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Xgrid Clustering Software and Demo

no_demons writes "Along with a selection of other goodies, Apple also unveiled their Xgrid clustering technology from their advanced computation group today. Xgrid can turn a number of networked Macs into a supercomputer, detects nodes automagically via Rendezvous, and can run in or out of a screensaver mode. You can download a technology demo (including a BLAST test app) here."

22 of 290 comments (clear)

  1. Will it work on legacy machines? by ActionPlant · · Score: 5, Funny

    It'll be interesting to see if I can make this work with the stacks of old LC520s in my garage. I've been wanting to cluster them for a while. If Xgrid will work on those, Mac just saved me a ton of work. Not that I wasn't going to have fun with it....

    Damon,

    --
    http://actionPlant.com
    1. Re:Will it work on legacy machines? by Squid · · Score: 4, Funny

      Of course Apple probably won't make this available for anything other than OS X. But even if they did... how many LC520-vintage Macs does it take, clustered, to equal the raw computing power found in, say, an iPod? (A modern Apple MOUSE probably has a more powerful CPU than some of the older Macs.)

      If there is a law of diminishing returns trying to cluster old hardware to keep it useful, I think an LC520 is well past it.

      Besides, if you want to do it, see if Linux will run on those 520s and... yes, you guessed it... build a Beowulf cluster out of 'em.

    2. Re:Will it work on legacy machines? by TCM · · Score: 5, Funny

      What has Slashdot come to? Suggesting throwing cash at a problem that can be solved over "many weekends of hard labor"?

      Next you suggest to pay for an operating system instead of writing your own?

      Tss..

      --
      Of course it runs NetBSD. BTC: 1NT7QvbetmANwaMzhpVL6
    3. Re:Will it work on legacy machines? by ActionPlant · · Score: 2, Funny

      it dosent matter which performa you want to talk about they were either 16mhz 68030 or 25mhz 68030 or 25mhz 68040 so I dont know how you will even expect to boot the CD on them to start "install"

      It's a 637CD, actually. I mentioned it because it's based on that 68040 (technically the 68LC040, which lacks the FPU), the same chip used in the LC series which I was originally talking about. Pop in a PPC upgrade (100MHz) and you're up to OS 8.1 (supported) but technically, stip down 9 and it WILL work; granted there are some mods that simply won't run on this chipset, but it looks, acts, and feels like 9. It says it's 9. It's still 8 with some 9 features. But when it says "OS9," I'll claim 9.

      But I have to give you that it isn't fully OS9. Not 100%. Granted, that is a stretch.

      Damon,

      --
      http://actionPlant.com
    4. Re:Will it work on legacy machines? by letdownjournals · · Score: 2, Funny

      A modern Apple MOUSE probably has a more powerful CPU than some of the older Macs.

      And that's with only one button, as the Mac-haters never cease to remind us...

  2. For some reason... by SuperMo0 · · Score: 1, Funny

    This makes me think: "Hmm... Seti@Home with an Aqua theme..."

    1. Re:For some reason... by Kent+Recal · · Score: 2, Funny

      Can I use the mousebutton of another mac in the cluster as additional apple-key/right-mousebutton for the primary desktop?
      (maybe put it down on the floor and tap it with your foot)
      What about latency?

  3. Great, this sucks.. by QuantumRiff · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now every single story posted on slashdot for the next 6 months is going to have a comment of "Imagine an XGrid of these!" The old incarnation was slowly dying too...

    --

    What are we going to do tonight Brain?
    1. Re:Great, this sucks.. by tbmaddux · · Score: 4, Funny
      "Imagine an XGrid of these!" The old incarnation was slowly dying too...
      With XGrid now out, Apple will die much more fastly.
      --
      Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?
  4. Re:Sounds good, but... by rampant+mac · · Score: 5, Funny
    "But for me, the model I want is a broker model. I want to sell my processor time to a broker who will resell it on a day to day basis to whoever is the highest bidder. E-bay of grid computing, ya know. I don't want to pick projects, download clients, etc. I just want to pariticipate (i.e. make money) from whoever is willing to pay the most at any given moment.

    And when I feel like it, I'll volunteer x% to non-commericial stuff like SETI@home."

    Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the 21st century pimp.

    "What do we get for 10 teraflops?"

    "Anyting you want!"

    "Anything?"

    "Anyting!"

    --
    I like big butts and I cannot lie.
  5. Re:super computing by mbadolato · · Score: 3, Funny

    1 = super computer
    1100 = supercomputer

    See, with that many more computers you DO run out of space

    *rim shot*

    Thanks folks, we're here all week. Try the veal; it's delicious. And please, don't forget to tip your waitress.

  6. My TiVo has Rendezvous... by wembley · · Score: 3, Funny

    I wonder if I could offload some of my compiles to TiVo...

    :-)

    --

    Share and Enjoy!

  7. Re:what ever happened to the exageration of the "i by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
    To encourage folks to run the on Xserves and not iMacs.

    Duh.

  8. Re:what ever happened to the exageration of the "i by cosmo7 · · Score: 4, Funny

    From my own inexhaustive observations, Apple gives consumer stuff "i" and geeky stuff "X", hence iPod, iApps, iMac, iLife etc against XServe, XCode, XGrid, etc.

    To be frank I've always wondered about Apple's name syntaxes. When the Mac IIx and the SE/30 came out - improvements of the Mac II and the SE with then top-of-the-line 68030 processors - it seems they really should have gone with Mac II/30 or SEx. Mac II/30 sounds like a third grade joke about chinese dentists but the Macintosh SEx would have probably made them billions.

  9. Re:what ever happened to the exageration of the "i by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Actually, there was an old joke around Apple when I worked there about this exact subject.

    Since the SE/30 was essentially a IIx without NuBus slots, the development team wanted to follow syntax and codename the machine the SE/x. This apparently was not cool with Scully or Jean-Louis.

    Of course, no machine ever starts development with a final marketing name (at least not back then), so the story is most likely bull.

    Why did I get moderator points on the same day as Macworld?

  10. Re:So what happens... by PCM2 · · Score: 3, Funny
    To the rest of the bunch when one of the apples goes bad? *rimshot*
    Sounds like they'd be seriously ... cluster fucked!

    Try the veal.

    --
    Breakfast served all day!
  11. Re:mini me super cluster... by cant_get_a_good_nick · · Score: 2, Funny

    but a grid of a hundred EMacs was a pretty good start to a mini-supercomputer I was told.

    emacs created a super-computer? I thought emacs required a supercomputer... or was that xemacs...?

    Thank you, I'll be here all week...

  12. Re:Sounds good, but... by shplorb · · Score: 2, Funny

    Me so speedy.

    Me process you too much.

  13. Re:Apple vs Microsoft by kalel666 · · Score: 2, Funny

    "And when they do, they end up with over analized and engineered products nobody want"

    If anything is "Over analized" when it comes to Microsoft, it's their customers.

    I just couldn't resist.

    --
    I HAVE CUBIC WISDOM THAT TRANSCENDS AND CONTRADICTS ONE DAY GODS
  14. Pronunciation? by lazytiger · · Score: 1, Funny

    Now, with the Mac zealots insisting that it's OS TEN - not OS ECKS - how is XGrid pronounced? TEN Grid? Or does this not bolster my theory that calling it OS TEN is retarded?

  15. Re:what ever happened to the exageration of the "i by prockcore · · Score: 2, Funny

    Apple gives consumer stuff "i" and geeky stuff "X", hence iPod, iApps, iMac, iLife etc against XServe, XCode, XGrid, etc.

    They couldn't have called it iGrid.. there is no I in team.

  16. Next Apple peress-release: by grmb1 · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Apple Corporation is proud to announce new version of XGrid technology, extended for use on iPod digital media player and Apple Pro Mouse."

    I wonder, what computational power will cluster of iPods have. Cluster of mice, anyone? :)

    --
    -- grmbl woz heer