MacResearch Introduces OpenMacGrid

Drew McCormack writes "MacResearch.org has just introduced OpenMacGrid. It is a distributed computing grid similar to SETI@home, but unlike other networks, it is built up entirely of Macs utilizing Xgrid, and access is unrestricted. Anyone with Mac OS X 10.4 can donate cycles, and any scientist with a reasonable project can burn cycles."

Comments

What constitutes 'reasonable'?

[pickyouupatnine]

Who'll the judge? The community?

Usefulness?

[wlan0]

How useful can it be to be locked into one OS? How hard is it to make a commandline program and then a Cocoa interface, that way you can get everyone and still have a pretty window and widget for OS X users.

Re:Usefulness?

[dr.badass]

without exception the actual number-crunching code is an console application, plain C - not even any #ifs, and the only thing that is platform specific is a tiny wrapper script.

Without exception? Are you sure nobody ever does any vectorization outside of what the compiler does? Ever? Nobody ever links to platform-specific frameworks for any reason? Ever? Nobody ever writes code to run on a homogenous cluster? Ever?

Being tied to XGrid is an truly abysmal design in comparison.

In your case perhaps it would be. That doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of other people for whom it is more ideal than your setup. Those people include scientists that already run Mac OS X, and perhaps link the Accelerate framework, and perhaps already have Xgrid-ready jobs that can run on OpenMacGrid without modification. Or maybe they just don't want to concern themselves with the details of distributing jobs and returning results with a Perl script or something.

Re-Enactment

[DrRevotron]

Re-enactment of the creation of the OpenMacGrid...

Person 1: "Hey, I've got an idea!"
Person 2: "Yeah?"
Person 1: "Yeah! Let's make a compute grid... except, it won't be like those other compute grids. Except, it kinda will. But it won't. But that's not the point. People will be able to submit their own projects!"
Person 2: "Oh, you mean like BOINC, GPU, The World Community Grid, distributed.net, Leiden, Grid.org, OurGrid..."
Person 1: "Well, uh... yeah... I guess... except, um... let's run it on a Mac!"
Person 2: "Hey, yeah, that's a totally original and cool plan, as opposed to actually devoting processor time to worthwhile and established projects like Folding@Home and SETI!"

Thought: Maybe, instead of everybody making their own little grid system... we could all make things go ALOT faster by devoting our processors to more than simulating chess games (Yes, I'm talking to you, Chess960) and focus it where it really counts, like finding a cure to debilitating diseases or searching for intelligent life. (Not a whole lot of it on Earth.)

Re:Re-Enactment

[dr.badass]

Maybe, instead of everybody making their own little grid system...

I don't think you fully understand what you're talking about.

For starters, BOINC is not a separate grid. It's a framework and client for many grids. BOINC users can (and do) contribute to many different projects including your "established projects" like Folding@Home and SETI@Home, and including many of the other grids you've listed. Many of the others you listed do exactly the kind of jobs you're calling for, like disease research.

Also, you seem to think that all grid computing projects are interchangeable, and that just isn't so. They may work with different data, or using different methods; they may not have the same requirements for job submission; they may operate on vastly different scales. Basically, they're suited for different research needs. A nice thing about OpenMacGrid, for example, is that researchers can take the same Xgrid job they've been using on their tiny network and send it to a public grid without much, if any modification.

Re:...and access is unrestricted.

[mr_matticus]

Isn't that like expecting that a public airstrip claiming "unrestricted access" be accessible to submarines, too?

Practical limitations may apply without something violating a notion of "unrestricted." Sort of like how unrestricted Internet access in your home still requires you to have a computer or other suitable device; you can't just plug the Internet into your arm.

No...

[denzacar]

It is more like expecting McDonald's saying they will give 50c from each purchase to a fund to end the world hunger, but ONLY if you order your BigMacs wearing at least 1500$ worth of Armani clothing and apparel.

And an iPod.