[deadalvs]

hi !

is there a free and simple to install linux 64 bit distribution available ? which one ?
do the different distos influence render speed ?

i am thinking about future renderslaves running on linux.

[Rickyx]

hi !

is there a free and simple to install linux 64 bit distribution available ? which one ?
do the different distos influence render speed ?

i am thinking about future renderslaves running on linux.

I'm Ubuntist so I suggest you Ubuntu, for 32 and 64bit Intel processors.
Download the brand new release "8.04 LongTermSupport" -codename "Hardy Heron"- Desktop or Server version from:
http://www.ubuntu.com/ ---> http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04/
Quickest way to download is torrent.
Very easy to install.

I think performances on different distros depends a lot from the kernel (compiled or not) and from the number of active services.

[deadalvs]

thanks for this info ! downloading ...

i checked www.benchwell.com ..

there are nearly no linuxes around.

have you tried a direct comparison between windows and ubuntu on one machine... ? was there a significant time difference ?

how stable is ubuntu compared to win xp64 ?

[Rickyx]

Ciao deadalvs,

unfortunatly I do not have any Win64 -Wx nor Vista- so I can't comparate between the two.
And obviousy I see positive differences between 32 and 64 bit...

Ubuntu has not significant stability issues that can diminish user experience, is ultrasecure while browsing the web and solid as server...


Ricky

Ps: BUT if your primary target is stability than choose Debian ( http://www.debian.org/ ): even if Ubuntu is based on Debian, it has "non ultrasecure packages" coming with.

[pwrdesign]

Im running 15 Ubuntu nodes atm, works great!

http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/view ... hp?t=27121

[deadalvs]

ah that sounds great... especially for a free OS !!

i will think about this ...

thanks !

[codygo]

I run gentoo compiled for opteron processors and 64 bits and performance is slightly lower than in xp pro 64. Still cool though, I would be more comfortable using ssh to transfer files to my linux computer at home and using command line to render them than alternatives in windows.

[deadalvs]

i have an other question.

renderfarming is and endless fight with cashflow ...

i'm still thinking of some sort of low-cost cluster. so for each slave, even the cd/dvd rom is not a must since the slaves are there just for rendering purposes.
-->
is there an easy way on linux to install the complete OS on each slave from a network directory with the full installer (like that ubuntu.iso) ? and for other software like maxwell, is it also possible to admin that just over tcp/ip with multiple slaves at once ?

[pwrdesign]

Just make a Clone/ghost!

I've got a clone set up on a server here at work, when I have a new render-machine/or need to reinstall one, I just boot on the disk, point to the server and the server is restored. It takes about 10 minutes, all I have to do when its done is changing the IP number back to the one it used to have. (we are using static IP's here)

[deadalvs]

sweet ...

i bet that saves a looot of time !

[Rickyx]

I agree, I often use http://www.partimage.org/

[deadalvs]

how do you guys deal with different hardware that need different drivers and a single OS images can't handle all slaves ?

[pwrdesign]

Yes it does!

Im using clonezilla

I've got two different hardware setups in my farm, and I have to make two clones. It takes about 10 min to do a clone though so its not alot of work.