Fat lot of good it did him to accumulate all that money.... especially on the backs of other people.....
Hope there's a special place in Hell for people like him.....or he comes back as a if you believe in that sort of thing (reincarnation)
Actually, nVidia IS the old SGI Graphics engineering division for all intents and purposes. When Belluso came in and decided that SGI would no longer be a graphics company - the Graphics engineer went off and started nVidia....
Sad Sad day.
I worked for them for almost seventeen years (under 1000 Employee #).....laid off about three years ago. Best company I ever worked for, and a great place to be. Some of the sharpest engineering folks I've ever seen, and the most idiotic management on the planet. The only reason SGI survived as long as it did was due to their exceptional technology (on many levels), but because of the fools at the helm, it didn't have a chance to succeed.
As far as I'm concerned, even though hit continued to rise for a few years based on pure technology...the fall really started when Dr. Clark quit in frustration and went off and started Netscape.....he was the true visionary and the "Core" of the Old SGI, but the board of directors wouldn't let him take the company where it really needed to go.
It's never good to dwell on what might-have-been, but in my opinion, Silicon Graphics had the potential to totally dominate and change the direction of computing as we know it at one time, but because of pure bureaucratic idiocy, was basically strangled in it's infancy. What a waste.
Who's complaining, I just decided to stop playing any game tied to Steam. Valve makes some nice games, but I'm afraid I don't like their attitude. I supported them for years, but not any more....Too much other good stuff out there to put up with their BS.
Who's complaining, I just decided to stop playing any game tied to Steam. Valve makes some nice games, but I'm afraid I don't like their attitude. I supported them for years, but not any more....Too much other good stuff out there to put up with thier BS.
Yes, the original ccNUMA architecture was a bit of a kluge... but SGI's implementation is now at its third generation, and is a very elegant design. Here's a link to a whitepaper on the Altix 3000 (Linux based) system that may be more information than you need, but if you take a quick look at the diagrams, it gives you a good understanding of the single shared memory concept they are using now:
http://www.sgi.com/pdfs/3474.pdf
There are a number of other good sources of information about SGI's implementation of SMP on their web-site (www.sgi.com) , if you want to get more detailed information. (I no longer work for SGI, but I still follow their technology, Great stuff, IMHO.
Yes, they went to the current "flavor" of NUMAFLEX architecture about three years ago. The systems you referred to were probably the original ORIGIN Servers, and you are right, they were a bit of a bear to keep running back then (Many days of lost sleep) . The newer architecture is much more modular. Los Alamos has quite a few different large SGI systems, so the ones you are familiar with are most likely not even close to the current Altix boxes the article refers too. When I left SGI about a year ago, the new NUMAFLEX systems (including Altix) were very stable, and IRIX was well beyond the "Beta" stage (you are absolutely correct...Irix was not ready for primetime about five years ago...but SGI was always at the "bleeding edge"...and so were most of our customer base).
Yes... I was an engineer for SGI for over 16 years (laid off about a year ago)....I have hot-swapped modules on a running system many many times without problems. With the Numaflex archetechure, you have "modules" that house a seperate set of CPUs, memmory, power supply, etc. You shut the offending module down (after the OS has migrated all process's off of it-on the fly). After parts are replacesd, you run a diagnostic off of your laptop/terminal, and bring the module back into the system (OS "sees" the change on the fly and re-integrates the module). It works extreamly well.
Ahh...the SGI Numaflex hardware/software does the same thing (and has for years) i.e., map out bad memory/cpus on-the-fly, never shuts down,etc..etc. (I worked for them for 16+ years).... The 1000+ CPU ORIGIN syetems at Los Alomos (and other places) have been up and running for over three years. If a problem comes up, system migrates process off of that node, flags the engineer, he replaces parts/modules, fires the module back up, system re-integrades that module, and away it goes....system never shuts down. It will be interesting to see if they will be able to do this with Linux, but I don't see why not. I have been "away" from SGI for over a year, but I was always impressed with the NUMAFLEX archetecture....Fun to watch it finally happening with Linux.
WTF??? This didn't add anything to the discussion, other than telling us how much you hate the Bush Administration...and how all the evils in the world are due to Republicans.
Get a grip my friend, join the real world.
Actually, the system is so simple, that it's amazing that it hasn't been adopted. It's the fairest form of taxation, if it's implemented properly.
The reason it will most likley never happen, is because of the HUGE tax lobby in this coutry (mostly IRS and Tax Lawyers/ Accountants, but mainly Polititians BTW, my wife is a CPA, She knows). It would be more difficult to "buy votes" this way.....re-distribution of wealth would not be as easy as it is today.
If you think April 15th gives you nightmares, if are a small business owner (I am), you have to fork over your tax $$$ four times a year! but again, - gets very painful writing those checks.
Here's a bunch of people who are working on the idea, and explains just how simple it really is: http://www.fairtax.org/
I'm surprised that no one figured this out before...all companies do this (pass costs on to their customers)..
It's just like these people who constantly want Corporations to "pay more taxes"......Companies DO NOT
PAY TAXES !!! They only collect the taxes from YOU (the consumer ) and then pay Uncle Sugar to re-distribute as the Politicians see fit. Great system, isn't it.
Time to go to the Flat Tax System (as the RUSSIANS have !!) -no income tax, only consumables are taxed - everyone pays the same flat rate. I doubt it's possible in the US though... the IRS and Tax Attorneys are too powerful...it would put them out of business.
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Fat lot of good it did him to accumulate all that money.... especially on the backs of other people..... Hope there's a special place in Hell for people like him .....or he comes back as a if you believe in that sort of thing (reincarnation)
Actually, nVidia IS the old SGI Graphics engineering division for all intents and purposes. When Belluso came in and decided that SGI would no longer be a graphics company - the Graphics engineer went off and started nVidia....
Sad Sad day. I worked for them for almost seventeen years (under 1000 Employee #).....laid off about three years ago. Best company I ever worked for, and a great place to be. Some of the sharpest engineering folks I've ever seen, and the most idiotic management on the planet. The only reason SGI survived as long as it did was due to their exceptional technology (on many levels), but because of the fools at the helm, it didn't have a chance to succeed. As far as I'm concerned, even though hit continued to rise for a few years based on pure technology...the fall really started when Dr. Clark quit in frustration and went off and started Netscape.....he was the true visionary and the "Core" of the Old SGI, but the board of directors wouldn't let him take the company where it really needed to go. It's never good to dwell on what might-have-been, but in my opinion, Silicon Graphics had the potential to totally dominate and change the direction of computing as we know it at one time, but because of pure bureaucratic idiocy, was basically strangled in it's infancy. What a waste.
Who's complaining, I just decided to stop playing any game tied to Steam. Valve makes some nice games, but I'm afraid I don't like their attitude. I supported them for years, but not any more....Too much other good stuff out there to put up with their BS.
Who's complaining, I just decided to stop playing any game tied to Steam. Valve makes some nice games, but I'm afraid I don't like their attitude. I supported them for years, but not any more....Too much other good stuff out there to put up with thier BS.
Yes, the original ccNUMA architecture was a bit of a kluge... but SGI's implementation is now at its third generation, and is a very elegant design. Here's a link to a whitepaper on the Altix 3000 (Linux based) system that may be more information than you need, but if you take a quick look at the diagrams, it gives you a good understanding of the single shared memory concept they are using now: http://www.sgi.com/pdfs/3474.pdf There are a number of other good sources of information about SGI's implementation of SMP on their web-site (www.sgi.com) , if you want to get more detailed information. (I no longer work for SGI, but I still follow their technology, Great stuff, IMHO.
Yes..you are correct. The "internal" name for the system when it was being developed (and at least at the time I left) was "Lego"
Yes, they went to the current "flavor" of NUMAFLEX architecture about three years ago. The systems you referred to were probably the original ORIGIN Servers, and you are right, they were a bit of a bear to keep running back then (Many days of lost sleep) . The newer architecture is much more modular. Los Alamos has quite a few different large SGI systems, so the ones you are familiar with are most likely not even close to the current Altix boxes the article refers too. When I left SGI about a year ago, the new NUMAFLEX systems (including Altix) were very stable, and IRIX was well beyond the "Beta" stage (you are absolutely correct...Irix was not ready for primetime about five years ago...but SGI was always at the "bleeding edge"...and so were most of our customer base).
Yes... I was an engineer for SGI for over 16 years (laid off about a year ago)....I have hot-swapped modules on a running system many many times without problems. With the Numaflex archetechure, you have "modules" that house a seperate set of CPUs, memmory, power supply, etc. You shut the offending module down (after the OS has migrated all process's off of it-on the fly). After parts are replacesd, you run a diagnostic off of your laptop/terminal, and bring the module back into the system (OS "sees" the change on the fly and re-integrates the module). It works extreamly well.
Ahh...the SGI Numaflex hardware/software does the same thing (and has for years) i.e., map out bad memory/cpus on-the-fly, never shuts down,etc..etc. (I worked for them for 16+ years).... The 1000+ CPU ORIGIN syetems at Los Alomos (and other places) have been up and running for over three years. If a problem comes up, system migrates process off of that node, flags the engineer, he replaces parts/modules, fires the module back up, system re-integrades that module, and away it goes....system never shuts down.
It will be interesting to see if they will be able to do this with Linux, but I don't see why not. I have been "away" from SGI for over a year, but I was always impressed with the NUMAFLEX archetecture....Fun to watch it finally happening with Linux.
WTF??? This didn't add anything to the discussion, other than telling us how much you hate the Bush Administration...and how all the evils in the world are due to Republicans. Get a grip my friend, join the real world.
Actually, the system is so simple, that it's amazing that it hasn't been adopted. It's the fairest form of taxation, if it's implemented properly.
:
The reason it will most likley never happen, is because of the HUGE tax lobby in this coutry (mostly IRS and Tax Lawyers/ Accountants, but mainly Polititians BTW, my wife is a CPA, She knows). It would be more difficult to "buy votes" this way.....re-distribution of wealth would not be as easy as it is today.
If you think April 15th gives you nightmares, if are a small business owner (I am), you have to fork over your tax $$$ four times a year! but again, - gets very painful writing those checks.
Here's a bunch of people who are working on the idea, and explains just how simple it really is
http://www.fairtax.org/
Interesting reading, if nothing else.
I'm surprised that no one figured this out before...all companies do this (pass costs on to their customers).. It's just like these people who constantly want Corporations to "pay more taxes"......Companies DO NOT PAY TAXES !!! They only collect the taxes from YOU (the consumer ) and then pay Uncle Sugar to re-distribute as the Politicians see fit. Great system, isn't it. Time to go to the Flat Tax System (as the RUSSIANS have !!) -no income tax, only consumables are taxed - everyone pays the same flat rate. I doubt it's possible in the US though... the IRS and Tax Attorneys are too powerful...it would put them out of business.