Slashdot Mirror
96 Processors Under Your Desktop
Roland Piquepaille writes "A small Santa Clara-based company, Orion Multisystems, today unveils a new concept in computing, 'cluster workstations.' In October, you'll be able to choose between a 12-processor unit for less than $10,000 or a 96-processor system for less than $100,000. These new systems are powered by Efficeon processor from Transmeta and are running Fedora Linux version 2.6.6. Apparently, this new company has friends in the industry. You already can read articles in CNET News.com ("A renaissance for the workstation?"), the New York Times ("A PC That Packs Real Power, and All Just for Me," free registration, permanent link) and the Wall Street Journal ("Orion Sees Gold in Moribund Workstations," paid registration). The company is targeting engineers, life scientists and movie animators. It's too early to know if the company can be successful, but I would certainly have to get one of these systems under my desk. In this overview, I've picked the essential details from the three stories mentioned above."
Any ideas?
Great... by october my brand-new machine will be hopelessly out-of-date. I knew it would happen, but had no idea they'd usurp me by 94 processors.
Apparently, this new company has friends in the industry.
Apparently Slashdot is one of them
64? who can do with ONLY 64 processors?? sheesh..
128? who the fuck needs 128 processors? you have to think in resonable proportions! sheeeeeesh..
Seriously, why 96? Why not 64 or 128?
Because 96 reversed is...
64 and 128 reversed don't have the same flavor
This time we don't have to imagine what a cluster would be like. It's already in the box!
The comment has already been made. Let's move it along people. Nothing to see here.
You could use these systems as such servers. The idea, though, is that these might be cheap enough to allocate to individuals.
No video card. These are just render/compute clusters in a box.
I'm impressed at the claimed 220W peak power consumption of the 12-node box, but wonder what kind of real computing performance it provides.
-Isaac
I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. For Entertainment Purposes Only.
I woiuld guess it is more a physicical issue. Processors are probalby arranged 3x4, and can fit that way into a 2 foot wide case to fit onto an "average" desk. Stacking these boards 8 high gets to a height that can fit under a desk.
More frequent yes. But there are more parts within one board, so each of them separately needs less bandwidth than all of them taken together. So, 1G carefully engineered/switched (so each part has 1G bandwidth, not 1G shared between all) is quite sufficient. But then, say, 100 parts need 1G bandwidth between each other and 100M bandwidth to the other board, each. Makes 10G of throughput between boards easily.
Anagram("United States of America") == "Dine out, taste a Mac, fries"
Could be cost. 10K and 100K are nice round numbers.
I've realized that most strange tech descisions can usually be traced to some guy in sales...
People couldn't type. We realized: Death would eventually take care of this.
If you're having lag problems, I feel bad for you son.
I got 96 processors and you got one!"
now thats a system i'd like to install gentoo on :)
-- Karma: beyond good and evil - mostly affected by posting political
It'd be cool to have 12 high-end AMD processors [...] heat will melt computer case
... Make up your mind!
First you say it'd be cool, then it'd be hot
Terrorists can't threaten a country's freedom and democracy. Only lawmakers and voters can do that.
Warning ! Warning ! Warning ! Warning ! Warning !
Attention, a public service announcement follows : do not read the "overview" touted by Mr. Piquepaille. This person constantly spams Slashdot, trying to get traffic to his site on Radio Userland (which I'm not linking to, for obvious reasons). Do NOT go to his overview, you're only giving traffic to a spammer. See these recurring complaints, for instance. Not to mention he steals the images he puts on his blog and sometimes also spews bullshit for lack of knowing better. This must stop. In any way, do not fall for the spam, and do not provide him any more traffic. Please also warn fellow readers when you see one of his self-serving posts.
And now, a personal message (warning : verbal abuse in foreign language follows) : Roland, tu nous les brises. Va te pendre, hé Ducon !
[disclaimer : I'm not commenting on whether the subject is interesting, or not. But the kind of astroturfing the submitter engages in regularly is just wrong]
Warning ! Warning ! Warning ! Warning ! Warning !
Xenu brings order!
How many stories a week does this frigging guy get into Slashdot?
His business plan:
1) Sell Ad Space on "News" Website
2) Shovel In Content From Online Articles
3) Submit To Slashdot Daily
4) Tout "Slashdot Coverage" To Advertises
5) Profit!
And looking at his site, it works fine and dandy indeed.
Then again, is he just doing a service to us?
Start a company that sells CPUs. When profits are failing, start 2 more companies that can be big customers for the first company. When all 3 fail he can start another company that is built on Transmeta clusters and OQO handhelds.
It's like floating checks around banks, but with venture capital.
I'm Rick James with mod points biatch!