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LinuxBIOS, BProc-Based Supercomputer For LANL

Posted by timothy on from the yeah-but-what-about-the-neon-lights dept.

An anonymous reader writes "LANL will be receiving a 1024 node (2048 processor) LinuxBIOS/BProc based supercomputer late this year. The story is at this location. This system is unique in Linux cluster terms due to no disks on compute nodes, using LinuxBIOS and Beoboot to accomplish booting, and BProc for job startup and management. It is officially known as the Science Appliance, but is affectionately known as Pink to the team that is building much of it."

12 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. Not a Beowulf cluster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    But if you'd replace the expensive high-performance interconnect with a cheap ethernet, then it would be a Beowulf cluster.

  2. Re:Wow... by billd · · Score: 2, Funny
    I could serve up a shitload of porn with this

    Think so? Wouldn't a system with disks be more suitable for that?

    --

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    For great justice!

  3. Re:Obligatory Beowulf Post by oz_ko · · Score: 2, Funny
    Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these
    In the interests of preseving diskspace i propose making IABCOT a standard slashdot acronym
  4. Lots of chip programming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I don't envy the developers... After every revision of LinuxBIOS, they get to reflash 1024 motherboards, which could take a while...

  5. Re:Wow... by jpaz · · Score: 2, Funny
    I could serve up a shitload of porn with this

    How many standard Libraries of Congress is a shitload?

  6. Re:Wow... by binaryDigit · · Score: 5, Funny

    Think so? Wouldn't a system with disks be more suitable for that

    Nah, just one honkin RAMDisk. Could serve up mucho porn/warez, when the feds come knockin, just pull the plug, presto, no evidence :)

  7. Don't do it! by FyRE666 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I will personally track down and slaughter the first person to mention a popular clustering architecture, and how one might imagine it...

    --
    Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
    1. Re:Don't do it! by Elbereth · · Score: 3, Funny

      Imagine a Mosix cluster of them!

  8. Re:Uses by DasBub · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, Hollywood has used supercomputers and large clusters to do effects for movies like Star Wars: Episode II, Resident Evil, and the upcoming Terminator 4.

    So, no, there haven't been any good uses.

  9. Cluster details by MalleusEBHC · · Score: 4, Funny

    Cluster Overview:
    * 2050 Intel 2.4GHz Xeon processors

    Now when people complain about the United States government being responsible for global warming they will have some good hard facts to use.

  10. Re:Wow... by JesseL · · Score: 3, Funny

    Is that an imperial shitload or a metric shitload?

    --
    "Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!"
  11. Re:cannot use pink by Neon+Spiral+Injector · · Score: 3, Funny

    And what about the pop star who needs a belt for her pants (but I hope she doesn't get one)?