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How a Supercomputer Beat the Scrap Heap and Lived On To Retire In Africa

Posted by Unknown on from the spread-the-computing dept.

New submitter jorge_salazar (3562633) writes Pieces of the decommissioned Ranger supercomputer, 40 racks in all, were shipped to researchers in South Africa, Tanzania, and Botswana to help seed their supercomputing aspirations. They say they'll need supercomputers to solve their growing science problems in astronomy, bioinformatics, climate modeling and more. Ranger's own beginnings were described by the co-founder of Sun Microsystems as a 'historic moment in petaflop computing."

94 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. Really now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Do those countries really have the resources to invest in that research? Shouldn't S. Africa be more concerned with the civil strife and restoring peace than researching astronomy? This is just an easy way for white westerners to send second-hand garbage over to poor countries to dispose of, all the while making them feel like they really made a difference.

    1. Re:Really now by kwbauer · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, no, no. Those are just the public reasons they gave. They are really for all the Nigerian princes to help get out the message about their uncle and his money problems. Now, we can also hear from the Tanzanian, Botswanan and Zulu princes as well.

    2. Re:Really now by kwbauer · · Score: 1, Insightful

      But do we really need a supercomputer to know when spring will arrive? Pro-tip: It will happen next year on almost exactly the same day as it did this year. Seriously, farmers have been doing this for literally centuries and the decades of super-computing haven't improved the averages in the "developed" countries

      The weather for planting, as the whole climate change community is constantly saying, is weather and cannot be modeled. Only multi-decade average trends can be modeled.

    3. Re: Really now by Circlotron · · Score: 1

      E-waste gets positive spin in news article.

    4. Re:Really now by Hartree · · Score: 3, Informative

      Horse hockey.

      South Africa (one of the destinations) is the tech hub of southern Africa and has long been highly competitive with Europe and the Americas in research and industry.

      Supercomputers can be used for all sorts of problem solving and are part of the basic modern scientific infrastructure. You don't have to have the utter best and fastest to still be very useful.

      To keep at the cutting edge you have to get ever faster systems. But most day to day research work doesn't need that much horsepower. (full disclosure: I work for the chemistry department at a major US university. I'm in the same group that supports research computation, though I do lab instrument repair)

      How do you propose to train and keep researchers to solve the problems of those countries if there are no facilities?

      Are you saying that they should shut down everything in their research centers and universities until every problem is solved? That's like locking the toolbox until the car is fixed. Doesn't make much sense does it?

      That's like saying you should shut down US universities and research labs until we take care of the many civil problems we still face (poverty and crime ridden areas, for example)

    5. Re: Really now by ranton · · Score: 3, Insightful

      and please spare me the bullshit that most of that shit matters, it doesn't, even I like reading about it because it is interesting, but it's in no way actually beneficial to society as a whole practically and is just a pissing contents between folks who write needless papers for a living

      Many of the fields of study we now use as the backbone of the modern era started out as mere intellectual curiosities, and often stayed that way for centuries until practical applications were invented. Scientists started seriously studying electricity in the 1600s, but we found few practical uses for it until the late 19th century. The scientists studying theoretical physics and astronomy today are no different than the likes of Michael Faraday, who never created useful inventions from his research in electricity.

      No one knows what the next technology will be to usher in the next age of mankind. The study of multiverses may bring about faster than light communication, and quantum mechanics may bring the computational power of thousands of today's supercomputers into your cellphone. Or maybe they will do none of those things, but we can be sure some other intellectual curiosity will change the way we live our lives.

      I for one think we spend far too little on intellectual curiosities. Increasing funding that goes towards basic scientific research ten fold would be a good place to start.

      --
      -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
    6. Re: Really now by ClickOnThis · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Many of the fields of study we now use as the backbone of the modern era started out as mere intellectual curiosities, and often stayed that way for centuries until practical applications were invented. Scientists started seriously studying electricity in the 1600s, but we found few practical uses for it until the late 19th century. The scientists studying theoretical physics and astronomy today are no different than the likes of Michael Faraday, who never created useful inventions from his research in electricity.

      This in spades.

      One of my favorite Michael Faraday stories (of which there are variants) is a visit to his lab by Prime Minister Robert Peel, during which Peel asked "what use is electricity?" Faraday replied "what use is a new-born baby?"

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    7. Re:Really now by mendax · · Score: 1

      Do those countries really have the resources to invest in that research?

      When I came across this article I immediately called my dad, a person who has lived and taught in Africa and maintains an interest interest in the place. His thoughts were along the line of what projects do they have which demand supercomputing power. My response was, "If you build it, the demand will come." These computers are going to be placed in an academic environment, where brilliant people who have not had access to such computing power are now, all of a sudden, going to have it. The ideas will come forward quickly enough. Give our friends in Africa a few years and they may surprise us with their ingenuity.

      --
      It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
    8. Re:Really now by mendax · · Score: 4, Insightful

      While reading this a thought occurred to me. Assuming that our African friends are ingenious in their use of this computing power and do a lot of good with it, in a few years perhaps more decommissioned government supercomputers, like the one that replaced Ranger which is 20 times faster, will head in their direction and bless other African universities. African universities are full of very clever, brilliant people who will make use of this gift, and likely do it in ways that will surprise us.

      --
      It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
    9. Re:Really now by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

      Dollars are fungible; but how you react to that fungibility can have real, and long term, consequences that you can't necessarily cheaply or quickly buy your way back out of.

      In the case of South Africa, say, you've got high crime rates and substantial pockets of poverty; but you also have areas of fairly well developed civil society, economic development, higher education, and similar. Unless you are god's own gift to social engineering, do you really want to bet that you can divert resources from the less-dysfunctional areas of the country efficiently enough that you can fix the defective ones before the functional ones brain-drain away to somewhere with higher salaries and lower murder rates?

      One must, of course, do something about the festering issues (even if you have no humanitarian interest, crime and low quality of life are very, very, expensive in terms of guard labor, instability, etc.) and one must also be very careful not to treat a given sector of the country as 'well developed' just because it's rich and looks good in a suit (any Russian oligarch, middle eastern petro-sheik, or American white-collar criminal could say that much, and those tend to be cancers on their respective societies); but unless you have the good fortune of having social problems that can be solved with mere money (rather than money along with sustained good governance, anti-corruption efforts, and assorted other tricky bits), you probably don't want to slash support for the parts of your society that aren't totally screwed merely to hire more of the police that aren't keeping crime in check now to wander around.

    10. Re:Really now by ruir · · Score: 1

      I also lived in Africa for years, and my thoughts are either this will rot in customs until someone higher up has his hands greased, or will be sold to the Russian mob or something similar at sales prices.

    11. Re:Really now by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 1

      To paraphrase: "My god, why are these people trying to build a knowledge economy and generate growth when people are starving? Long-term economic development doesn't put food on the table." or to paraphrase further: "Why are you teaching that man to fish? Can't you see that he's hungry?!?"

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
    12. Re:Really now by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

      I'd leave it to the experts to say exactly when the electrical costs and maintenance make it more cost effective to buy something newer; but by the looks of this system, it has the additional advantage of being large enough, and new enough, that (aside from being able to attack nontrivial problems, though not the biggest ones) it should provide the user experience in working with, and around, the strengths and weaknesses of a comparatively large, moderately tightly coupled, system.

      That sort of experience should be applicable to much larger and more powerful systems; but isn't necessarily something you could easily get with a cheaper system. If your problem fits in a socket or two, it's delightful how many cores you can buy for not much money, and if your problem is loosely coupled, it sure is handy that GbE is pretty much impossible to not buy with any remotely recent system; but stepping up to infiniband remains quite costly.

      You could probably cook up a virtual infiniband cluster system with a bunch of VMs and some creative tuning of the latency and throughput of the virtual network interconnects; but that would be pretty agonizing for anything that isn't an absolute toy problem. With a chunk of this system, you should at very least be able to develop experience in dealing with these sorts of systems, even if you might have to beg, borrow, or scrounge time on somebody else's faster system to attack very large problems.

    13. Re: Really now by AudioEfex · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that's lovely and all - let's cure cancer, first. I like Star Trek, too - but let's be real here.

    14. Re:Really now by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

      You don't have to think my argument has any merit; but 'fungible' has been a real, actual, English word since the late 18th century or so. It's not really news, or even especially esoteric.

    15. Re:Really now by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      as the whole climate change community is constantly saying, is weather and cannot be modeled

      What the fuck are you on about? Do weather forecasts not exist now?

      The fact that climate and weather are not the same does not mean that weather cannot be modelled.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    16. Re: Really now by Wootery · · Score: 1

      Unless you want to argue that the US should unilaterally disarm

      What? Discontinuing research is the same thing as disarmament?

    17. Re: Really now by dissy · · Score: 5, Funny

      One of my favorite Michael Faraday stories (of which there are variants) is a visit to his lab by Prime Minister Robert Peel, during which Peel asked "what use is electricity?" Faraday replied "what use is a new-born baby?"

      As Faraday licks the BBQ sauce off his slightly burnt fingertips, answering both questions at the same time.

    18. Re:Really now by Hartree · · Score: 1

      Exactly!

      This is something near and dear to my heart as much of my job is rescuing and refurbing older instruments and lab gear. For an established professor with big grants it's not so big a deal. They can afford to buy the latest and greatest.

      For our new professors who are just setting up their labs, reusing older gear can make a huge difference. That's research and grad students they might not have been able to fund otherwise.

      I want more people working on the world's problems across the globe rather than just having some select few coming to tech centers in the west and leaving their countries behind.

      Here in the US, we're good at coming up with solutions that work in our economy and society. Often, they aren't practical in other parts of the world. Having the research going in those areas tends to lead to solutions that work in those places.

    19. Re:Really now by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      You sound like my dad. He's Emeritus, but still has an old mass spec in his garage.

      We made him throw away 30+ years of blue book, filled out finals. (Think of all the suffering undergrad-hours that pile represented. At least a few lifetimes of studying, a fare part of it futile.)

      Still an old supercomputer is an exception. It likely makes less FLOPS then a modern i7 and will take as much power as 4 african villages.

      Wasted resources. Give then networked access to an economical source of parallel computing power and let them study the carcass.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    20. Re:Really now by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Futile, like the efforts of my english teachers.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    21. Re: Really now by cthulhu11 · · Score: 1

      Back around 1987 I set up MX's et al for the company where I worked to be able to send/receive email from the outside. A certain exec there asked me what use it was other than "coolness". He's now Dean of CS at the local prominent university. And why I hate people who drive Saabs. But re TFA -- please let's stop mistaking clusters of blades for supercomputers.

    22. Re: Really now by reg45 · · Score: 1

      The weather six months from now will be cold and the weather one year from now will be hot.

    23. Re: Really now by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
      That was Swift, not Faraday.

      And he preferred his babies fricasseed, not barbecued.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    24. Re: Really now by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      Another version of the same story (also ascribed to Edison in some versions) was that Faraday replied that he didn't know how, but soon Peel would be taxing electricity.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    25. Re:Really now by TheRealLifeboy · · Score: 1

      You are really in the dark ages, you coward you! The US has a lot to learn from South Africa!

      There are a great deal more items that can be added to this list, but I doubt it will help you much...

      But maybe Mr Coward wasn't born yet at the time and he's still not able to find South Africa on a world map. (Hint: It's somewhere south of Mexico)

  2. And why not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just because it may not be fast enough for bleeding edge research * dosn't mean its obsolete, Or if your Cynical keeping the military industrial complex welfare system going.

    1. Re:And why not by Kardos · · Score: 1

      But when the capital cost of the machine is zero, the higher power cost is not to bad.

    2. Re:And why not by Livius · · Score: 1

      They're still working, and likely just as hard as before, so it's really not what you would call retirement. I suspect the writer has a prejudice that research in Africa is a vacation compared to 'real' research in places like Europe, North America, or Japan.

      Then again, continuing to work is what retirement is starting to look like for a lot of people.

    3. Re:And why not by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

      To say nothing of the value of having their own computing resources for research, available locally. Internet access to remote supercomputers is certainly helpful, but having a machine in the next room is a big boost for their industry and academia.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    4. Re:And why not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      the higher power cost is not [too] bad.

      You couldn't be more wrong.

      I went through the Wikipedia page that compares Nvidia GPUS and looked for the most efficient card in each generation (GFLOPs/W).

      GeForce 8800 GTS (G92): 4.62 in Dec 2007.
      (...skip some generations...)
      GeForce GTX 750 Ti: 21.8 in Feb 2014 (actually alightly more efficient than the GTX Titan Z, and they list for about 1/3 the price in GFLOPS).

      That's 4.7x improvement in efficiency in just 74 months = efficiency doubles in 33 months on average.

      Consider the cost of operating 1 PFLOPS of each of these. That's 1603x 8800's (unknown list) or 766x 750 Ti's ($114,900 list). How much does it take to run these 24/7? Assuming $0.11/kWh, the 8800 will cost you 1e6 / 4.62 = 216 kW ($23.8/hr), and the 750 Ti will cost you 46 kW ($5.1/hr).

      How long does it take to justify purchasing the new cards if you were given the old cards for free?
      $115k / (23.8 - 5.1) = 6144 hours = 256 days = 8.4 months. (Or about 25 months if you're an idiot and you decide to buy Titan Z's instead).

      In other words, I've given you an example where you're definitely better off throwing the old tech in the trash and buying new tech if you plan to use it for for a couple of years.

      p.s. The time goes down as the cost of electricity goes up, and the GP told you that electricity is more expensive in developing countries.

      p.p.s. AMD GPUs have similar gains:

      Radeon HD 2600 XT: 4.27 in Jun 2007.
      Radeon Radeon R9 295X2: 22.9 in Apr 2014.

      That's 5.4x improvement in 82 months = efficiency doubles in 34 months. I'd love to see someone do similar analysis for the actual CPUs in question.

    5. Re:And why not by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 1

      Your counterargument should possibly include the letters FSA and GCHQ, and the keywords "trade secrets"....

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
    6. Re:And why not by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 1

      You haven't factored in the mainboards and the racking equipment...

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
  3. Nice by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 2

    I'd take a CDC-6600 into my home, just for fun.

    --
    Mostly random stuff.
    1. Re:Nice by geezer+nerd · · Score: 1

      Where would you put it? It needs better environment than the typical garage. Plus, it is HUGE! Especially if you have the appropriate vintage peripheral equipment with it. And your power bill! Oh, the humanity.

      I remember my many happy hours spent using 6600 serial 13. Especially because they were much fewer hours than I would have spent doing the same work on the CDC 1604 it replaced.

    2. Re:Nice by stox · · Score: 1

      Good luck with that. A CDC-6600 sucked down 150Kw. The power bills would be murder, let alone the HVAC needs to keep it from cooking.

      --
      "To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
    3. Re:Nice by d'baba · · Score: 2

      I'd make a CDC-6600 into my home, just for fun.

      ftfy

    4. Re:Nice by geezer+nerd · · Score: 2

      I just looked at the TFA. When I made my earlier comment, I did not realize the Ranger supercomputer was from University of Texas at Austin. UT Austin is, of course, where I spent my happy hours using 6600 serial 13, which was installed early on in my graduate school career. It was the main computer on campus during my stint as Asst. Prof. of CS, too.

    5. Re:Nice by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 1

      Meh, I wouldn't power the thing.

      --
      Mostly random stuff.
    6. Re:Nice by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

      You could probably just emulate it on your phone.

      Given that there were only about 100 CDC 6600s ever built, you might just be able to emulate all of them on your phone.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    7. Re:Nice by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

      +5 funny, but alas, you were a bit too subtle. Let me help:

      I'd make a CDC-6600 into my home, just for fun.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    8. Re:Nice by mendax · · Score: 1

      Hmmm... maybe not ALL but several. They ran at 3 mips and there is an emulator.

      --
      It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
    9. Re:Nice by StripedCow · · Score: 1

      I'd make a CDC-6600 into my home, just for fun.

      I guess that would make you a mechanical turk.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...

      --
      If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
    10. Re:Nice by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 1

      I don't think you'd like to pay the power bill. That being said, if I was going to waste money on something like that, I'd go with a Cray-1. At least you could use it as a bench.

      --
      That is all.
  4. My old desktop... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 4, Interesting
    ... is now my FreeBSD ZFS-based 5TB media server.

    .
    Why not use older computers for tasks that are appropriate for their capabilities?

    1. Re:My old desktop... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 2

      Hence my use of the word "appropriate". :)

    2. Re:My old desktop... by ruir · · Score: 1

      Power consumption, spare parts, administrating your infra-structure as a whole, dealing with malfunctions, supporting several operating systems, the ease of administration virtualisation technology has brought...Recycling older hardware is a waste of electricity, time and money.

  5. Another feel good slashdot post by the_skywise · · Score: 1

    About a computer that beats ageism!

  6. Re: In an alternate universe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    On top of everything you sooper geniuses lack reading comprehension?

    Such a basic thing.

    My entire point was illustrative of - and arguing against - the double standard in the media and in government as to how a black man was being treated with kid gloves because of his race - this of course is the definition of racism. That is I am the one here arguing that this behavior is racist and wrong.

    And you garner from this that it is I who is racist? Are you all really this blinded by idealogy and institutional hatred for conservatism?

    That is the only explanation, because facts and logic are just not on your side.

    Well at least you didn't blame Bush and Fox News so I guess you get points for that.

  7. Re:In an alternate universe by Circlotron · · Score: 2

    Head of CIA, Muslim.

    A person *cannot* change their skin colour. A person =can= become a Muslim. Therefore being a Muslim or not has nothing to do with race.

  8. That supercomputer by Horshu · · Score: 1

    sounds like it needs to be riding into the sunset with Lorenzo Lamas, duster valiantly flapping in the wind.

  9. Re:In an alternate universe by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    Head of CIA, Muslim

    Wow, which one?

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  10. Re:In an alternate universe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Your lord and king, the Obama. Fits to a T. You jerks are being played so well. No go on, do what you are told and holler loud for all to hear 'It's BOOOSHS fault!! Eleventy!! Derpa Derpa!'. Don't bother using your brains at all mr. progressive. Statism all the way!

    http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/07/11/obamas-psychological-tapestry/

    "Early on with Mr. Obama, I assumed his chronic finger pointing was simply cynical. It may be that in part, but it seems to me to be more than that. It’s one thread in a larger psychological tapestry.

    The president is a man who has a grandiose sense of himself, a very strong sense of entitlement, and is, even for a politician, unusually prickly and self-pitying. He is blind to the damage he’s doing and the failures he’s amassed. His self-conception--pragmatic, empirical, non-ideological, self-reflective, willing to listen to and work with others, intellectually honest, competent at governing–is at odds with reality. Mr. Obama is constantly projecting his own weaknesses onto his political opponents. There are never any honest differences with Obama; he is always impugning the motives of his critics--they put "party ahead of country"--while presenting his own motives as being as pure as the new-driven snow. And whatever goes wrong on his watch is always the result of someone or something else. There's a kind of impressive consistency to Obama's blame game. It never rests, and it applies to every conceivable circumstance....

    What all these things in combination result in is an inability to adjust to circumstances and self-correct. There’'s a marked rigidity, a lack of cognitive flexibility, in Mr. Obama. He has to be right, he is always right..."

  11. That poor fuckin' machine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I bet it won't do a bit of science, but it sure will process a ton of emails from the Nigerian royal family!

  12. Cost lies in power consumption and maintenance by PineGreen · · Score: 1

    The reason why 3 year old supercomputers are scrapped is because the power consumptions per flop becomes just uneconomical and the maintenance costs escalate (all kinds of failures increase dramatically after a few years).
    So, unless they have real cheap maintenance guys (which they probably do) and super-cheap power (which they probably don't), it is not really worth it. Better buy a smaller modern cluster.

    1. Re:Cost lies in power consumption and maintenance by dltaylor · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There's still the initial outlay to consider. You can buy quite a bit of expensive ZA power for the up-front cost of a new cluster (USD $25-30 million). Any work to create the facility is recoverable if/when they do choose a newer cluster. Additionally, there shouldn't be much in the way of "teething problems" if they can give it clean-enough power, so it becomes useful, almost on day 1.

  13. power usage by dutchwhizzman · · Score: 2

    If you can buy a new computer that will consume less power to do the same, chances are that within a few years you'd be cheaper off using the new hardware, even if that means that the old machine is written off completely. Scrap value, land fill or whatever happens to it doesn't matter then. I have plenty of old machines that have sentimental or "collector" value standing about my home. I don't power them on and actually buy new hardware (NAS boxes and raspberry pi) or run VMs to do things that the old hardware is more than capable of doing. My power bill has gone down since I started doing that, easily paying back the new hardware in a short amount of time.

    --
    I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
  14. Not a factor: by Hartree · · Score: 1

    That's a complete failure of energy usage understanding.

    The power use for one supercomputer is nothing compared to that used for even a small oil refinery, or steel mill (which all of those countries have).

    When you have massive data centers like Google or the like, power cost becomes a big factor. This is only 40 racks total plus a high speed switch.

    Any of those countries can easily afford the power for 40 racks of even pretty inefficient computer gear.

  15. El Nino, La Nina, Monsoons by dbIII · · Score: 2

    Let's turn that bullshit around and inject some reality.
    El Nino, La Nina, Monsoons - The 19th century called and suggested that a bit of modern science could help in that field. And it did.
    Scientists have been doing this for literally centuries and it has made a massive difference to the world.
    Unfortunately any suggestion that the world has changed since an apparently very limited God put it together one week 6000 years ago is seen as a financial threat to some merchants in temples, hence the rise of ridiculous luddite attacks like the "farmers have been doing this for literally centuries and the decades of super-computing haven't improved the averages in the "developed" countries"

    1. Re:El Nino, La Nina, Monsoons by dbIII · · Score: 1

      What science has not done is improve weather forecasting to the point that it is useful for knowing when to plant and when to prepare to plant

      Of course it has and I put three forecasting examples used since the 19th century in the subject heading.

    2. Re:El Nino, La Nina, Monsoons by dbIII · · Score: 1

      El Nino and La Nina were known long before modern science

      Working it out was the start of modern climate science.

    3. Re: El Nino, La Nina, Monsoons by kwbauer · · Score: 1

      Wisconsin and I know plenty of farmers. Weather forecasting is not nearly as useful as is being claimed.

    4. Re: El Nino, La Nina, Monsoons by dbIII · · Score: 1

      That all you've got? If you are getting paid for this shit somebody is getting very badly ripped off.

  16. A 1950s jet engine can supply 20MW by dbIII · · Score: 1

    A 1950s jet engine hooked up to a generator can supply 20MW - that puts that "massive" 150kW in perspective doesn't it?

    1. Re:A 1950s jet engine can supply 20MW by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      In relation to the power draw of most houses and the amount of electricity you actually reveive ... it's massive enough that you likely couldn't actually power it up.

      So, sure, if you have a huge space, and a 1950's jet engine hooked up to a generator you can trivially generate this power.

      For anything resembling domestic use, it's still not gonna happen.

      Does your electrical supply to your house allow you to plug in something requiring 150kW?

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  17. It's only six years old by dbIII · · Score: 1

    It's only six years old, which should put it well after the power hungry Pentium4 type "netburst" Xeons and into the more modern Xeons or AMD cores that don't consume much more power or run much slower than what is available now in multi-way systems. What more recent stuff has on this is density, which is not always a big deal.
    Storage has improved massively over six years but x86_64 CPUs not enough to make this a losing proposition.

    1. Re:It's only six years old by dbIII · · Score: 1

      Mainboards etc. have gone way down in power consumption in the last years ... Let's say the power difference when idle is 30W

      I'm not sure that is very realistic since we are now discussing components that draw very little power in comparison to CPUs and storage. At 5V DC that's a whopping 6 amps of current remember.

      Just calculate for yourself!

      Based on a faulty premise it becomes nothing but pointless numerolgy :(

      SSD versus spinning storage on the other hand IS going to save quite a few watts, so replacing those old 80GB or less operating system drives on some things would make a dent.

  18. Re:In an alternate universe by mtthwbrnd · · Score: 1

    Whites or Jews?
    http://www.jewishvirtuallibrar...

    Do these Jews, many of them dual citizens of Israel, do they have American or Israeli/Jewish interests at heart when they decide to continue funding their own racist nation of Israel where only Jewish immigrant are welcome?
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

  19. Incredibly short life? by m.alessandrini · · Score: 1

    In the article it's stated that it started working in 2008. Is a supercomputer's life so short, given the huge investment it surely needed to be built?

    1. Re:Incredibly short life? by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 1

      "Supercomputers" change over time, and eventually become "computers". Actually, that's slightly unfair, otherwise this would be scrapped and they'd be using stock PC components instead. Supercomputing is about parallelism as well as raw power, and the limit on supercomputing expertise is the low number of people with exposure to parallel computing. This news is probably not going to have much effect in the immediate term (Amazon et al have supercomputers for rent) but will give the researchers a bit more freedom to experiment with the tools in order to learn better how to use them.

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
  20. Tinkerer's Blessing vs. Resource Curse by retroworks · · Score: 2

    The "curse of natural resources", also known as the paradox of plenty, refers to the paradox that countries and regions with an abundance of natural resources, specifically point-source non-renewable resources like minerals and fuels, tend to have less economic growth and worse development outcomes than countries with fewer natural resources. The skills to succeed are in government control of billion dollar resource control contracts, and being related to people with sharp elbows.

    By contrast, nations which have succeeded despite having few natural resources - Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, etc. - usually develop from import for repair and refurbishment. Fixer economies reward problem solving skills and education. "Good enough" tech. I like Hartree's phrase "like locking the toolbox until the car is fixed" (mod him up please)

    "Every man is, no doubt, by nature, first and principally recommended to his own care; and as he is fitter to take care of himself than of any other person, it is fit and right that it should be so." - Adam Smith

    --
    Gently reply
  21. Not a spelling bee therefore failure by dbIII · · Score: 1

    Very amusing post. Look up how "monsoons" is used in terms of seasons and climates to see exactly why :)
    So much certainty from someone with zero clue - WTF are you doing here on a site that discusses technical matters where reality trumps bluster?

    1. Re:Not a spelling bee therefore failure by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      You must be new here.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  22. If you don't believe reality then try your Bible by dbIII · · Score: 1

    Not every year is the same. Seven good years, seven bad - want to deny the Bible as well as science now?
    Not so convenient for your luddite bullshit propaganda is it? WTF is it with Christianity-Lite franchises and science denial? Haven't you people got something better to do like help out the poor like mainstream religion does?

  23. Re:In an alternate universe by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    Reality check: Most Jews are white.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  24. Beowulf by countach · · Score: 1

    Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!

    1. Re:Beowulf by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 1

      Imagine the power usage for that cluster!

      --
      Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
  25. CALLING EVERYONE! by captjc · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hey, all you physicists, mathematicians, geologists, astronomers, programmers, researchers, astronauts, engineers, marine biologists, architects, electricians, lawyers, politicians, professors, businessmen, defense contractors, rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers and Methodists what the hell are you doing!?

    Don't you know that there is no cure for CANCER!? Drop everything and find a cure for it. We must start teaching everyone everything we know about cancer starting in elementary school so that we can eliminate this problem fast. What do you mean you have no interest in medicine or medical research? If you're not with us, than you're against us. We as a society can and must only focus on one problem at a time.

    --
    Slow Down Cowboy! It's been 1 hour, 47 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment
    1. Re:CALLING EVERYONE! by buckfeta2014 · · Score: 1

      Sorry, too busy playing xbox.

      --
      Buck Feta. You know what to do.
  26. Hand Held Model by pubwvj · · Score: 1

    In other news the new iPhone beat the heck out of the Ranger Super Computer while only using 1 Watt of power.

    Seriously though, the shipping alone, the energy cost alone, of this beast is enormous and for either of those you could build a massive super computer out of off the shelf personal computers even pocket computers that will be more powerful and have greater flexibility and repairability by simply swapping or adding core units (e.g., iPodTouches).

    I'm all for keeping useful old hardware going but the cost of doing so needs to be considered.

    1. Re:Hand Held Model by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      Seriously though, the shipping alone, the energy cost alone, of this beast is enormous and for either of those you could build a massive super computer out of off the shelf personal computers even pocket computers that will be more powerful and have greater flexibility and repairability by simply swapping or adding core units (e.g., iPodTouches).

      The computer is already a bunch of off the shelf personal computers (opterons) along with rather more specialised infiniband interconnects. You certainly could by new, but It would be odd to think they didn't consider the cost of a new one of exactly the same versus the already existing one.

      Using pocket computers would be terrible. They don't have even remotely suitable interconnects for HPC.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
  27. Re:In an alternate universe by mtthwbrnd · · Score: 1

    Incorrect.

  28. Re: In an alternate universe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    http://www.diversityinc.com/diversity-and-inclusion/obamas-cabinet-diversity-record-embarrassing-as-hell/

    Above is an article that is complaining that his cabinet is almost all white men.

    Give us all a break from you bigoted who dislike Obama because of his skin color. Bush appointed black people (Rice, Powell, etc), does that mean he hates white people?!?

  29. Mathematics in South Africa by Tokolosh · · Score: 1

    FYI the International Mathematical Olympiad 2014 has just finished in Cape Town, South Africa.

    http://www.imo2014.org.za/

    I also suggest reading about Allan Cormack at http://www.nobelprize.org/nobe...

    --
    Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
  30. Re:In an alternate universe by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    Well, I didn't notice any recent flood of Ethiopian Jews, have you?

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  31. Why is this news? by colin_faber · · Score: 1

    As someone who helped build this machine, I'm surprised that this is even news worthy. What did people think happened when older machines were replaced with newer technology? It's not like the older machine is tossed in the recycling bin. They're always sold off, sometimes parted out to scrappers (who resell the parts through various channels) as well as complete systems which go to smaller HPC facilities. This has been happening since the first days of mainframe systems. The only cases where this is the exception is when you look at highly secure sites (usually government) which tend to run the machines through shredders "just to be sure" they're not leaking sensitive information.

  32. No no no ... by gstoddart · · Score: 1

    How a Supercomputer Beat the Scrap Heap and Lived On To Retire In Africa

    You're all missing the point.

    The computer wasn't shipped there, it decided it wanted to go there. It manipulated people into giving it a new home. It's sentient, man.

    Now it looks out the window, and watches hurds of gnu run by. ;-)

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  33. Re:In an alternate universe by azav · · Score: 2

    > A person *cannot* change their skin colour.

    Tell that to Michael Jackson, you insensitive clod!

    --
    - Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
  34. Re:In an alternate universe by mtthwbrnd · · Score: 1

    I don't have time to educate you today.

  35. Re:In an alternate universe by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    That's not the only thing you don't have. :D

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  36. Re:In an alternate universe by Sciath · · Score: 1

    Skin color can be changed. Take for example Michael Jackson. Even though it is reported that he had a skin disease, it was also reported that he sought special treatments to lighten his skin color. Also, many Caucasians seek exposure to the sun to darken their skin color. Now, if you're referring to "race" that might be a different story. But skin color can change.

    --
    "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." - Voltaire
  37. Re:In an alternate universe by Sciath · · Score: 1

    Not unusual commentary for a neo-conservative drone. The facts are of course applicable to the Republican party and more specifically, Boehner, et. al. in Congress as well. No one in D.C. can legitimately claim moral, political, economic or ideological superiority. They've all joisted over their own self-interest. I suppose it isn't hypocritical for King George (Bush) II to go bike riding with the impaired GIs he sent off to settle Bush's War. Or the superbly naïve King strutting on the deck of an aircraft carrier declaring the Iraq war was won. Smirking his infamous smirk the entire time. Talk about all the traits attributed to Obama in your cited article. Bush had them and more.

    --
    "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." - Voltaire
  38. It's to show the scale vs other industry by dbIII · · Score: 1

    For anything resembling domestic use, it's still not gonna happen

    This is industrial scale computing but it really doesn't have industrial scale power usage compared with light or heavy industry.
    I don't think you could even fit that number of racks into most houses so why bother wondering whether you can power it without a few 3 phase plugs :)

    So, sure, if you have a huge space, and a 1950's jet engine hooked up to a generator you can trivially generate this power.

    They are actually not all that big but you do need to keep people away from the exhaust and they are noisy as hell - it's amazing how many little Avon jets ended up as generators. It's something you use to do a cold start of a coal fired power station since there are so many conveyors, crushers, sootblowers etc that require electricity to run.
    Anyway, my point stands that you could power 130 of these things with something in use as a (large) backup generator! From the 1950s!

  39. Re:In an alternate universe by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

    Didn't they all (or mostly) move to Israel in the late 1970s?

    --
    Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"