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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."

12 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. 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.

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    Constitutionally Correct

  2. 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.

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    I'll do the stupid thing first and then you shy people follow...
  3. 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...

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    ---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.

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      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.

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

    I still prefer my multipurpose footstool / doorstop idea.

  5. 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..."

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. Re:iMac Beowulf Cluster? Yum! by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 3, Informative

    FYI...

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    Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
  9. 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).

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