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Truly Off-The -Shelf PCs Make A Top-500 Cluster
SLiDERPiMP writes: "Yahoo! News is reporting that HP created an 'off-the-shelf' supercomputer, using 256 e-pc's (blech!). What they ended up with is the 'I-Cluster,' a Mandrake Linux-powered [Mandrake, baby ;) ] cluster of 225 PCs that has benchmarked its way into the list of the top 500 most powerful computers in the world. Go over there to check out the full article. It's a good read. Should I worry that practically anyone can now build a supercomputer? Speaking of which, anyone wanna loan me $210,000?" Clusters may be old hat nowadays, but the interesting thing about this one is the degreee of customization that HP and France's National Institute for Research in Computer Science did to each machine to make this cluster -- namely, none.
Louis Armstrong, trumpet player and Jazz pioneer, died yesterday morning in his Los Angeles home. He was 71. Armstrong's last performance was at James Madison University's Convocation Center on March 24, 2001, where he played to a standing room only 5,000. Armstrong was helped off the stage by his wife of 20 years, and he later told a reporter for the campus newspaper "I don't know how much longer I can do this. This may be one of my last shows." His final song was his biggest hit, Hello Dolly! He is survived by his wife, 3 children and 6 grandchildren.
Damn them geeks are cute. Jeff Gardiner, marry me! Um, nevermind.
---- The one good thing about music: When it hits you, you feel no pain.
Mod this down please...
/.ers will be able to assist in building the machines nessecary to save lives.
How do "Clusters" help the 6000+ people that died as a result of being burnt to death, ripped to shreds, smashed, blown to bits, jumping from 80 stories to their death to avoid being burnt alive or being pinned between thousands of tons of steel and concrete for a week?
And how does repeatedly mentioning this tradegy help them. There comes a time when we need to move on. Nothing will help those poor people, so me might as well talk about clusters and thank God we weren't there.
Unless you are going to discuss something worthwhile to humanity, such as ridding the world of disease, then shut the fuck up and stop discussing this useless shit, please.
Ahem, actually clusters can be used for genetic research will will help rid the world of disease. It's quite likely that some
What have you done to save lives today?
You should all be glad that you are alive and well and able to masturbate as frequently as you like while looking at goatse.cx, and not stuck under 100 stories of a collapsed building with your penis sliced off from shrapnel.
Most people on this site are disgusted by goatse.cx. I guess you aren't. Nevermind.
By the way, we all know that Linux is a fucking piece of shit operating system thats only used by so-called "elitists" because it looks "complex" and childish technical messages scroll accross the screen when something goes wrong. The fact is, they should be running the superior operating system, Windows, on this cluster. It could be much more efficient.
It's below my level to respond to this junk. Linux is not "complex". It's beauty is it's simplicity. It's not childish-- quite the contrary. It doesn't try to hide everything from the user, treating him like an idiot, but rather lets the user decide what she wants.
I guess you are not smart enough to realise that. Good for you. Have fun with your overpriced buggy OS with great marketing.
Make even shorter URLs - 8LN.org
-1 : Off Topic
:-)
:-)
I'm sitting at work with no one here. A full T-1 and a Mandrake box under my desk (not to mention the 4 or 5 other *NIX boxes around me). I'm typing this because people like to flame those who are drinking.
I'm drinking Gin&Tonics. I grabbed a Lime and Tonic water at the local convience store (WaWa, for you folks on the East-Coast). I stopped by the Liquer store after that for a small bottle (plastic) of Gorden's Gin. Then I came in here to work. Nope nothing's wrong here, just a fast pipe.
I keep a knife at my desk now. I use it to cut the lime.
I'm drinking. Screw karma. I finally got above 5, and now I realize I don't care...
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Oh, and to keep this somewhat on topic, this is being typed on a Mandrake box...
I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man,
I'm just a mortal with potential of a super man.
My foray into the world of Linux began by downloading a "CD image" from the Linux web site. But don't worry, this isn't software piracy, it's perfectly legal! Linux is shareware, meaning that it can be freely redistributed without fear of a visit by the Business Software Alliance. The free availability of Linux is a major reason for its popularity among cash-strapped students and self-styled anti-capitalist hackers.
Before installing new software, it is always advisable to read the documentation. Unfortunately, an unpleasant surprise was in store for me in the "required configuration" section of the manual. I was shocked to learn that Linux Mandrake only runs on Pentium processors, meaning that my hopes of testing the water with my old Gateway 486 were dashed. Furthermore, a whopping 32 megabytes of memory are required to run Linux! Although the advocates of Linux self-righteously boast the efficiency of their chosen operating system and deride the "bloatware" produced by Microsoft, it appears that their claims are blatantly incorrect. Although my humble 486 will happily run Windows 95, it seems that Linux requires far more powerful, and more expensive, computer hardware. Is this really the sign of a lean, mean operating system? Of course not.
Sadly, not even being able to install Linux is just the first of my many complaints. A brief perusal of the features of Linux Mandrake reveals that Linux is sorely lacking many crucial productivity applications. For example, why isn't the industry standard web browser, Internet Explorer, included with Linux? Despite the best efforts of the experts at the Internet Engineering Task Force to encourage adoption of the Internet Explorer standard, the creators of Linux seem to think that they know better. By refusing to adhere to recognised standards, Linux is simply undermining its own credibility.
Similarly, almost all of the world's most popular and widely used software is completely incompatible with Linux! It may surprise you to learn that your copy of Microsoft Office, Outlook Express, or Lotus Notes will not work under Linux. Those who wish to use their computer for recreational purposes are also out of luck, for almost all of the most popular games are unavailable for Linux. Although a wide range of software is freely available for Linux, these pitiful offerings are mostly unfinished, unreliable and do not bear comparison to their commercial counterparts.
Computer security is also an area that seems to have been overlooked by the developers of Linux. In these times when hacking and viruses are commonplace, it defies belief to learn that no anti-virus software is available for Linux. To add insult to injury, there is no Linux version of the popular ZoneAlarm firewall. By using Linux, you are issuing an open invitation to the hordes of ne'er-do-wells on the Internet.
The shortcomings of Linux are obvious. Without even installing Linux Mandrake, I have exposed several fundamental flaws. Surely it is not too much to expect that, after ten years of development, the creators of Linux would have addressed these problems? The real question that the prospective Linux user must ask himself is, "Why bother?" After all, Microsoft Windows comes free with most PCs and there simply isn't a need to replace it, particularly not with a product of inferior quality.
Although it is always tempting to support the underdog, Windows XP will be the deserved victor in the battle ahead. I recommend that those Adequacy readers who are hoping to upgrade their operating system patiently wait for the release of Windows XP, rather than foolishly wasting their time, effort and money on Linux.