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US Air Force Buying Another 2,200 PS3s
bleedingpegasus sends word that the US Air Force will be grabbing up 2,200 new PlayStation 3 consoles for research into supercomputing. They already have a cluster made from 336 of the old-style (non-Slim) consoles, which they've used for a variety of purposes, including "processing multiple radar images into higher resolution composite images (known as synthetic aperture radar image formation), high-def video processing, and 'neuromorphic computing.'" According to the Justification Review Document (DOC), "Once the hardware configuration is implemented, software code will be developed in-house for cluster implementation utilizing a Linux-based operating software."
Maybe someone should tell them the new ones don't run Linux.
Does this mean that they'll be running Linux on the Slim?
"To any truly impartial person, it would be obvious that I am right."
Since Sony's strategy (like Microsoft's) is to sell the consoles below production costs and make money on the games I guess that they are now pretty angry about organizations buying PS3s solely for computing...
...processing power will be purchased in units of physical volume.
These units will be named something clever. They will come in different flavors.
They will be designed as components; primarily used to comprise a greater whole.
Years later, a doctor will tell me that I have an I.Q. of 48, and am what some people call "mentally retarded".
Setting up a wickedly awesome lan party for Bad Company 2.
who prays for Satan? Who in 18 centuries has had the humanity to pray for the 1 sinner that needed it most? ~Mark Twain
were the 2,200 copies of the new Guitar Hero.
Why do they need the whole PS3.. why don't they just buy the individual components that they need rather than wasting money on all the useless stuff like controllers etc?
We keep hearing these stories, and the reason is that the Cell processor is awesome for this type of work.
Are we still at the point where we can't get hold of Cell processors for machines specifically designed for this sort of task? Isn't the PS3 a rather inefficient way of doing this rather than a purpose built system or grid of systems, or does it come down to cost in that a purpose built system would just cost far more than a bunch of PS3s? 2200 PS3s is still going to cost, what, half a million?
Presumably it's not because they use the GPU as well because AFAIK Linux on the PS3 doesn't allow access to use the graphics card, or are they getting custom PS3s?
There does certainly seem a big market for Cell systems so the future of Cell certainly seems promising in this respect.
The non-slim PS3s could run linux, but it was crippled you couldn't access the RSX directly. I'd say that these PS3s would be cheap slim models. At the very least, the USAF would have PS3 dev kits to let them write code that would access the RSX directly (not through some silly hypervisor). They probably even pulled a few strings and got Sony to change the PS3 system software to let them do what they want with the hardware.
Some people have said that Sony must be pissed as they lose money on each sale, but 2,200 consoles is effectively nothing to them in terms of monthly sales numbers. Sony get to move on some stock, they get a few more console sales to wave at their shareholders, and they get some good press that is worth more than the price of 2,200 consoles. In saying that, I imagine they charged the USAF full price for a PS3 dev kit or two.
They should wait for Black Friday, nobody is going to fight the Air Force for a doorbuster...
More expensive, and if you need to replace a PS3, simply go to any electronics store, replace a custom part for a custom PC...
It is cheaper and more reliable and been tested already so you know it works.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Mon-tage...
"Was it a millionaire who said 'Imagine No Posessions?'" -- Elvis Costello
These systems are basically guaranteed to not have any software sales attached to it. The USAF is paying retail price, the $300 price tag per.
This is the US Government we're talking about. One of the few entities on the planet where "Budget" is virtually meaningless. Someone sneezes funny and a million dollars goes out the door. How much do you think it'd cost to financially compel Sony to enabling Linux installs on their machines? Exactly how much does a PS3 dev-kit license cost again? How hard to do you think it'd be to get a judge to sign some order compelling Sony to releasing the schematics to the US Government under NDA, so that they can write and maintain their own Linux loader for the machine?
Even if the cost of the above was in the lower 8-digit range without the machines included, which I really doubt, it'd likely be cheaper to source these machines than it would be to develop your own hybrid compute node and software for it (or nVidia's crazy-expensive, less mature solution).
Sony doesn't support Linux on these machines, which makes it practically impossible for the home user to boot Linux on them. (Well, tbh, 'improbable', look at how much reverse engineering has happened with the GameCube & Wii). But for someone with deep enough pockets, like say a government agency, it's almost trivial.
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
...US Military PS3 Slim cluster bricked after firmware update due to modding and home-brew...
"Neuromorphic engineering is a new interdisciplinary discipline that takes inspiration from biology, physics, mathematics, computer science and engineering to design artificial neural systems, such as vision systems, head-eye systems, auditory processors, and autonomous robots, whose physical architecture and design principles are based on those of biological nervous systems." from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromorphic
Anyone got any more links?
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That's a lot of Playstations. I hope they bought them cheap from someplace like DubLi.
I don't know much anything about neuromorphic computing and synthetic aperture radar image formation etc, but wouldn't it be cheaper to use GPU's instead? Is there something about these type of computations that make the Cell a better fit? Or maybe it's that PS3s are easier to attach to the existing infrastructure?
Someone please explain.
With that many PS3s hooked up into a cluster, why blow it on radar images? You could finally play the newest Dynasty Warriors game without the framerate plummeting whenever you use your Musou attack.
I mean, where are they putting them all? Are they actually using them as PS3s (case, PSU and all), or are they ripping the motherboards out and shoving them in a rack of some kind? The former does sound like a rather romantic hack, but surely it is terribly inefficient with power requirements, cooling, cabling, etc?
Or do they just not care because the project was such a bargain (compared to the alternatives)?
The air force can get around that or they can get Sony to unlock that as well as giving them full gpu power as well.
I didn't know Skynet was made of PS3's...
You're talking about the federal government and, technically, you're right. About every decade-and-a-half or so, Congress gets the budget so fouled up that the President refuses to sign a continuing order to keep the government working. At that point, the government technically stops. All non-essential personnel are let go. It's happened twice during my 27 years with the government.
However, I don't think it'll ever happen again.
Statutorily, to do a shutdown, all employees must receive notice in person and in writing. If the fed is going to shut down tomorrow, every single employee gets contacted today and told to be at the office in the morning to receive their formal notice. The law requires it.
That means that every single Special Agent on stakeout is pulled off of surveillance to come to the office to get their letter. Every Special Officer, Revenue Officer, every sort of officer, agent, analyst, tech, etc., ad infinitum must all show up at the main office at the same time.
The fed employs a huge percentage of people who actually visit their office in the downtown federal building (wherever that may be in your city) just once or twice a year. But at budget shutdown time, they're all there. The halls are packed with people because there's just not enough room for them to all sit down.
Keep in mind that this in-person notification, with everyone at the same place at the same time, is an absolute statutory requirement.
Now, in this post 9/11 USA, who'd be crazy enough to do this? Any half-assed attempt at setting off a bomb or flying a plane into a building would, at about 8:30 on the morning of a shutdown, kill more badge-toting feds than any normal-day method I can conceive short of a nuclear option.
I really don't think the feds will ever shut down again. Seriously. It's just too crazy to contemplate these days. The last time it happened was well before 9/11 and plenty of people in the government, even during those relaxed times, commented on what a huge and idiotic security risk it was. I sincerely doubt we'll ever do it again.
for research into supercomputing..
Come oon!! They're preparing a Christmas party! XD
So they need a few boards with Cell processors, some memory and probably a NIC. But instead they buy a box, that contains also a blue-ray drive, a hard drive, WiFi, Audio subsystem, Graphics acceleration, a couple of fancy dual-shock 3 controllers, etc...but...oh...yes, they get all this things they don't need with a discount. Cool! Who knows, maybe some day they can use this dual-shock 3 controllers to control their UAVs...
...unless that research is playing Tekken 6 in the barracks.
The non-slim PS3 is discontinued. Did the justification document say the government was buying from a distributor of new Sony product or from the secondhand market?
I'm a GS-12, I just sneezed funny. It was one of those "choo choo choo choo CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE" kind of sneazes. My boss, a GS-14 has put me in for a merit increase, I've been given 25 days of basket leave, and my budget for my new project was just doubled. Quick figuring...yes, a million dollars. I thank you for your tax dollars.
Seriously, if I may, I understand the power of the PS3 and its specialized abilities, but couldn't this be accomplished using more traditional lash ups?
I guess what I'm asking, did someone start this out as a "gee, I've 150 extra PS3's that DHS turned over to us from a mob bust, what can we do with them" kind of a project? Did it snowball?
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
That they're going to run Linux on them. What if they inked a deal with Sony to provide them the SDK's to make their own "games" that use 100% of the hardware capabilities? Heck, maybe they have their own private area on the PlayStation Store for distributing software to 2,200 consoles.
And the kicker: Terminator 2 was distributed by TriStar Pictures, a Sony company. The first Terminator was distributed by Orion Pictures, part of MGM, part of Sony.
Doesn't Sony have some terms of agreement that would prohibit the use of their console for things not related to gaming? I mean, isn't there some form of reverse engineering happening in order to write software using all these PS3s? I'm pretty sure if any normal Joe decided to use 4 or 5 PS3s for something other than it was meant to, there would be a lawsuit coming up so fast.....
I can't wait to see a Beowolf cluster of one of these... oh wait...
Sorry.
Couldn't help it.
I think that this Playstation 3 cluster business is nothing short of spectacular.
Where else can you ever see a more mutual benefit than all of a sudden finding a high priced console to be an EXTREMELY cheap alternative option to supercomputing costs normally and where Sony can sell a ton of PS3's at one time?
LOL, it's win-win and everyone benefits.
This seems kind of stupid. Why not just use a regular supercomputer. This seems like a bunch of little kids playing around