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The Cloud Computer

oxide.computer

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Re: The Cloud Computer

#881

Post by regularfry »

cryptonector wrote: post #446
throw0101a wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They sell servers, but as a finished product. They sell rack-as-compute.[0] Their minimum order is one rack: You plug in power and network, connect to the built-in management software (API), and start spinning up VMs. [0] With built-in networking and storage.

It would be interesting to sell a data center in a container. Cooling, power supply, compute, storage, and network, all in a box. You supply power, a big network pipe, and the piping to external heat exchangers.

No idea how they do things today, but v0.1 of Azure (before it was called Azure) was a bunch of containers in a field. I remember seeing an aerial photo at the time.

Re: The Cloud Computer

#882

Post by hypfer »

Fischgericht wrote: post #867
wpm wrote: post #842

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of your questions have answers in TFM: https://docs.oxide.computer/guides/introduction

Part of the power distribution question is answered, in a way that gives even more concerns, though. A single DC distribution without redundant PSUs? What if one of the servers trips a fuse? By the way, the list of questions would go on. At least over here, DCs offer different rack footprints. They don't even list their footprint. But most importantly: The TFM doesn't say "There is an experienced network engineer in…

> Come on, this is hacker news.

Yep, exactly. That's precisely the reason why this "solution" to a problem that doesn't exist is currently being praised as the soon to be heir of the throne of computing

Re: The Cloud Computer

#883

Post by laniakean »

Uptrenda wrote: post #874

I hate websites that aren't transparent about pricing. Like, how much is this crap going to cost? What are they offering exactly? I hate having to speak to some normie in sales just to get access to something. I swear - with how hard it is to buy from some of these companies its a wonder that they sell anything at all.

I feel the same. I am interested in the product, but I want to know how much it would cost. Without knowing at least the range of the prices, I find it unproductive to contact the sales representative, since the price could end up way beyond what I can afford.

Re: The Cloud Computer

#885

Post by unixhero »

steve1977 wrote: post #41
throw0101a wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They sell servers, but as a finished product. They sell rack-as-compute.[0] Their minimum order is one rack: You plug in power and network, connect to the built-in management software (API), and start spinning up VMs. [0] With built-in networking and storage.

So just hyperconverged infrastructure with a cute name?

There is no just in hyper

Re: The Cloud Computer

#886

Post by speed_spread »

eduction wrote: post #469
Upvoter33 wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see it as a big deal - rather, I see it as a huge amount of venture cap spent on some very bright people to build something no one really wants, or, at best, is niche. Also, it has little to do with the cloud; it is yet another hyperconverged infra. Weirdly, it is attached to something very few people want: Solaris. This relates to the people behind it who still can't figure out why Linux won and Solaris didn…

When you're deploying VMs, which is the use case here, the substrate OS becomes significantly less important. Those VMs will mostly just be linux. Yes they are using illumos/Solaris to host this but they don't sell on that, they sell on the functionality of this layer — allowing people to deploy to owned infra in a way that is similar to how they'd deploy to AWS or Azure. How much do you ever think about the system h…

I have a feeling they knew exactly from the start who their customers would be: People who have the budget to care about things like trust and observability in a complex system. But these would also be the kind of customers who require absolute secrecy and so this why you don't hear about them even though they might have bankrolled a sizable portion of the operation. Just like the first Cray to officially be shipped was actually serial number 2...

Re: The Cloud Computer

#887

Post by algas »

panick21_ wrote: post #375
bigironcto wrote: post #241

I am CTO of a large global data center provider posting with throwaway account. As a technologist, I really appreciate what they have done. Impressive work, high quality, however I don't understand who this is for. The meaningful market for Data Center hardware is pretty well defined in two clusters. People that build/make custom gear (such as Hyperscalers) and people that buys HP/Cisco/IBM/Dell... (blades or hyper-c…

I think they are a competitor to the 'HP/Cisco/IBM/Dell... (blades or hyper-converged)' part of this. They basically saying 'we will do it better'. Their marketing and story is supposed to convince you that you could save money running their things rather then Dell. And instead of paying for VMWare you get Open Source Software for most of it. > Until this company has a certain/size and scale, no one serious will trus…

I agree, it seems the same to me. They have the allure of "we do it different" along with the promise of "we do it well".

Unrelated, but a "costumer" makes costumes. I think you were looking for "customer".

Re: The Cloud Computer

#888

Post by CyberDildonics »

LoganDark wrote: post #836
CyberDildonics wrote: post #687

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is literally what people would do long before 'the cloud' was ever a buzzword.

Yeah because oxide.computer isn't someone else's machine anymore. It's yours. That's literally why it's so exciting lol

Why would it be exciting for a company to be literally doing what lots of companies have been doing for literally 25 years?

Re: The Cloud Computer

#889

Post by jeffrallen »

jjav wrote: post #555
necovek wrote: post #490

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you can buy your own hardware and set it up with OpenStack and use it as a private cloud. Companies like Canonical or Redhat make a lot of money by providing software (mostly open source) to support exactly that use case. And Canonical played with a cluster-in-a-box all the way back in 2013-2014: https://www.zdnet.com/article/canonicals-cloud-in-a-box-unde... You could turn it into an OpenStack cloud in ~20 min…

> Well, you can buy your own hardware and set it up with OpenStack and use it as a private cloud. Companies like Canonical or Redhat make a lot of money by providing software (mostly open source) to support exactly that use case. Sure you can, but then who will diagnose and fix your hardware/OS interaction problems when you have parts from five vendors in the mix? If you haven't lived through this, the answer is: nob…

> you had a single company to answer all the calls, so it was much better

Huh, then why did Sun, Oracle, and Veritas have to set up a shared tech support center in San Jose?

"Accelerated finger pointing", said a friend who had to do business with them.

Re: The Cloud Computer

#890

Post by mkeeter »

cprecioso wrote: post #863
sgloutnikov wrote: post #753

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately they are not planning home lab things anytime soon, per a recent podcast episode [0]. If you want to play around with their Hubris OS: "You wanna buy an STM32H753 eval board. You can download Hubris, and then you’ve got – you’ve got an Oxide computer. You have it for 20 bucks.” [0] https://changelog.com/friends/8

Maybe somebody can help me find the $20 one, but the one I can see is $460 https://estore.st.com/en/stm32h753i-eval2-cpn.html

Look for the "Nucleo" boards rather than full-fledged eval kits, e.g. https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/nucleo-h743zi.html is $26.
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