IBM

So I am looking into a 285 potentially, but I have some questions that concern me.

- Can it connect to VPN's via PPTP?
- Is there Java 6 support? (I assume it's a download from IBM)
- If I buy a version with 5L or 6.1, can I contact IBM for 7.1?
- Can it play 720p and 1080p videos?
- No Flash I assume?


I don't do any gaming or things like that, just basic browsing and compiling.

- Can it connect to VPN's via PPTP?

as long as you are unable to compile it yourself from source -> no

- Is there Java 6 support? (I assume it's a download from IBM)

yes

- If I buy a version with 5L or 6.1, can I contact IBM for 7.1?

of course you can contact ibm, and they will of course sell you aix

- Can it play 720p and 1080p videos?

funny, but no

- No Flash I assume?

you assumed correctly

Maybe. If you're lucky.

The "Enterprise systems" sales teams sometimes can't be bothered if you're not buying at least 20 of whatever it is they're selling.

IBM seems to be better, but I've still heard of people trying to get stuff (i and AIX) and been brushed off because they only wanted one.

Hmm, so there is no alternative to connect to VPN? I mean if there is no VPN connectivity... not really a workstation in my world.

Any way to virtualize with PowerVM? I know POWER5 supports it.

What a strange world you live in. VPN endpoint support as criteria for whether it's a workstation?!? That might determine whether it meets your needs, certainly, but workstation vs. <whatever> is usually determined by the performance envelope versus the current technology limits, not connectivity...

per definition powervm is the way to go when it comes to power virtualization, and once again ibm will, kindly as they are, sell you the needed license.
but the 9111 has no support for a real hmc, which is needed for powervm, and i heavily doubt that the workstation line supports powervm anyway.
maybe the power5 is vm capable, but there are so many other dependencies around it, like vio and hmc, which a "workstation" can not handle.

Thanks for clarifying, I though "workstation" meant a computer which can not run any microsoft or apple product; those being rightfully called "playstations".

Then SGIs are out - Shake.

Better definition goes back to the Xeroxes, Apollos and Suns that "defined" the genre. A high-end desktop machine equipped with a graphics head and networking (though this does not necessarily have to be used), solid and stable hardware/software and purchased for a task-driven reason, and used most often by a single user (though most legitimate workstations offered a second concurrent user license for remote admin - something that MS still hasn't picked up on).

Actually, this is a playstation:

It is neither a microsoft nor apple product.

I speak from experience that IBM will not talk to single end users: they want to sell you contracts, not products. I went around and around with a salesdroid about getting (at that time) AIX 6 and 7 media for my private POWER6. Eventually I gave up and bought AIX 6 off eBay. I'll upgrade it to 7 later.

Amusingly, now that I work for a large governmental agency with an IBM contract, I was in the (at that time) CIO's office and the IBM salesdroid was there, who responded with flawlessly synthesized faux horror to my story and gave me his card and said to call him anytime I needed parts (and made sure that the CIO heard every word). And I intend to hold him to that!

That aside, this is probably the best server I've ever owned (it ought to be, given how much I paid for it). So it's worth the headache to get good hardware. Just be prepared to do a lot of your own legwork.

So to sum up, there is no Flash, no way to connect to a VPN and no way to virtualize software?

No flash (unless some of the free alterneratives such as Gnash etc. can build and run what you need. VPN software you would likewise need to investigate and see if there is a client or something that would build on AIX. For virtualization, you can always use WPARS, which are like the AIX equivalent of Solaris Zones or BSD jails. Essentially gives you compartmentalized instances of AIX that have their own IP address, LVM volumes and so on.

Note that you can always install Linux with a suitable graphics card, which would solve some of these problems, but if you're going to run Linux you may as well go x86 anyway.

One thing I would add, after having mine for a week - the 285 is *Loud*. Even with the baffle on the back, you are not going to want to run this as a regular desktop (deskside?) system; it will drive you mad. Fortunately, mine is in a location that it doesn't bother me but you sound like you'd like to use it as a PowerPC "desktop" system.

VPN : magic word = Cisco

btw, pptp = vpn only for very low values of vpn. And the absence of Flash ! is the very definition of a workstation ....

so the iPhone is a workstation?

Definitely And the iPad, too. Even used one exclusively for work for the past few weeks.

Can't say it was much fun though

I have two 285's - one was brand new in a box - £150!!

Anyway, they will connect to HMC but as was said - no real support for virtual console plus IBM won't sell the VET code to enable PowerVM. Still if you want virtualisation on it, WPAR's work tho not quite the same - more akin to Solaris Zones....

Don't bother with any graphics, CDE is ok but both Gnome and KDE look awful and half the things don't work.

I summary whilst these boxes are easily the fastest proper Unix Workstations you can buy, they are useless for desktop use. Oh, and both mine a dead quiet, nice low hum that's all.

I've always said that if you want a G5, just go buy a Power Mac (and then stick Linux on it if you want). The liquid-cooled quad is decent and is my daily driver Mac, though I use it with 10.4 so I can still run Classic applications. The IntelliStations aren't bad hardware but AIX is not a good workstation OS and hasn't been since the 4.x days. I couldn't even get Firefox 3.6 to run on my POWER6 without errors all over the place.