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Inside The World's Most Advanced Computer

Posted by timothy on from the preview-of-2026-ipaq dept.

Junky191 writes: "Just came across an informational page for the Earth Simulator computer, which provides nice graphics of the layout of the machine and its support structure, as well as details about exactly what types of problems it solves. Fascinating for the engineering problems tackled- how would you organize a 5,120 processor system capable of 40Tflops, and of course don't forget about the 10TB of shared memory." Take note -- donour writes: "well, the new list of supercomputer rankings is up today. I have to say that the Earth Simulator is quite impressive, from both a performance and architectural standpoint."

12 of 270 comments (clear)

  1. Earth Simulator? by Artifice_Eternity · · Score: 5, Funny

    Didn't the mice in H2G2 already build such a computer? I think it was called... the Earth.

    Will the Earth Simulator have the nice fjords by Slartibartfast? :)

  2. I'd like to learn how to code for this beast by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    So that in 15 years I'll already know how to code for the PlayStation 6.

  3. Hmmm.. by Peridriga · · Score: 4, Funny

    Could you imagine a beouwolf..... Ahh fuck it..

  4. the real question is... by doooras · · Score: 4, Funny

    how many FPS does this bitch get in Quake III?

    1. Re:the real question is... by Lars+T. · · Score: 5, Funny

      Does it have a floppy drive?

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

  5. Re:OS'es for the supercomputers... by binaryDigit · · Score: 3, Funny

    The IBM units run AIX, the DEC^H^H^HCompaq^H^H^H^H^H^HHP systems run Tru64 Unix, which I believe is derived (or simply renamed) Ultrix. Don't know what ES runs though, maybe extended mode DOS 6.2?

  6. Earthquakes shmirthquakes. by ErikTheRed · · Score: 5, Funny

    They don't want to admit it, but the real reason for building this thing is so that they can predict appearances of Godzilla....

    --

    Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana
  7. Can you imagine... by bakes · · Score: 5, Funny

    ..a single-cpu one of these!!!

    --
    Ho! Haha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust!
  8. "I predict by zephc · · Score: 3, Funny

    that within 100 years computers will be twice as powerful, 10,000 times larger, and so expensive that only the five richest kings of Europe will own them." - Prof. Frink

    --
    "I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
  9. Re:Unfortunately... by Ralph+Bearpark · · Score: 3, Funny
    The Earth simulator will be destroyed to make way for a hyperspacial bypass...

    Well, it would be kinda ironic if it got knocked out by an earthquake. Especially if it didn't predict it.

    Regards, Ralph.

  10. stupid reference right below this.... by DanThe1Man · · Score: 3, Funny

    The Earth Simulator Project will create a "virtual earth" on a supercomputer...

    Hmmm, now where have I heard of an idea like that?

  11. What they are really trying to do... by FearUncertaintyDoubt · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...is build a computer capable of withstanding a full slashdotting.