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A Cluster Of Pocket PCs

Posted by timothy on from the can-this-really-be-the-first dept.

Don Stratton writes "This is the coolest thing I have seen anyone do with a Pocket PC... ever! Well-known Pocket PC developers SPB Software House, located in Russia, have come up with a very interesting spin on computing clusters. The short version is they connected 12 Pocket PCs together in the first known 'supercomputer cluster' of its type and had it calculate the old '3n + 1' problem. It was just done for fun, and not intended to seriously compete with desktop computers, but it does point out some interesting possiblilities for the future of handhelds with wireless connectivity working in ad-hoc computing clusters."

16 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Happy, aren't you? by gooru · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is that a beowulf cluster in your pants, or are you happy to see me?

  2. omg by blake8087 · · Score: 5, Funny

    in soviet russia... i mean... imagine a beowulf... um... no comment

    --

    --Slashdot readers delight in generalizing the behavior of other Slashdot readers.
  3. Wow! by inteller · · Score: 4, Funny

    now I can open up my contacts with blazing speed!
    ...if I just didn't need a backpack to carry it all around with me.
    Chalk up another nerdgasm that got posted to /.

  4. Break out the mini racks by antimith · · Score: 5, Funny

    IBM is introducing their lates server line, the IBM ButterKnife series, featuring a fully hot swappable cluster of up to 200 MS Pocket PC's. On good days you'll get the output of a screaming 386!

    --
    "Oh... There it goes... my brain stopped" - Ed from Ed, Edd, and Eddy.
  5. Too obvious? by Burpmaster · · Score: 3, Funny

    In Soviet Russia, Pocket PCs imagine a beowulf cluster of YOU!

  6. they must read /. by PhiberOptix · · Score: 5, Funny

    building a cluster of pocket pcs is fun and all, but I bet that the most fun part of the project was posting about it here on /. just to see the flood of beowulf cluster in soviet russia jokes.

  7. Hmm.. by DarkBlackFox · · Score: 3, Funny

    Imagine the number of Beowulf comments this story draws.

  8. At last! by SoTuA · · Score: 1, Funny

    We can stop imagining a beowulf cluster of pocket PCs. It's here!

  9. Re:The "3n + 1" Problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I applaud your ability to cut and paste from the linked article.

    Well done! Well done!

    Especially as the site is not even feeling the /. effect.

  10. Something to think about by bigjnsa500 · · Score: 2, Funny
    Since GRID computer has really come alone these past years, this latest venture is just too cool. As a participant and user of the Grid, I can definitely see potential. Imagine plugging your Pocket PC into a Grid to check your jobs or participate. Now imagine millions of other people walking down the street or at a coffee shop, or car, etc.. participating in a big Grid.

    There is going to be a time where everything will be plugged into the Grid. Man, I can't wait!

    --
    This is a test. This is a test of the emergency sig system. This has been only a test.
  11. I'd like to get my hands out of my pants, but ... by burgburgburg · · Score: 4, Funny
    I'm manipulating my pocket cluster.

    Wait, put down the phone. Stop dialing 911. Wait, stop!

  12. a beowulf cluster of watches by Binky+the+Wonder+Slu · · Score: 2, Funny

    I fugure 24 of them should more or less keep track of most of the worlds time zones.

  13. Okay, I'll give it a shot too... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Ehem. ...can you imagine a beopuppy cluster of these things?

    Thank you.

  14. Next: Wireless wristwatches! by CrystalFalcon · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can't WAIT for the first 802.11g-enabled wristwatch, imagine being able to link up ad-hoc to a dozen other watches and be able to... ...uhm... ...to tell time twelve times as efficiently!

  15. Spontaneous supercomputer. by YouHaveSnail · · Score: 2, Funny

    For some geeky reason, the notion that you could spontaneously assemble a fairly powerful "machine" just by getting together with a bunch of suitably equipped friends really appeals to me.

    Mark my words: this meme will eventually find its way into a movie. A bunch of people will be trapped together. and the obvious geek will hook a bunch of their PDA's together in order to decode a message or open some sort of cypher lock which will disarm the deadly hazard and free the people with mere seconds to spare. And, of course, he'll get the girl.

  16. The end is near!! by gbulmash · · Score: 2, Funny
    What happens when enough of these pocket PC's network and an intelligence develops that determines humanity to be a threat to its existence?

    I envision nightmarish scenes out of "Small Soldiers"... lilliputian armies of talking Barbies, chasing people down and carving them up.

    I don't know about you, but the day my Palm Tungsten's calendar shows I've got a 4 p.m. meeting with Death, I'm a headin' for the hills.

    - Greg

    --
    Start a happiness pandemic