Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Science Grid Genesis

Posted by michael on from the birth-of-skynet dept.

Cranial Dome writes "According to this Cnet.com story, the Department of Energy (DOE) is working to interconnect the first two computers which will form the genesis of the DOE Science Grid, a virtual supercomputing system which will eventually encompass many more systems at several locations. The larger of the two machines: DOE National Energy Research Science Center's (NERSC) IBM SP RS/6000, a distributed memory machine with 2,944 compute processors. This machine, together with a smaller 160 processor Intel system, will make up a combined 3,328 processor Unix system with 1.3 petabytes(!) of storage space. And this is only the beginning..."

8 of 166 comments (clear)

  1. 1.3 petabytes? by alen · · Score: 3, Funny

    I guess it's going to be enough space for a full install of the latest Red Hat distro.

    1. Re:1.3 petabytes? by compwiz3688 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Alright!! I can finally download the whole Internet and browse offline! :)

      Ok, I don't know the size of the Internet. I'm just guessing...

  2. 5 years from now by ch-chuck · · Score: 3, Funny

    AOL/TW starts mailing out free sign up DVD's to access their portal to the Science Grid. Within days messages start appearing in highly technical discussion forums that simply state "Me Too!".

    --
    try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
    1. Re:5 years from now by Cutriss · · Score: 3, Funny

      That's right - The Department of Energy in 2008 will post a new RFC, and within seconds, it's already got five comments, each saying "Frist Psot!"...

      --
      "Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
  3. CYIaBCoX... SUYA?!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Can you imagine a Beowulf cluster of DOE Science Grids SHOVED&nbsp UP&nbsp YOUR&nbsp ASS?!!!!


    (I think Stanislaw Lem wrote about that, IIRC, the story was "The First Sally, or The Trap of Gargantius".)

  4. SETI by Yoda2 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I wonder if they'll run the SETI client on it during non-peak times. We could find nothing that much faster!

  5. yeah but... by Misfit · · Score: 1, Funny

    what kind of Graphics Card does it have?

    Fat lot of good all that super computing is going to do you if your frame rate sucks. You'll be fragged in minutes.

    Misfit

  6. Re:Could you imagine....no, seriously by daniel_isaacs · · Score: 3, Funny

    There is also a point after which keeping an old SGI isn't worth the cost of space, power and upkeep.

    And that point comes precisely 4 days 7 hours and 29 minutes after unpacking and turning it on.

    --
    - Dan I.