Where are the ThinkStations, and where is Linux?

[os2]

Hello,

I am contemplating a Lenovo TS as IBM no longer sell the Z-pro. The Z-pro appears smaller than the TS. In fact the TS appears the same size, roughly, of the X-Series. I want smaller, not larger. Honestly, if Sun could produce small sized workstations with tremendous power, so too can IBM/Lenovo.

Anyway, the Lenovo website simply state that the workstation will be available for purchase in January 2008. However, there is no infomation on the website about models and pricing.

Further, I see nothing about support for Linux.

I remain unconvinced. I wish IBM had not abandoned the Workstation community.

Respectfully yours,

Mark

[shumpert]

Welcome to the forums Os2.

I'm not sure what page you were looking at but the models and pricing has been available here for the S10's for about a month.  The D10 (Dual processor) systems have just recently appeared on the site.  This site will contain the current prices for all models and any sale or offer updates as well.

In case the link listed isn't working I pulled the models and pricing by click on Workstation under the products part at the bottom of the Lenovo (http://www.lenovo.com) homepage.

[erik Community SuperMod]

ed, i think os2's frustration is with this page as it still shows the thinkstation slated for january 2008 availability.   the canadian site hasn't been updated to allow S10/D10 orders.

os2, i ordered my D10 yesterday and was given a two month lead time for shipping (6/6/08).   from what i understand the D10 won't be shipping en masse for a while.   even if you could order today it would be backordered.

regarding size; it's a workstation.   if you need something compact and powerful then you might consider building your own system or spec'ing out a loaded S10 since the chassis is more the size of a traditional tower desktop.   the D10 is nearly the size of a standard 6U rack to allow it to be rack mounted.   putting dual quad-core processors in a compact chassis would require a lot of air to be moved quickly, which in turn would result in a much louder system with less reliability.   many of the SGi worksations i used in college were this way; small and loud.   as the saying goes, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

regarding linux, both the S10 and D10 are offered in less expensive DOS-only versions allowing you to add your own OS.   OS support and installation, however, would be up to you.

[erik Community SuperMod]

update:  it looks like redhat enterprise 5.0 is supported on thinkstations and could eventually be a configuration option.

view the thinkstation tour on lenovovision and select 'features' from the menu in the lower right-hand corner.

here's a screenshot in case you don't find it right away.

[roustabout]

They're here.  They support Linux.  They support RAID.  They don't support linux *and* RAID.  What, you wanted
a reliable and fast Linux platform of the sort Lenovo claimed?  So sorry. 

The marketing people need to be taken out to the woodshed.  They don't need to be brought back in. 

Is Lenovo at this time still offering to preinstall Linux on these systems?  Interesting, I see they are, in spite
of the fact that if you kit these with serious driveage, Linux won't work properly.  I'm old school and prefer
RAID 1 to RAID 5, so I could at least installl Linux.  Apparently, Linux won't install in RAID 10 or RAID 5
on these systems. 

And yes, Linux is 'installed' now, except that the OS can see both the drive array and the individual
drives.  Applications decide at random whether they will use the array or simply grab a slice of
naked drive.  Swank, eh?  I no longer have the option of rolling back into Windows, since Lenovo
didn't include recovery media and the drives are flipped over now.  I may look at integrating the
SATA drivers into a slipstream XP disc this evening, just for grins. 

Phone support is good, but their problem is that they are looking to do break-fix, not 'honor the material
in the marketing.'  I know what a workable RAID card costs as a standalone;  as of now, the phone
support guys would clearly like to be able to help me, but they're not sure they can. 

I'm looking at HP workstations and servers tonight;  I know these come with SAS as an option, and
recently spec'ed on with 3 x 146G SAS for close to what the thinkstation cost (albeit not with as
much RAM or as fast a chip.)  Depending on the price delta, we may bring in a RAID card of our
own, or we may bring in a different box. 

The thinkpads, I still like.

This, well, it cost a lot more than a box I'd build myself, and a box I'd build myself would have similar-to-better
performance and working RAID.  In theory, it would take much more time than this;  in practice, maybe not
so much more.