On Thu, Mar 22, 2007 at 10:55:11AM +0200, Peter wrote: > 64-bit x86 and up. F.ex. 30 million records will require less than 7 > bits per entry just to keep a complete linear index in 3GB of RAM (the > maximum usable you can put in a x86 32 bit machine). 7 bits is not > enough to even make 30 million distinct pointers to 128 records in 3GB, > leaving no room for an OS (let alone SQL).
There are other choices. Not in the 800 NIS at Mega range, but in the $10k-$20k range which is certainly affordable for a startup beyond the "angel" stage. Sun and IBM have developer programs for cheap hardware. I'm not up on the status of 64bit Linux for them. Perhaps someone more involved can contribute. I do know that a new release of YellowDog is coming out any day now and if they've done their homework, it should work fairly well on the IBM Power machines, of which the PPC chips formerly used in the Macintosh were a relatively low performance version. Even if it does, not and you are stuck with AIX, you can still run Apache as your webserver and an open source SQL engine if you desire. Sun machines run open Solaris, which also has ports of the same programs. There are versions of Linux for them too, but I have no idea if they are ready for "prime time". As for development with smaller databases and cheaper hardware, G5 Macintosh computers are relatively cheap used, and used Sun Ultra 5 and 10 computers which are really PII class computers with a 64 Bit SPARC processor are give away items. You can stuff them with memory, put in cheap hard disks, install a 64 bit operating system and do your early development on your kitchen table. :-) The advantage of them, is that all NEW larger computers are big endian now that the alpha has bit the dust, and it's easier to do your development on a big endian computer and transfer it to a larger one than to do it on a small endian one and move up. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel [EMAIL PROTECTED] N3OWJ/4X1GM IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 Fax ONLY: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838 Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/ ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
