Gateway ALR 9000
A Gateway? Huh?
We've seen the rise and fall of Gateway over the last few years. I find it sad that the
little company Ted Waitt founded in Iowa with a $10000 loan secured by his grandmother,
has declined so.
Back in Gateway's heyday, they were looking to get into the high-end server market
and bought the server business from American Logic Research.
At that time, ALR was making a behemoth, six processor Pentium Pro machine, the ALR 9000.
The Gateway NS/9000 is essentially a rebranded ALR 9000.
ALR had devised a creative method to use 6 Pro processors where all other companies
were only using 4. That gave them an edge in selling to the defense industry.
This is an example of a six processor machine. When I bought it at a local computer shop, it had two 200MHz, 512k cache, SL22Z processors.
After doing a little research, I upgraded it to six processors.
The two entry-level CPU daughter boards were swapped out for a pair that would handle the exotic, 200MHz, 1M cache,
SL259/SL25A CPUs, three per board.
Probably the hardest components to find were the voltage regulator modules (VRMs). Close substitutes were
only suitable for the SL22Z processors. The SL259/SL25A processors, with their higher current draw, required the
exact VRMs for stable operation.
I also found a complete set of original, six dual fan heatsink units to keep it authentic. Of special note are
the red molex connectors. Before finding a set of original heatsinks, I had located the PC Power and Cooling "dual cool"
heatsinks and suitable fans and ordered connectors. Although I ordered red ones, white ones arrived. Thinking that
the supplier has simply shipped the wrong part number, I enquired, only to learn that red was no longer available
as it was derived from a lead-based pigment.
These connectors are essentially "unobtainium".
The ALR's case has bays for up to four of these 358W power supplies.
The ALR is quite a number cruncher and with six processors, can run six Seti instances at once. That's what I call the "space heater mode".
