Caldera RIP Server

[MitchtheMitch]

Hello,

I've been please with what I have seen from Caldera as far as the RIP is concerned. What I'd like to know is what server or machine setup people are using for Caldera. I know they are Mac/Linux based. We'd like to stick to Mac running OS X. Linux is not ideal but could be an option. Any recommendations would be great!

Thank you all

 

[AF]

Mac / X11 had support whereas Linux was an old customized district with little to no support. Not sure if this has changed lately. If not, Mac is the way to go with Caldera.

 

[bigben]

I hate Mac products, but I'm running caldera on a mac mini without any problems. Even for large files.

 

[MainostePrint]

We turned our old windows pc to linux. took few steps for my nerd friend and workmate. Our distributors were suspicious about all that... It works perfectly. And FAST! we saved at least 1000€ lol. Good to have at least one computer nerd in your team.

 

[Correct Color]

Mitch,

It's about 50/50, probably. And it pretty much works out that the smaller the operation, the more likely they are to be running on a Mac, and the larger the operation, the more likely they are to have a dedicated Linux box.

It's no issue as far as running Caldera goes though, it runs identically on both of them.

I am a Caldera dealer, btw, as I may have mentioned on some other forum. Feel free to drop me a line.

 

[MitchtheMitch]

I hate Mac products, but I'm running caldera on a mac mini without any problems. Even for large files.

Thanks bidben

Do you mind sharing the specs of the Mac mini?

 

[Ditchmiester]

We Switched to caldera over a year ago and we are running it on the cheapest Mac Mini they make. you can get refurbished ones from apple for 419 most of the time. Its an i5 with 4gb of ram and ours hardly ever bogs down the rip times if it is a HUGE file will be kind of slow sometimes but it works.

 

[MitchtheMitch]

Mitch,

It's about 50/50, probably. And it pretty much works out that the smaller the operation, the more likely they are to be running on a Mac, and the larger the operation, the more likely they are to have a dedicated Linux box.

It's no issue as far as running Caldera goes though, it runs identically on both of them.

I am a Caldera dealer, btw, as I may have mentioned on some other forum. Feel free to drop me a line.

Hi Mike,

Yes, we've communicated on PrintPlanet several times. I appreciate all your feedback. I also think you're correct about the size of the shop. We are a relatively small shop getting started in wide format. I would love to be able to build a linux box and have it run the server instead of throwing out $1,000+ on a Mac mini but I am just not experienced enough in building PCs from the ground up. I am doing some heavy research into it now to see if I can get started

Thanks again Mike

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Hi Mike,

Yes, we've communicated on PrintPlanet several times. I appreciate all your feedback. I also think you're correct about the size of the shop. We are a relatively small shop getting started in wide format. I would love to be able to build a linux box and have it run the server instead of throwing out $1,000+ on a Mac mini but I am just not experienced enough in building PCs from the ground up. I am doing some heavy research into it now to see if I can get started

Thanks again Mike

It's not as bad as you would think. My shop uses Linux on all of our computers and run VMs of Windows. Our 2 servers are Linux based.

It's not like it was when Linux was first getting out there. They have made it easier for the non-techies as well (which is good and bad).

It is different though compared to running a PC with either Mac or Windows OS, but I prefer Linux over to other 2. Only real reason that I keep Windows around is that I have software that doesn't work natively within Linux and the Linux alternatives are laughable at best at this stage.

If the program is ported to Linux, no worries, just make sure to get an LTS version of Linux.

 

[nate]

Linux works great. Calder a is brilliant. You won't be disappointed.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Mac / X11 had support whereas Linux was an old customized district with little to no support. Not sure if this has changed lately. If not, Mac is the way to go with Caldera.

Depending on what version of Linux, you can get official support from the sponsors of a distro.

Contrary to popular opinion, open source doesn't mean free as in cost in of itself, just free to manipulate source code if you want.

If you get say Ubuntu, you can get paid for official support from Canonical. If you want to get RHEL, you actually have to pay for a service contract to install the OS. Unless you want to compile the source code of the OS yourself and install everything manually (a la Arch Linux). Or you can get Cent OS with the RH branding stripped from it and different repositories for software/updates etc.

Suse Enterprise is also more or less like RHEL. OpenSuse being the free base that you can use alternatively.

 

[Correct Color]

Caldera actually runs on their own somewhat modified version of Debian. It's available for download from their extranet, and ships with Caldera as well.

 

[bigben]

Thanks bidben

Do you mind sharing the specs of the Mac mini?

Just a i5 with 4gb of ram. Take whatever the cheapest version available.

 

[Correct Color]

Mitch,

I can actually sell you a Mac Mini pre-loaded with Caldera by Caldera if you'd like. Price for the computer is $1060.00, plus whatever version of Caldera you have put on it, of course.