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iMac Beowulf Cluster Comes to Life

Posted by timothy on from the taste-the-rainbow dept.

AmigaAvenger writes "Finally a good use for all those old IMacs that many organizations have laying around collecting dust. We have set up a 5 node (4+1 controller) iMac beowulf cluster, which is appropriately named Skittles, and is running PPC Yellowdog Linux, with MPICH 1.2.6 cluster message passing software."

25 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. Let me be the first to say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Imagine a Beowulf cluster of iMac Beowulf clusters!

    1. Re:Let me be the first to say... by jessecurry · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It would be cool to build that as a pop art structure and actually form it into the shape of a flower.

      --
      Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know. ~Lao Tzu
    2. Re:Let me be the first to say... by TeknoHog · · Score: 2, Funny

      iMagine a Beowulf Cluster coming to iLife!

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  2. too cool by ChristTrekker · · Score: 3, Funny

    I was half-way tempted to recreate beowoof with my own stack of pizza boxes, but alas, I'm giving them all away. It will be nice to use the 2nd garage stall for a vehicle again, though.

    --

    Constitutionally Correct

    1. Re:too cool by sootman · · Score: 2, Funny
      from the beowoof page:
      Q: Should I build a cluster of these 100 386s? [1999-05-13]
      A: If it's OK with you that it'll be slower than a single Celeron-333 machine, sure. Great way to learn.
      Updated for 2005:
      Q: Should I build a cluster with five $100 iMacs?
      A: If it's OK with you that it'll be slower than a single $500 Mini, sure.
      No sense mentioning the heat, current, or space differences. :-)
      --
      Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
  3. iMac Beowulf Cluster? Yum! by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They should have lined them up in a circle like in the old iMac posters!

    --
    Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    1. Re:iMac Beowulf Cluster? Yum! by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 3, Informative

      FYI...

      --
      Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
  4. Useless... by afd8856 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I can understand the geek factor, even the teaching / experimenting factor. But, if anybody is in the same situation, please donate those macs to a charity. There are milions of kids in this world that have no access to IT, and could benefit from this kind of equipment. Even if its net value is below 100$, you can bet some kid could play or learn on it.

    --
    I'll do the stupid thing first and then you shy people follow...
    1. Re:Useless... by 0racle · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Why would I give my systems away when I can find amusement with them?

      --
      "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    2. Re:Useless... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Remember that this was at a university, with old university computers. If they were bought with certain government grant money, they might not be able to give them away for a certain number of years, or even give them away at all...

    3. Re:Useless... by Digital+Pizza · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Perhaps they will; I doubt that this cluster is powerful enough, or long-term-interesting enough to keep around for any real length of time. I mean, they used a mere 10-megabit hub, for cryin' out loud, on machines that have 100-megabit interfaces. It's obvious that they're just toying around with this. Afterward, a charitible contribution would be a nice little tax deduction.

      --
      We apologize for the inconvenience.
    4. Re:Useless... by Randy+Wang · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I don't believe that's necessarily true. I'm sixteen years old, and when I was four we bought our first computer: a blazing-fast 16Mhz 68k Macintosh Classic II, with a massive 2Mb RAM and an 80Mb hard disk. Remember, I was four at the time.

      Now, by the time I was actually capable of using it independently, at around age eight, it was already obsolete (damn you, 604e!). By the time it died, we had owned it for no less than nine years, running pretty well constantly whenever we were home, passively cooled in the Australian summer.

      We then got out first 'new' computer more than a year afterwards, when my brother dumped his old iMac G3 500 on us. Its what I'm typing on now, and is currently at least six years old (manufactured in November 1999). I also own two other iMac G3s - a 266 and a 350 - and I've never come to believe that "if I touch this, it'll CATCH FIRE AND BURN MY FAMILY", despite the fact that almost all the hardware I've ever used has had one foot in the grave. Indeed, my school's just bought another 500 Dells, and I ph34r not! :-)

      I would suggest that your kids would be more likely to fear old hardware if you *make* them fear it - say, beating them if they accidentally break it, or even just punishing them verbally. If you tell them it was going to break anyway, and help them work out how to fix it, it can only benefit them in the future.

      --
      --- Egads, I glow in the dark!
  5. I still have ask... by anactofgod · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ..."Why?"

    Not why do it. But why post about it.

    This may be interesting if the cluster was created to serve some purpose. but if the purpose was merely for the admins to learn about how to set up a Beowulf cluster, well, that exercise is probably performed at least once a day somewhere in the world.

    Hardly seems to warrant a post on one's own Web site, let alone a link to Slashdot, IMHO.

    "Skittles"...Cute name, though. Wait til Mars, Inc. hears about it...

    --

    ---anactofgod---

    "Equal opportunity swindling - *that* is the true test of a sustainable democracy."
    1. Re:I still have ask... by gl4ss · · Score: 3, Insightful

      it's answered in TFA.

      *******They said it couldn't be done. Well, actually the said, "Why would you want to?" The answer is, of course, "Because they're there, and it's the geek thing to do."*******

      good enough reason for me. besides, serves as good practice.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    2. Re:I still have ask... by anactofgod · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I understand that, because I actually did RTFA. My point is so what? Fine, do it as an exercise in something new-to-you. Do it as for practice. But understand that there is absolutely nothing news worthy, or even noteworthy, about what was done.

      Now, if they were going to post information about tasks that they were seeking to accomplish with said cluster, that would interesting. More interesting would have been metrics associated in the performance of said tasks.

      But, basically this post is about some guys who installed software on some computers, configured in a manner similar to what has been done thousands of times in the past by others, and got it to run.

      *YAWN*

      I'm sure it was fun. I'm sure it was interesting, maybe even educational, to the guys doing the work. But hardly worth sharing with others, IMHO. I even call into question how high a "geek" factor this activity has. At the end of the day, they installed software for the sake of installing software.

      If you don't agree, then perhaps I should post articles on how a buddy downloaded and installed Cloudscape on a Sawtooth G4. It was exciting (to him)! It was cool (to him)! Sure, many others have done the same thing, and sure, he's not actually using it for anything, But hey! It was geeky, especially since he did it on a Fr night instead of doing something socially interactive.

      --

      ---anactofgod---

      "Equal opportunity swindling - *that* is the true test of a sustainable democracy."
    3. Re:I still have ask... by forkazoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why is this poor bastard being modded troll? He is right. This isn't the slightest bit newsworthy. It's a five node cluster, FFS! I have done 3D rendering using five different architectures simultaneously, and it certainly wasn't noteworthy. A friend used a whole computer lab of Sun boxes as an impromptu cluster. I used a lab of PC's as a renderfarm in school.

      If this was a cluster for some really cool task, like rendering for a CAVE used in brain implant research in a 3rd world country, or something, it just might almost be newsworthy. This isn't. Not even a little.

  6. Sorry but I have a better use by skinfitz · · Score: 3, Funny

    I still prefer my multipurpose footstool / doorstop idea.

  7. A few typos in the article... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    In the place where it says "Why would you want to?" The answer is, of course, "Because they're there, and it's the geek thing to do."

    I think they meant to type:

    "Why would you want to?" The answer is, of course, "It's not like sex is taking up all my time or anything..."

  8. Did anyone else... by BlueCodeWarrior · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...originally parse this as 'Mac Mini Beowulf Cluster Comes to Life'?

  9. Finally. by InfallibleLies · · Score: 5, Funny

    After years of inane "imagine a beowulf cluster of those!"es, I can finally see one. My life is now complete, thanks to Slashdot.

  10. WHY POST ABOUT IT by vasqzr · · Score: 2, Funny


    Haven't been on the Internet much, have you?

    Most of the time I surf the net I am shaking my head saying "What the fuck..."

  11. X-Grid by gellenburg · · Score: 4, Informative

    With X-Grid coming standar with 10.4 doing this in the future will be child's play.

  12. Re:Isn't this somewhat unneccessary? by Digital+Pizza · · Score: 4, Interesting
    This is obviously just a short-term toy project - I doubt they're serious about doing any real work on this. I mean, a 10-megabit hub?

    The power draw would be a problem too. I used to have an iMac DV, and even with the screen in "energy-save" mode, there was still a bit of power being drawn by the tube and accompanying electronics.

    The best old Mac for clustering would be, IMHO, the Gigabit Ethernet G4. They must be fairly cheap by now, have Gigabit Ethernet (duh), take two gigabytes of RAM, and are easily processor-upgradeable if desired (G4 upgrades are getting cheap).

    --
    We apologize for the inconvenience.
  13. It takes me back... by ockegheim · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...to my first and biggest iMac Starcraft cluster. It used my iMac, the host's girlfriend's iMac, and 3 iMacs the Apple shop guy had borrowed from work (plus some kind of laptop and an early model TiBook). This was the first time everything just worked (mainly because previously I thought I had read in LAN Games for Dummies that 127.0.0.x was a good set of numbers to use).

    It was an excellent and multicoloured night. The host's girlfriend remarked genially about "boy games" and gave us stuff to eat.

    --
    I’m old enough to remember 16K of memory being described as “whopping”
  14. Least Usefull. by SirDrinksAlot · · Score: 2, Funny

    Least Usefull cluster EVER.

    Apple Seed project is the only way to go.