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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."

23 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. Beowulf cluster by MoonFog · · Score: 4, Funny

    The topic alone makes the next 100 posts redundant..

    1. Re:Beowulf cluster by travdaddy · · Score: 5, Funny

      The topic alone makes the next 100 posts redundant..

      I'm just glad the cluster isn't in Soviet Russia.

      --
      Adidas To Bring Back Sneakernet
    2. Re:Beowulf cluster by Pii · · Score: 5, Funny
      Goddamn...

      I was so excited to be submitting a story involving a Beowulf cluster, that I didn't think the concluding statement through...

      It should have read:

      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. A naked and petrified Natalie Portman was otherwise occupied, and couldn't be reached for comment. Hot Grits, Hot Grits, Hot Grits!"
      A pox on me for not having had the discipline to execute this story correctly.
      --
      For those that would die defending it, Freedom
      has a sweet taste that the protected will never know.
    3. Re:Beowulf cluster by Fluid+Truth · · Score: 4, Funny

      But...but...what about the obligitory

      "Can you imagine just ONE of these?!?"

      --
      Apparently, of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.
  2. 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 iwnbs · · Score: 5, Funny

      I used one to try to install Gentoo in under week.

      --
      Computer Geek Proverb: Linux is only free if your time is worthless.
    2. 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?
    3. Re:Anyone actually use a beowolf cluster? by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 4, Funny

      I do, but my coworkers don't know it yet. They still wonder what that Mosix tarball does in their home directories ...

      --
      "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  3. 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
  4. Imagine by stinky+wizzleteats · · Score: 4, Funny

    A Beowulf cluster of resurgent troll jokes.

  5. Imagine! by SPiKe · · Score: 4, Funny

    A Beowulf Cluster of Beowulf Clustering Companies ... shenanigans.

  6. 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
  7. Oh yeah? Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Imagine a Penguin cluster of a Beowulf Penguin cluster of clusters of Penguins and Beowulfs surrounded by clusters of Beowins and Pengowulfs which are then clustered together into a nice, neat, little cluster.

    Betcha can't imagine that. So there!

  8. how by Ryan+Stortz · · Score: 4, Funny

    How do you rate the article as troll?

    --
    Bugs are just features that have been fixed.
  9. Clusters, a ridiculous liberal myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Have you ever heard clusters mentioned in literature prior to 1960? No? That's because liberal scientists invented the concept of Beowulf Clusters to push their hippie Communist principles through false benchmark numbers telling us the pervasive lie that sharing resources evenly is the most efficient method. Don't buy it.

  10. I f*king LOVE Penguin Computing!! by smitty45 · · Score: 5, Informative

    those guys are great, and congrats to them. I have fond memories of walking down to their office on Mission St, and carrying one of their new 2U boxes down to where I worked. When we opened the box, not only did we find a machine that is still running right now (over 2 years) but a couple of cool tshirts.

  11. Won't stay up by red_dragon · · Score: 4, Funny

    Everyone knows that you can't keep a Beowulf cluster of penguins up for too long; the nodes will all go down as soon as a plane flies over them and trash your uptime.

    Whoops.

    --
    In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
  12. Yes. by mhore · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We have 2 that we use for simulations in the Physics department. Well, i say 2...the 2nd one hasn't actually been assembled yet.

    The reason we use the beowulfs is because the problems are such that they're easy to break up into chunks. Consider the "system" (in our case) to be a cube with stuff inside that we want to process. We can break the cube up into smaller cubes and process those chunks, and then reassemble (must like is done with folding@home, seti@home, and the like).

    The difference? Well, instead of a program taking a day to run, it will take a few hours. Instead of taking a week, it may take a day.

    Sometimes a problem doesn't require a Beowulf. If you require several simulations, and the total CPU time amounts to 1 month...then you'd do just as well running the simulations on nodes and just waiting a month. If you REALLY want to know what's happening with a certain set of conditions, it's often times very useful to use the cluster to find out in a matter of hours.

    Mike.

    --

    Mmmm......sacrelicious.

  13. It's always the cheapskates who complain. by hndrcks · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ahh... cheap shit Tulip cards and RealTek 8139s... now those are the kinds of quality hardware you can depend on! And you wonder why you have networking problems.

    Becker has spent a LOT of his time adding Linux support for poorly documented, mis-configured, total crap hardware - and you cheap assholes complain. You should read the kernel newsgroup archives - some developers suggested a few years back that they dump RTL81XX entirely because the firmware sucked so bad. You whiners should be thanking Scyld for their work.

    Or maybe buy a decent NIC instead.

    --
    Everyone will start to cheer when you put on your sailin' shoes.
    1. Re:It's always the cheapskates who complain. by deadsaijinx* · · Score: 4, Informative

      Hey, Tulip cards and RealTek 81xxs are exactly what I'm running, and I've had no problems with my network, not even under linux. Scyld has done an excellent job implimenting them, and the hardware isn't total crap. It functions perfectly if you know what the hell you are doing with them.

      --
      YOU SUCK BALLS!
    2. Re:It's always the cheapskates who complain. by molarmass192 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Having spent some time working on a Linux hardware driver for an undocumented PCI card, I think most people have no clue at the amount of work involved. Deciphering bus calls when there's little to no documentation to hint as to what the calls are for is like building a puzzle without the final image to look at. Getting a piece is easy, but figuring out where it fits relative to other pieces is one mean task. Anybody who has the audacity to just sit back and complain without either filing bugs or submitting patches should just migrate back to Windows, their whining certainly will not be missed. Also, good point about cheap-shit hardware, you're not going to end up with a Ferrari if all you have is parts for a tricycle.

      --

      Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws-Plato
  14. Re:Oh yeah? Well... by damien_kane · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've got 3
    All made entirely out of hot grits
    All installed by Natalie Portman, who I stripped and petrified afterwards.

    Oh ya, they're all in here, too.