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NASA Installs Linux Supercomputer
unassimilatible writes: "Federal Computer Week reports that NASA plans to study the ocean's future with the help of the world's first supercomputer of its kind to run on the Linux operating system. The new supercomputer -- an SGI AltixT 3000 single-system image supercomputer -- has been installed at the space agency's Ames Research Center in California."
SGI's Altix handles up to 64 processors on a Linux kernel using the patches they release as opensource. As SGI hacks away at their bigmem and numa patches, they'll be able to handle more and more processors. The plan is to eventually graft enough IRIX technology to support just as many processors on Altix as they do with MIPS processors in Origin with IRIX.
Even if you aren't a fan of Itanium2, Linux, or NUMA, these patches are bringing some nifty high-end tech to the free software arena.
Fluid dynamics and environmental studies are also part of NASA's research mission.
Don't know if this is what SGI is using, but the status of NUMA in the kernel and associated patches for it is shown here.
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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
The thing that is special about the NASA computer is that it is a single image system and not really some cluster type thing. Mostly people say that Linux 2.4 scales well up to 8 processors, but this system has 256 processors.
/proc/interrupts' doesn't work if you have 512 CPUs in your system. Frankly when I saw that I thought it was a joke, but I guess it must be real if they already have paying customers.
SGI is working on scaling the kernel to even more processors. For example, Erik Jacobson from SGI recently noticed that 'cat
If I'm not mistaken, NASA *invented* the bewulf cluster. And it ran Linux then, too.
Clicky
The emperor is naked.
Eh, are you kidding? Most standard Altix are listed on TOP500, and this is not a standard Altix so it should be on among the top 100. And you cannot compare a simple cluster (the Big Mac) with a real supercomputer (the Altix) with a single shared memory system.
I think it's mostly BS. The environmentalist wackos use every occurance of what should be called "weather" as a proof of (man made) global warming.
Last winter was indeed very cold, and The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvardsverket) ran lots of ads in newspapers and on billboards about global warming, and how warm the weather is and that you must cut down on driving or else all snow will melt.
When it was the coldest winter in at least a generation, people laughed at the ads, but environmentalists used the same strategy as always. The unusual weather was caused by the global warming.
In the 1970's the enviros where sure that an ice age was coming up. In the 17th century it was unusually cold in the nordic region, and that was called "the little ice age". In the 10th century it was a lot warmer than it is today.
Just picking a few unusual events and saying "It is fairly obvious that changes in our environment has increased rapidly during the past years." doesn't make it true.
According to SGI Japan, Ministory of Education and Science
has orderd 4 Altix 3700 computer to make up 4 node
super computer, November 18th.
Each node, which altix3700 is equipped with 64 cpu. Total
main memory has reached 1.9TB.
It's also said that hardwares will be installed and in
operation in the early half of 2004.
The research is being done at the AMES labs in Moffett field, California. Home of the climate model for Mars and Solar system modelling and numerical modelling in general. As well as some X-projects (as in X15 and X33).
NASA doesn't just send things into space anymore.
You do a "t" from within top (Toggle display of summary information) to turn off the cpu summary.