Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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."

4 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. A comment about Pink by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Pink is a dirty, slutty, nasty, filthy monkey faced tiny titty whore who should die of every sexually transmitted disease in the world at the same time that fucking snatch.

  2. Excellent News by UltraBot2K1 · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    We're going to need all the computer power we can muster if we are to avert this coming catastrophe. I wonder how supercomputers can be brought to bear on this problem? Los Alamos should have no problem quickly retooling from investigating outdated nuclear weapons to investigating the fusion process of the sun.


    The Sun Will Explode In Less Than Six Years!
    Wednesday September 18, 2002

    By GEORGE SANFORD

    The Sun is overheating and will soon blow up . . . taking Earth and the rest of the solar system with it, scientists warn.

    The alert was issued after an international satellite photographed a massive explosion on the surface of the Sun that sent a plume of fire 30 times longer than the diameter of Earth blasting into space.

    "It's a sign that the Sun is ready to blow . . . I don't know if I can put it any more plainly than that," says Dutch astrophysicist Dr. Piers Van der Meer, a top expert affiliated with the European Space Agency.

    "It will be like a nuclear bomb trillions of times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima going off at the center of our solar system.

    "When that happens Earth will be instantly incinerated along with all life on it. It's like when a marshmallow falls into a fire, blackens and melts."

    Scientists say the problem is the Sun is literally getting too hot.

    The core temperature of the Sun is normally 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. But in recent years it's climbed to an alarming 49 million degrees, says Dr. Van der Meer, leader of a team of Amsterdam-based space scientists who've been tracking the changes in the Sun.

    "It's quite similar to when a star goes supernova at the end of its life," Dr. Van der Meer explains. "Over the past 11 years, we've seen our Sun go through changes frighteningly like those that took place in Kepler's Star right before it was observed going supernova in 1604."

    Temperatures on the surface of the Sun have been steadily climbing over the past decade, the scientists say.

    "This, we believe, not man-made pollution, is responsible for global warming and the alarming effects that we've seen take place on Earth such as the melt-down of the Antarctic ice shelves," asserted Dr. Van der Meer.

    The July 1 images were taken by the space-based Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a satellite designed to study the internal structure of the Sun and operated jointly by NASA and the European Space Agency.

    "The explosion . . . known technically as an eruptive prominence . . . was colossal," said Dr. Van der Meer. "This is the final warning sign we've all been dreading."

    The Dutch scientists calculate that if temperatures keep climbing at the current rate the Sun will be unable to sustain itself.

    "It will blow apart like an out-of-control nuclear reactor within six years," predicts Dr. Van der Meer.

    NASA refuses to confirm the Euro-pean scientists' assertions and a White House source said, "We don't need anyone spreading more panic now."

    --

    Slashdot: Open Source, Closed Minds.

  3. The Dark Side by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    RH 8.0 makes me sad. I have given up on Linux for the desktop and have just installed Win2K. Debian is the only Linux I like and it just cannot not move quickly enough for me, and RH 8.0 is a flaky mess. This is indeed a sad day as I am staying with Win2K for productivity use until the day I can afford a Mac, which is probably never the way things are going. I blame you RH, for delivering eye candy with no substance and a seriously fucked up OS for the tweakers out there like me.

  4. yeah right by NOiSEA · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    dude thats the dumbest thing ive ever hear even if the LANL was getting a 2083 processor the BA has way to much strain that was put on it inadvertently through the software nodes this will create a backlash the likes of which you have never seen on network TV. I should know. I was a child star, when i was younger and trhe cash was great. I wouldn't change it for the world anyhoo in closing i would like to say that i agree