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Boot a CD and Make Your X-Box Join the Cluster

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the cheap-distributed-computing dept.

jaromil writes "Last week at the Linux Expo UK in London the dyne:bolic distribution was shown to boot on a XBOX console automatically joining a cluster of other PCs on the fly, there is also an article on ZDNet UK covering the story." The article also discusses some of the issues with getting unsigned code to run on the X-Box.

2 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. In all fairness by Cooper_007 · · Score: 2, Insightful
    They didn't exactly plug in a CD and the thing suddenly became the new home of our trusty penguin. They either "chipped" (modded for us old people) the thing first, or exploited a bug in one of the games to get the install going.

    Now, unless I'm mistaken, this has been possible for quite some time now. The only new part is that they're using it for a cluster, and commercial companies are considering doing the same. Of course, the article points out that this too has already been done with Sony PS2s.

    The only 'news' here is that they're using an X-Box for the cluster.
    In short, move along. Nothing to see here.

    Cooper
    --
    Television is reality, and reality is less than television -- Videodrome

  2. Re:Comparions... by hattig · · Score: 3, Insightful

    VT:

    1100 x ~300W = 330kW
    1 year running 24/7 at 5c/unit: $141,000

    XBox: 52000 x ~100W = 5200kW
    1 year running 24/7 at 5c/unit: $2,300,000