Hardware Of the Week #1

moo · 2005-10-18, 04:57

Forum seemed a little dead so I am posting there are these little devices called raqs 1-4 + qube there made by a company called cobalt. Cobalt was bought by sun microsystems and eventually devolopment on them stopped. The question of this thread is have you ever used them or have any of them and if you dont what do you think of the idea of a micro web server.

Peter Nelson · 2005-10-18, 08:21

Hi Moo,

I've come across Cobalt Raqs and Qubes before

User guides etc HERE

http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/coll/809.1

NOTE THESE ARE SPARC PROCESSORS

The RAQs were *very* popular with ISP hosting centres cos they were good value and fitted into only 1U of rack space. (Also ran a stable OS not microsoft windows LOL).

I would say also that their appearance is very COOL (nice blue).

The processor mhz is not so high compared to modern systems but will do good service as a webserver.

They did also specific versions like cacheRaq which acted as a caching web proxy to speed up Internet access by storing files on your local network. Good when used in conjunction with a L4-7 switch to redirect traffic (as transparent to user without setting web proxy setting in browser).

I think you could also use Raqs as a ftp server as well as webserver, but because they are not x86 you won't have the same application support.

If you can get one cheap (ideally with system reinstall disk in case you need to).... worth having. Sorry you can't run prime95 on it.

Greenbank · 2005-10-18, 10:54

But the Raqs are x86, not Sparc.

On a related note, Sparc processors are notorious for their horribly slow integer multiply. Even the GMP benchmark page (http://www.swox.com/gmp/gmpbench.html) has a footnote about this.

moo · 2005-10-18, 14:53

Raqs 1 - 2 and qube 1 -2 were mips proc they were 64 bits and ranged to about 250 mhz i have one but i wanted to discuss it. Raqs 3 - 4 were x86 amd procs. There are still distros that run for the mips raqs sarge debian is one i have one and i am currently trying to get it to boot over lan to install its quite a pain because if you screw up you actually have to reset the machine by unpluging it and leaveing it for 10 minutes or so. Also sometimes pulling cmos battery worked.

Greenbank · 2005-10-19, 15:58

I thought some of them were mips but I couldn't find a reference for it so I didn't mention it. Ah..yes, I thought they were powerpc not mips, which is probably why google didn't find anything. Ta.

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2005-10-18, 04:57	#1
moo Jul 2004 Nowhere 1451₈ Posts	Hardware Of the Week #1 Forum seemed a little dead so I am posting there are these little devices called raqs 1-4 + qube there made by a company called cobalt. Cobalt was bought by sun microsystems and eventually devolopment on them stopped. The question of this thread is have you ever used them or have any of them and if you dont what do you think of the idea of a micro web server.

2005-10-18, 08:21	#2
Peter Nelson Oct 2004 23² Posts	Hi Moo, I've come across Cobalt Raqs and Qubes before User guides etc HERE http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/coll/809.1 NOTE THESE ARE SPARC PROCESSORS The RAQs were very popular with ISP hosting centres cos they were good value and fitted into only 1U of rack space. (Also ran a stable OS not microsoft windows LOL). I would say also that their appearance is very COOL (nice blue). The processor mhz is not so high compared to modern systems but will do good service as a webserver. They did also specific versions like cacheRaq which acted as a caching web proxy to speed up Internet access by storing files on your local network. Good when used in conjunction with a L4-7 switch to redirect traffic (as transparent to user without setting web proxy setting in browser). I think you could also use Raqs as a ftp server as well as webserver, but because they are not x86 you won't have the same application support. If you can get one cheap (ideally with system reinstall disk in case you need to).... worth having. Sorry you can't run prime95 on it.

2005-10-18, 10:54	#3
Greenbank Jul 2005 2×193 Posts	But the Raqs are x86, not Sparc. On a related note, Sparc processors are notorious for their horribly slow integer multiply. Even the GMP benchmark page (http://www.swox.com/gmp/gmpbench.html) has a footnote about this.

2005-10-18, 14:53	#4
moo Jul 2004 Nowhere 1451₈ Posts	Raqs 1 - 2 and qube 1 -2 were mips proc they were 64 bits and ranged to about 250 mhz i have one but i wanted to discuss it. Raqs 3 - 4 were x86 amd procs. There are still distros that run for the mips raqs sarge debian is one i have one and i am currently trying to get it to boot over lan to install its quite a pain because if you screw up you actually have to reset the machine by unpluging it and leaveing it for 10 minutes or so. Also sometimes pulling cmos battery worked.

2005-10-19, 15:58	#5
Greenbank Jul 2005 386₁₀ Posts	I thought some of them were mips but I couldn't find a reference for it so I didn't mention it. Ah..yes, I thought they were powerpc not mips, which is probably why google didn't find anything. Ta.