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Tue, 28 May 2002
MacHack 2002
The conference schedule for MacHack 2002 has been announced.
MacHack takes place June 20-22 at the Holiday Inn Fairlane in Detroit, MI. Rob Malda (aka. CmdrTaco), one of the founders of Slashdot, has been announced as a guest speaker.
MacHack is 3 days of intense coding, classes, and just plain fun, with the infamous Hack Contest as the hilight. For more information, visit www.machack.com.
Say hi to both of us at MacHack, see Justin's latest version of CreativePage, and drop in on my session about Unix command line tools in MacOS X.
Apple announces new iBooks
Apple today released an updated iBook with processor speeds up to 700MHz.
The new iBook includes double the on-chip level 2 cache (now 512k), a more powerful 16MB ATI Mobility Radeon graphics processor and larger hard drives. Apple claims the new iBook runs up to 35 percent faster than previous models (in CPU performance tests such as encoding a song from an audio CD into an MP3 file using iTunes). The new iBooks also feature a new video-out port that supports VGA output, as well as S-video and composite video with optional adapter. It is available in three standard configurations:
- 700MHz/256MB/30GB/14.1"TFT/DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo $1,799
- 700MHz/128MB/20GB/12.1"TFT/DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo $1,499
- 600MHz/128MB/20GB/12.1"TFT/CD-ROM $1,299
The top of the line model still costs exactly the same $1799 I paid for my iBook 500/20GB/Combo Drive last year, but it offers a larger screen, faster processor, and a larger drive.
Apple announces new servers
Apple has announced Xserve, their new rack mounted servers starting at $2999, and their new Server Monitor software. Apple is taking orders today and the server will ship in June
The server will have a dual 1GHz G4 processor, 256K L2, 4MB DDR L3 caches. System controller with custom ASIC done by Apple. Built-in: Gigabit Ethernet and FireWire. That controller has up to 2GB DDR SDRAM. In addition, it will have a PCI slot with gigabit Ethernet. This means server comes std. with two gigabit Ethernet ports. Quad ATA/100 drives, all on independent controllers and all have independent channels into system controller; a CD-ROM and 2 64-bit/66MHz PCI slots.
Storage: 60GB and 120GB ATA/100 drives with 4 drive bays for a maximum of 480GB in a single server.
Pricing & Availability: starts at $2999 for two standard models: 1GHz dual 256MB DDR and a 60GB hard disk for $2999 -- 1GHz dual 512 MB DDR with a 60GB for $3999. You can also order custom configurations at the Apple store.
Security: enclosure security lock, intrusion alert and software lock (FireWire, USB and CD-ROM can be locked down), hardware monitoring, which tries to alert you to what needs service. It monitors drive status and pre-fail, temperature (processor and enclosure), fans, power supply and network link.
You can service an Xserve in seconds. The units literally just slide out like a drawer. There's no top to take off.
The servers feature SMART drive monitoring, so they can do predictive failure on drives. The servers will have hot-pluggable drives that pull out of the front of the device in a custom-made carriage.
OS X Server and Xserve provide a completely headless operation, SMP optimization, UPS support, 2-terabyte file system support, Net-SNMP and MIB II, for OS X clients. Management tools include Server Admin and Server Monitor, Unlimited clients (windows server requires expensive server licenses).
Mac OS X server also includes Mac Manager 2, NetBoot, NetInfo, LDAP connectivity, Server administration via SSH. Internet, security, and web services include IP firewall, DHCP, DNS, SLP, Apache, QuickTime Streaming, WebObjects, Mail (SMTP, POP, IMAP), WebDAV, SSL, PHP, MySQL, Java, CGI, Caching Web Proxy.
File & print services include AFP, Samba & SMB/CIFS for Windows, NFS, FTP, WebDAV, LPR/LPD and SMB/CIFS printing.
Server Monitor lists all running Xserves on a local network with a series of green "lights" showing server status. Green buttons refer to current status of the drives (all four bays), power, network connections (2 built-in and any others you add), fans (both of them) and software lock. Clicking on the green buttons shows you info about status of those parts of the server.
"Edit Notifications" button lets you be warned, via e-mail or page, if something goes wrong with the server. It can be configured for single servers, or a whole groups of servers.
Here's how it compares to the competition:
- Dell PowerEdge 1560 $4277 - 3 bays
- IBM eServer X330 $5186 - 3 bays
- Sun Fire 280R $19590 - 2 bays
- Xserve $3999 - 266MHz DDR SDRAM, 4 bays means more total capacity