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Xgrid Clustering Software and Demo

Posted by michael on from the please-mod-down-beowulf-jokes-kthx dept.

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."

4 of 290 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Will it work on legacy machines? by Squid · · Score: 5, Informative

    OSX requires:
    - PCI
    - Open Firmware
    - a PPC 603 or 604 or later
    - oodles of RAM (64 minimum).

    Running it on a legacy Mac - that is, anything older than a Power Mac 9500 - would involve somehow getting around these. You'd have to:
    - write an Open Firmware bios for the machine and trick it into booting via it
    - write drivers for the machine's onboard video so that it LOOKS to the OS like a PCI card behind a bridge chip (repeat for sound, network, etc)
    - get a 603 or later (OS X 10.2 needs a G3 or later), some of the upgrades for 68K machines could only go to a 601
    - provide for 64 or 128MB RAM on a machine whose motherboard is limited to 36. Oh, and endure the sluggishness of 72-pin RAM.

    OS X is not OS 9 and it is not Red Hat.

    --
    ~ radiographite: art by john shepard
  2. Re:Why limit this.. by sydney094 · · Score: 5, Informative

    It isn't inherently limited to Macs... however, the only computers that they have written the client for is Mac 10.2.8 or better.

    (From the FAQ)

    Q: Can I use Xgrid with other UNIX-based computers?

    A: The short answer is no.

    The long answer is that Xgrid uses an XML property list protocol built on top of BEEP for all of its inter-computer communication and coordination, and because these protocols are open, it is possible a client, agent, or controller could be written to run on other UNIX-based computers and interoperate with Xgrid. However, no such programs have been written.

    --
    "If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research." - Einstein
  3. Hardly a Supercomputer: Cluster computing 101 by deadline · · Score: 5, Informative
    There are only certain problems that work well on LAN clusters. Those that have a lot of independent jobs (like BLAST) and those that require a small amount of communication like rendering.

    Read ClusterWorld and you can figure this out yourself.

    --
    HPC for Primates. Read Cluster Monkey
  4. 90nm G5s by sergeantmudd · · Score: 5, Informative

    What's more important is what it's clustering, 90 nanometer G5s. Apple and IBM are the first company to bring 90 nm processors to the market. Xserve White Paper