I've been disappointed in linux filesystems and Intel hardware lately. Little integrity checking in ext4 and btrfs is still having growing pains. Recent search for a svelte laptop with ECC memory yielded nothing. Sheesh, wasn't this stuff invented like 30+ years ago?
I understand Intel is segmenting reliability into higher-priced business gear, but as a developer that depends on this stuff for their livelihood the current status quo is not acceptable.
Linux should have better options since profit margins are not an impediment.
I have to agree, segmenting on ECC feels really outmoded these days. With Intel you basically need a Xeon even before you can start thinking about ECC, and that does limit your options somewhat. Luckily at least these days Intel is making mobile Xeons, so you can get ECC laptops from most major manufacturers (I checked Dell, HP and Fujitsu, and according to sibling comment Lenovo too).
Hasn't all "big" AMD CPUs supported ECC to some degree as long as the memory controller has been on the CPU? The real problem on that side has been motherboard support which has been afaik pretty much nonexistent.
All of the FX series CPUs supported ECC memory (albeit the unbuffered kind). As you said, finding a compatible motherboard was a pain. All the ones I found used the massively power hungry 990FX-A chipset. But I did get one, and my home NAS uses an FX-8350. Kind of scary getting an automated email every week or so about a bit flip that would have otherwise been silent corruption on my home desktop.
The CPU supports it but I still don't see the option to actually configure it with ECC memory (which has been keeping me from buying one for quite a while now).
Yep, I think I'm using memory that is not commercially available although I didn't know it before.
I can't find them online.
For reference they're Samsung branded, I can take a photo if you like; you can see the "width" of the channel in linux which tells you if you're using ECC or not.
Search for ECC on that page. Some of them do. It is possible that their SKUs change with time. Currently, 3520, 7510 and 7710 show ECC support. Dell's site is quite terrible for navigation. You may have to spend some time to find the right model.
The point was to have the compact XPS-like casing. All those other ones are bulky. So I'd have to go with replacing the RAM myself... I really don't get why this configuration option is missing here.
I understand Intel is segmenting reliability into higher-priced business gear, but as a developer that depends on this stuff for their livelihood the current status quo is not acceptable.
Linux should have better options since profit margins are not an impediment.