[yellowdog-announce] Fixstars Launches Yellow Dog Enterprise Linux v6.1 for Cell: Press Release 15 April 2009

[Announce List for all Fixstars Solutions products (moderated)]

WITH EXPANDED SUPPORT, YDEL V6.1 OUTPERFORMS THE COMPETITION

LOVELAND, COLORADO - 15 April 2009 - Fixstars today announced the release of 
Yellow Dog Enterprise Linux (YDEL) v6.1. This release introduces important 
performance improvements as well as new features for the world's only Linux 
OS built specifically for the Cell Broadband Engine. In addition to providing 
continued support for Fixstars GigaAccel 180 and IBM QS2x blades, YDEL v6.1 
now offers support for the Sony PlayStation3 and IBM JS2x series blades.

"In each release of YDL or YDEL, we focus on one particular area to improve. 
In YDEL v6.1 while we broadened the hardware support to include the PS3 and 
IBM JS blades, our focus was to improve the overall performance of the 
distribution. YDEL now installs faster, boots faster, and our customers' 
applications will also benefit from a performance increase," said Owen 
Stampflee, Fixstars Solutions Director of Engineering.

Results for benchmark tests demonstrate noteworthy performance increases in 
comparison to other Linux distributions. When running LINPACK (HPL), which is 
used for the TOP500.org, YDEL v6.1 is 1.5% faster than RHEL on a single 
blade. The Bonnie++ I/O benchmark shows YDEL as 19.5% faster for NFS than 
RHEL and 24.8% faster for tmpfs than Fedora.

For more information on these benchmark tests, visit 
us.fixstars.com/products/ydel/benchmarks.shtml

YDEL v6.1 features several performance improvements such as a patch for 
increasing memory copy speeds, which in turns improves the performance of 
device drivers. In addition, this release includes the next generation of 
ps3vram support, which greatly improves the performance of using for fast, 
temp file storage or swap using PS3 video RAM.

YDEL v6.1 supports:
 - Sony PLAYSTATION(R) 3
 - Fixstars GigaAccel 180 and other PXCAB derivatives
 - IBM QS2x / JS2x series blade servers and derivatives

YDEL v6.1 offers these updates over v6.0:
 - Kernel 2.6.22 except for PS3, 2.6.28 for PS3
 - GCC 4.1.2
 - Cell SDK 3.1
 - Barcelona Supercomputing Center's Cell Superscalar (CellSs) framework
 - Improved Infiniband support with OFED v1.4
 - Faster installation
 - Improved boot times
 - Addition of the libfreevec library, which can provide for up to 25% 
increase in application performance.
 - Firefox 3.0
 - Improved PS3 VRAM Storage/Swap Support, faster than YDL 6.1 with no 
configuration required.

"Yellow Dog Enterprise Linux v6.1 offers vast improvements for professional 
Cell development and high performance computing," said Akihiro Asahara, 
General manager of Platform division, Fixstars Corporation. "With this new 
release, we have included the latest IBM Cell SDK v3.1, Barcelona 
Supercomputing Center Cell Superscalar, and updated libraries which 
facilitate improved code execution. The end result is a highly competitive, 
enterprise level operating system which offers realworld results."

The Fixstars Solutions website now contains an expanded collection of YDEL 
documentation. This on-line library allows users to find answers to their 
Linux and Cell related questions, from installation instructions to HOWTOs.

	To review the HOWTOs:
	us.fixstars.com/support/solutions/ydel_6.x/

	To learn more about YDEL v6.1:
	us.fixstars.com/products/ydel/


About Fixstars
Fixstars is the pioneering company of the Cell Broadband Engine, high 
performance multi-core processor. Fixstars enables companies to speed up 
business through delivery of high performance, quality applications, 
middleware, and Linux operating system for the Cell based hardware, including 
the GigaAccel 180 and IBM QS22 blades for industries such as Finance, 
Medical, Manufacturing and Digital media. Founded in 2002, Fixstars is 
headquartered in Tokyo, Japan with subsidiary Fixstars Solutions in San Jose, 
CA and Loveland, CO.