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Imagine a Beowulf Cluster of Penguin Computers

Posted by michael on from the all-jokes-aside dept.

Pii writes "News.com is running a story about Penguin Computing acquiring Scyld Computing, a company founded by Donald Becker, of linux ethernet driver and Beowulf cluster fame. Becker will stay on as Penguin's Chief Technology Officer, and the companies claim they don't expect any layoffs as a result of the merger."

12 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. Anyone actually use a beowolf cluster? by dspyder · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Just curious (in a serious way), is anybody actually using a beowolf cluster for anything important? Anything that couldn't be done with a super-powerful single machine?

    --D

    1. Re:Anyone actually use a beowolf cluster? by gnuadam · · Score: 4, Interesting

      To ask that question is to miss the beauty that is beowolf.

      Few things (anything?) that can be done on a beowolf can't be done on a single multiprocessor machine. But if your problem is well suited to a beowolf approach, it's often much cheaper.

      --
      You say :wq, I say ZZ. Why can't we all just get along?
    2. Re:Anyone actually use a beowolf cluster? by jat850 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yes, a local Canadian university is using a Beowulf server in their new bioinformatics research program:

      Here it is, and if you browse around the page, you can see a few details on it.

      --
      the blood has stopped pumping, and he's left to decay
      the me that you know is now made up of wires
    3. Re:Anyone actually use a beowolf cluster? by jstott · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Just curious (in a serious way), is anybody actually using a beowolf cluster for anything important? Anything that couldn't be done with a super-powerful single machine?

      Yes. I do Monte Carlo simulations of photon transport. Because Monte Carlo simulations are naturally parallel, running on 12 computers (1GHz CPU each) means I finish in 1/12th the time. Simulations like these (where each CPU runs independant of all its neighbors) are pretty much a textbook problem for Beowulf clusters.

      -JS

      --
      Vanity of vanities, all is vanity...
  2. Becker rules by Giant+Ape+Skeleton · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I remember one of my earliest Linux experiences involved trying to get a gateway PC with one of those weird generic 3Cxxx based integrated NICs working with Debian (my first distro).

    I posted newbieshly to a Debian NG and amidst the flames and RTFM's, Donald Becker actually took the time to provide me with the solution.

    This experience encouraged me to continue learning Linux networking, and the rest is (obscure) history.... :-)

    --
    The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
    1. Re:Becker rules by Etyenne · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yep, I second that. Don Becker is one of the most accessible kernel hacker I know of. A colleague here exchanged a few email with him concerning a misbehaving NIC (D-Link DFE-530TX rev A3-1) and he was really helpful. Considering this man earn a living consulting, I think the free help with troubleshooting from his part was very generous. He really have the quality of his driver at heart.

      --
      :wq
  3. Yep... by Ron+Harwood · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Here's one at my workplace...

    What takes hours on this system could take weeks on a "super-powerful single machine".

    --
    BlackNova Traders
  4. Execellent by nomadlogic · · Score: 3, Interesting

    well this is great news. i work for a visual fx company and we pretty much use Penguin gear for our render farms and IT infrastructure. These guys have great gear and great prices...so this sounds great.

    I thought Scyld was based in Anapolis Md. will they be moving out to Cali?

    --
    God is real, unless declared integer.
  5. Re:Yes. by mhore · · Score: 3, Interesting
    So Linux is definitely a big help in scientific research, with or without Beowulf clusters.

    Yes, Linux is a huge help -- one reason that it is (and not the primary reason) is that it is free (or at least low cost). With the budget cuts that the state of TN (and I gather many others) have been facing, Linux is even more useful as we can get new nodes/whatever for our research while keeping costs low (as opposed to using an OS like Solaris which costs $$$). We can grab a bunch of parts off of the shelf and build a node for a few hundred dollars... instead of paying $2,000 for a high performance UNIX/Linux/whatever workstation.

    --

    Mmmm......sacrelicious.

  6. Re:Good. by Pii · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I've never had any personal interaction with Mr. Becker, so I can't really comment on his attitude, but I have been running various flavors of Linux for the past 8 years, all of which have had Ethernet cards of one sort or another.

    Far more often than not, they've performed flawlessly, and I have Don Becker to thank for it. If you use Ethernet on Linux, you're either using a driver developed by Mr. Becker almost entirely on his own, or you're using a driver kludged together by someone else that is almost entirely derived from Mr. Becker's code.

    I didn't even realize he had any affiliation with the Beowulf project until I read this story... I'd only known of Becker as Mr. Ethernet on Linux.

    --
    For those that would die defending it, Freedom
    has a sweet taste that the protected will never know.
  7. Name for a Beowulf cluster of penguin computers? by phorm · · Score: 2, Interesting

    And this is our supercomputing center.... also known as "the flock?"

    I wonder what they'd call something like this. What do you call a linked group of processing computers? Maybe it depends on purpose - like "the armada" for military Beowulfs, or perhaps the "inquisition" for the RIAA

  8. Re:Yes. by rodgerd · · Score: 2, Interesting

    No. Solaris is only free on bitty boxes - single and dual CPU systems. Solaris costs a metric buttload on boxes that are capable of large SMP - so something like a cheap E4500 you pick up at a dot-bomb auction may require thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in licensing.

    Solaris used to be pretty much free; Sun have been incrementally ratcheting down the threshold for charging in the last few years.