Price is something I'm still looking for myself.

CPU: AMD Alchemyâ au1550 400MHz (Someone said this was MIPS)
Memory: 128MB (PC133 SDRAM)
Flash ROM: 16MB (User area approx. 2MB)

Looks like it's got a pair of Gbit ports and a POE-capable 10/100 port, a pair of USB2 jacks and some status lights. Also some weird RJ-45 serial port adapters, one for a mode

Forgot the most important question!

[Dunbal (464142)]

BUT - will it run linu..... oh, nevermind.

Re:

[Atlantis-Rising (857278)]

There are a variety of Windows versions that run on MIPS operating systems, including Windows NT, Windows CE, and their variants. Also, I do not know what the Windows CE licensing costs are, but CE starts at $15 per seat and only goes down, especially if you buy in significant quantity (like any Windows licensing).

Temperatures down to freezing?

[caseih (160668)]

Being from a cold weather climate where I can see several applications for outdoor applications, I am curious as to what they mean by "down to the freezing point (0 degrees F)." Surely they meant 0 Celsius.

Wow!

[jd (1658)]

A server that could be used in North Dakota! (Seriously, that place is lethally hot in the summer and lethally cold the rest of the year. Rumour has it that the Indian burial mounds there were built by aliens, as the Indians didn't want to stay there long enough.)

An extreme end server that is ruggedized against severe temperatures has potential value in a number of areas. First, it certainly meets the thermal requirements for military-grade systems, so I would expect to see this getting some interested looks from that direction. Severe temperatures have killed voting machines, so that's another place that might be very interested in this server. Commodity e-voting with far more reliable hardware will sound a LOT more atractive to many States. The range isn't extreme enough to support some of the really harsh environments out there, but it would be good enough to get a tracked vehicle with a hose attachment into places too hot and too dangerous for human firefighters who wouldn't be able to stay that close to a fire.

Extreme?

[clarkn0va (807617)]

0-50C is hardly extreme. (Use the AC adapter and it's 0-40C--same as just about any of the commodity electronic components in my home).

Sorry if I'm not overly impressed.

db

Re:Extreme?

[Flavio (12072)]

Exactly. I design instrumentation for the power industry. We're talking about equipment which has to run at up to 70 C during the day, every day, with a target lifespan of at least a decade. That can get tricky, specially in humid environments (think of power substations installed deep in the jungle), but it can be done and has been done for the last 50 years.

0-50 C gets close to consumer grade. As long as you choose power efficient designs, use a decent safety factor for the power supply and buy good parts (meaning no cheap electrolytic capacitors built with stolen formulas), there won't be any problems.

Re:

[johannesg (664142)]

Yeah. I work in the space industry. I am currently looking at equipment that needs to survive temperatures from -200C to +200C, in a 10-7mbar vacuum (i.e. there is no heat conduction through the atmosphere, so you can forget about fans). *That* is an extreme environment.

What is described here is merely the room temperature range preferred by my two colleagues (I think they are both weird, but that's another story).

Re:Extreme?

[Sponge Bath (413667)]

...you can forget about fans

Even if they have cool looking LEDs on them?
Nothing is more EXTREME than a fan with LEDs.

Re:Extreme?

[Yvan256 (722131)]

Depends on the color of the LEDs. I've added blue LEDs to my CPU fan and it reduced the temperature by an average of 10C.

However, a friend of mine used red LEDs and totally fried his GPU! What a moron!

Re:

[codemachine (245871)]

Agreed. The outdoor air temperature here can vary from -45C to +45C. And at +45, you can bet that most electronics will be running warmer than ambient temperature.

I'm most disappointed in this thing's ability to handle cold. Only down to 0C? Pretty much useless around here.

Re:Extreme?

[JungleBoy (7578)]

I agree as well. I regularly need embedded servers/controllers and ethernet switches that work down to -40 degrees (C/F are the same here). I install them on mountain tops in Alaska. What really annoys me is when the specs list -40 as the minimum operating temperatures, but they used crappy ethernet PHY chips that need to be kept warm, so they use a heater circuit. They never tell you this in the documentation, you just wonder why the power usage goes through the room when it gets cold.

Half the story

[JesseL (107722)]

How well does it work in a condensing atmosphere?

It's easy to work down to 0C when conditions are perfectly dry, it's another story when everything starts to sweat.

And what kind of airflow are we talking about when operating at 122F ambient?

Re:

[snowraver1 (1052510)]

Generally speaking, condensation is not really an issue for operating electronics.

Using electricity, however much, generates heat. This means that the device will always be warmer than the ambiant temperature. If the temerature drops to the dew point, condensaction forms on objects that are the same temperature or colder than the dew point, but since your device is generating heat, it will remain dew/frost free!

Think, when there is frost (or dew) do you ever have frost on the exterior of your house? T

Re:

[JesseL (107722)]

How about when powering up a device that's been off for a while?

Or if the ambient temperature suddenly shifts? Not everything lives in a stationary box.

I've had to apply conformal coatings to enough industrial electronics to know that humidity does cause issues for them.

The stuff my company has done in manufacturing power generating wind turbine controls makes this thing's specs pretty unimpressive.

Semi-hermetic construction, huh?

[roystgnr (4015)]

How can something be "semi"-airtight? Does this mean that if you plug it in and drop it into the bathtub with you, you'll only end up semi-dead?

Now the NEW most important question...

[Zaatxe (939368)]

But will it run Vista?

Re:Now the NEW most important question...

[snowraver1 (1052510)]

No.

Thermo-fluid semi-hermetic what??????

[viking80 (697716)]

You do not know what "precise part placement based on thermo-fluid analysis to achieve semi-hermetic construction" means?
Well, lets break it up:
a) "precise part placement"
b) "thermo-fluid analysis"
c) "semi-hermetic construction"
It means that
A) the CPU is placed close to the case, so B)the case functions as a heat sink. Therefore, no fan is needed and the box is C) dustproof.

This happens to be a fairly common design.

PowerPC?

[OrangeTide (124937)]

The specs on one page mentions PowerPC.

Also what is the suggested retail price of this?

Did you know?

[by Anonymous Coward]

Many evolutionary servologists believe that the computers that function in modern server room environments share a common ancestor that existed before air conditioning and electric power generation. Ancient servers were likely powered by sulfur compounds and operated at much higher temperatures and pressures.

Makes me think of...

[Midnight Thunder (17205)]

With titles like "Extereme Linux Server", what will have next? "Linux servers gone wild" maybe? ;)

That's not ruggedized

[Animats (122034)]

I just came back from the Embedded Systems Conference, where you see systems running on shake tables, or submerged in aquaria. With fish. -18C to 50C is not an industrial temperature range. Normally, the "commercial range" is 0C to 70C, and "industrial range" is -40C to +85C. It's all solid state memory, so there's not much of a temperature problem at the low end, as long as the humidity is low enough to avoid condensation or ice. "Thermo-fluid analysis to achieve semi-hermetic construction." - right.

Also, the thing has a MIPS processor, and it's a bit late for that. It's not even AMD product any more; the Alchemy line was sold off to Raza [razamicroelectronics.com] years ago.

Re:

[Detritus (11846)]

I'd like to see an aquarium on a shake table, with fish.

Computing in hell

[quag7 (462196)]

This is good, because I plan on running a cluster in Hell. What I would like to know is whether or not it is resistant to gay christian right republicans, because there will be a lot of them there.

I don't want to no gay christian republicans all up in my box (And I mean that in every conceivable way).

Also, in the event that hell freezes over, or snowballs do, in fact, have a chance, or we experience, merely, a cold day in hell, I need to know whether it will survive a hard freeze. I for one continue to be disappointed in the fact that servers like this don't come with notoriously insulating Unix beards. By which I mean Unix beards, the dudes, not Unix beards, the beards. We could cut one open like a tauntaun (Unix beard, the dude) and stick the box inside.

And then there is smugness shielding. I don't want Satan all up in my grill about uptimes lasting an eternity, which I totally fucking plan on attaining. I for one will not be rebooting every 48 hours for some stupid Vista upgrade.

Also, do the gates of hell constitute a "firewall"? There's a lot of fire there, and it is kind of wallish. Is port 80 open? Does god forbid export of strong crypto to hell? Are codecs free in the afterlife? Will I be sued by SCO? Because you know they'll all be in hell, and you know Satan has strong connections with Microsoft and lots of capital.

There will be a lot to navigate (I hear the ferry o'er the river styx is completely wallpapered in hardcore pornographic images of Maureen O'Gara in flagrante delicto with Steve Ballmer and Steve Jobs.

I need a server up to the challenge. Is this it?

Re:

[jd (1658)]

Depends. Are they planning on posting to Usenet?

Re:

[belg4mit (152620)]

What about Canada? You're just as guilty of centricism. What about Mexico, Panama, Honduras...