Linux Desktop Clustering - Pick Your Pricerange

crashlight writes: "A Linux cluster on the desktop--Rocket Calc just announced their 8-processor "personal" cluster in a mid-tower-sized box. Starting at $4500, you get 8 Celeron 800MHz processors, each with 256MB RAM and a 100Mbps ethernet connection. The box also has an integrated 100Mbps switch. Plus it's sexy." Perhaps less sexy, but for a lot less money, you can also run a cluster of Linux (virtual) machines on your desktop on middle-of-the-road hardware. See this followup on Grant Gross's recent piece on Virtual Machines over at Newsforge.

Comments

Terrasoft, briQs, PPC, 4-8 nodes...

[tcyun]

I saw a quick demo of a multi-noded briQ (by Terrasoft Solutions) at SC2001 a few months ago and was very impressed. The ability to leverage the power of the PPC in vast numbers (and in a very small form factor) was incredible. I wonder how these would do in a head to head competition?

They offer a 4-8 node tower running 500 MHz G3 or G4 CPUs and drawing "roughly 240 watts per 8 nodes (less than a dual-processor Pentium-based system)." Quite impressive.

Clustering under VM is....pretty dumb

[CDWert]

Clustering under vserver scheme is pretty dumb, if it was in fact meant to be serious.

vservers assume that a machine has resources avaiable and that no one instance is consuming 100% of the systems resources. Application built for utilization under a cluster would most likey CONSUME 100% quickly and easily, otherwise why run them under a cluster in the first place ????

I do like their monitor applet, its pretty coll for basic cluster managment/monitoring.

At the same time all you people complaining about price...lets see

800mhz cele w256 meg each MB, NIC and whatever storage, lets say on the cheap $300 each

4 350 Watt PS $100

Ok a really cool case and PS

Time to load software, lets say weve done it before and it take 8 hours

Physical Assembly and testing 5 hours

My bill rate and personal time is worth 120/hr
$1560
Hardware $2400
Power Supply $ 100
Mildy cool case$ 100

THAT COMES TO 4160, Hell, add to that I dont have to build the SOB AND it comes under warranty , you betch you A** Id buy one of these

PLEASE think before you gripe about prices...
Looks like a deal to me ....

PS, Kernel version is 2.4.12 from what I saw on their link to products showing a screen shot Ayeee.....

site slashdotted, here's google cache

[eufaula]

here is the google cache since the site seems to be slashdotted....

http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:q2egeLKmoVQC: www.rocketcalc.com/+rocketcalc&hl=en

Re:only 100mbps?

[Lumpy]

Yes start here

http://linux-ha.org/comm/

this is used in the linux HA system extensively. Xenix and Unix has it also.. No version of NT has this ability nor any Microsoft product. Maybe someone has written a driver for NT4.0 but I doubt it.