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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.
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".
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.
Because at this scale, buying mass market complete systems is much cheaper because of the economies of scale. Parts sold as spares and replacement are priced much higher than complete systems.
Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
They should wait for Black Friday, nobody is going to fight the Air Force for a doorbuster...
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
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.