Re: as/400 / linux / lpar

From: Steve Richter <srichter@autocoder.com>
> from Leif Svalgaard
> >The issue was: do you NEED special hardware to run fractional
> >partitions. What does hardware provide for this that can't be done
> >in software? This question has not been answered.
>
> It is a good question.
>
> I am still looking for the reason the cpw per processor of the new regatta
> 890 is only 40% more than that of the former high end 840. Even though the
> clock speed is 100% greater.
>

Hmmm. Let me try that one. The traditional song is that MHz (or now GHz)
are not meaningful for a system like AS/400. Other things, like IOPs,
bus connections (I'm just making this up), and such are more important
for obtaining a balanced system optimized for business type usage.
The usual blathermouths can probably express that even more forcefully.

So, the solution to your paradox must be that the 890 does not have all
these extra things that the 840 has. This would make sense because
Dr. Frank once said that to make a pServer IBM would take an iServer
and REMOVE hardware (IOPs etc). Now that the iServer is converging
towards the pServer, this loss of the traditional extra AS/400 oomph is
just what one would expect.

In absence of information speculation can run wild.