I concur. While I have a cluster of 10 24" rack mount units (each 2U, each holding two PCs) that are older than dirt, I cluster them for the sake of learning how. It's far cheaper than buying 10 xeon systems or what-not. In my case space is a non-issue, nor is performance. If you are serious about cluster computing then maybe you should consider something purpose built? As I see it, the mini-ITX is only good for front-ends to any given system. -nB
I'm just curious about what they will do if they have to retire the greek char. For example Katrina will not be used in the next rotation when it would be due, because of the damage associated with it.
For some reason I feel reluctant to retire a greek character O_O -nB
"Good leaders are worth more than their weight in gold."
This statement is exceptionally true. I now work for a manager, who works for a manager trying his best to be a leader, who in turn is working for yet another manager. It's killing him, but the staff sees he is trying and we pull for him. My direct manager is more staff than management anyway, so I don't really pay any attention to him except when something's borked.
Two of the best _leaders_ in my department are techs. not engineers, not management, techs. Everyone resepects them, does what they suggest, and we always come out ahead. -nB
Sounds very much like Heinleins foundation in his future history series (I forget the name at the moment, which means I need to re-read the future history). -nB
Back in the earlier days I noticed that my AMDs ran hotter than Intel equivalent procs. Now that the tables are reversed, and opteron seems to be proficient for this stuff I may look at AMD when the time for a new round of PCs comes up (I'll build one of each and see what happens). Most of my work is render based, not live streaming, so I never looked in that direction. In fact the long ass pipelines that make the Intel a poorer choice for games work marvelously for my application. I have to admit to not trying an opteron based system, as my target device was to run a single thread app, which all but takes over the system anyway.
As to the software, it is a combination of C(++) compiled with Intel optimizing compilers and P4 assembly code for two of the tightest loops in the app. I do not desire to re-write them (as I did not do so in the first place).
I have used AMD in the past and every time I've had issues with the system. More than once (countless times actually since the 80286 days) I've had the CPU simply fail, and in the past I've seen support (hardware & driver) being sub standard when compared to the Intel solution. While I agree that the driver support seems to have gotten better over time, and in fact it looks as if AMD _may_ be finally coming into their own, at least as a gaming platform, I've been burnt one too many times by AMD to go back and try it again. Besides, the Intel solution is still vastly superior for my application (video processing), and I play all of two games, both on a console.
While I am an Intel fanboy, and thus don't like AMD per se, this is in fact a huge deal. Shared memory systems are the holy grail of high performance computing, but traditionally have been so expensive that smaller groups (mom and pop shops, Jr. Colleges, many universities) simply can not afford them. This will open up a new era of HPC and I am glad for it. Now if they will support the P4m and/or Xenon I would be hopping with glee. -nB
Making the program understandable and maintainable is far more important than trying to squeeze out every last ounce of performance.
For the most part I agree with you on this. Where I have to depart, and where, I suspect, the person asking in the first place was going, is small loops that are accessed repeatedly. I have some code that I maintain which is (was now) slow as syrup at 100 Kelvin. As it turned out, there were 5 or so operations that were always called, recursively, which were written for maintainability, not speed. I re-wrote those functions with a mind for speed and simply commented the hell out of it. Now the program runs acceptably (downright fast compared to the old rev), the users are happy, and the code is incomprehensable in 5.c files. Hopefully the fact that there is 3 lines of comments to every line of code (on average, and written as clearly as I cna tink to do) will make up for it. -nB
It is up to the employee to insure their tools. Most do not, as they have the (mostly deserved) feeling that anyone who breaks into a dealership is there for the cars, not the tools. Since the shop does not own the tools, the shop's insurance does not cover them. The mechanic's homeowners insurance will not cover them as they are not "personal tools", they are used for business, much like your car insurance not covering you when driving for an employer in your vehicle, only when driving for yourself. It's a hell of a catch 22, but that's where the insurance is (or isn't as the case is here). -nB
It's actually an interesting thought experiment. One must assume that if we've figured out FTL travel, we also have exquisite detectors to seperate the EM signal from the noise. hm... I wonder if we can have some fun with this (along the lines of DHMO/Hydroxil Acid)
Hey record exec! did you know that by using FTLT it is possible to capture the remanant of earlier broadcasts, in essence making every broadcast a recording? What!! Who do I call about this! Who can we sue! -nB
In this case the right being not a written law, but rather case law. While I don't see any judge wanting to overturn the Betamax decision, it can be done (far easier than if it was a law passed by congress). Once Betamax is voided all hell breaks loose. -nB
"Why? Do you even know why the UN (& before them, the Legue of Nations) was created? Is this one those "The UN is a sign of the apocolypse!" crazy ideas that seem to be so prevalient right now?"
No, it's a "I'm tired of all the fuckups that have their root in the UN"
And, while I'm at burning karma: To the mods that modded me Troll: Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, My previous post was flamebait, not trolling. -nB
While I think you're joking about that last part (at least I hope you are) I agree with the GP poster, withdrawl our forces from all UN operations. (of course I've wanted that for a long time).
To our comrads in the UN who want to yank the the root servers: Fuck you and the horse you rode in on. -nB
Add to that they usually have to buy their own tools, including specialty tools, and the up-front cost is kinda high. My uncle works at a cadillac dealer as a mechanic, they had a break-in last month and most of the guys lost their tools. Dealership essentially shut down their service department for a week, also fronted the guys money, interest free, to buy new tools. Corp sent two sets of specialty tools for the shop to share.
(I have a feeling the owner of the dealership paid for the shop tools, not Corp, as he also fronted the interest free money). So while they're getting a break, they still have to re-buy all their tools (about 100K for a full set). -nB
I think it is a brilliant idea though. For example DRM'd WMA10 or whatever, using bit torrent, $5.00 per movie unlimited viewings, $.99 per movie, one viewing. That would take off like wildfire (and likely displace a good measure of piracy). If they want to host all the bandwith then make it $10/$3. For super DRM'd, can't watch it on TV without a "special decoder ring" media I think the sweet spot (for unlimited viewing) is in the $5-7 range. much more than that and people will complain, because they can buy the disk at WalMart for $10-$20 and watch it where ever/when ever they want. -nB
I would tend to think that a "White Worm" that escaped to the wild would not likely do too much damage in the first place. That said, since the intent was not malicious (even if the result was) there is a good likelyhood that corp.s would only get a fine (and a small one at that) if one got to the wild.
Honestly though, I would be more worried about government worms, as those employees are much harder to fire for incompetance, and as a result will likely pay less attention to detail when crafting one of these things. Hell I could see a pissed off government IT guy "going postal" er. . . "going wormey?" and unleashing a destructive worm, not meant to escape, but escaping none the less and wreaking blaster level havoc.
The real catch here? You can not sue the government without the governments permission (at least here in the US). -nB
Re:This sort of thing...
on
RIAA Sues a Child
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Capitulating that you have not taken anything from them (we'll stay away from the whole lost sale thing) you have still violated copyright and that is wrong. While I am not one to excuse the ??AA's actions, I also attempt to follow the law of the land to a reasonable extent. If you really feel that way, buy your format of choice from allofmp3 and really piss them off. As I recall allofmp3 does, in fact, pay for the songs you download, it's just not as much as the ??AA would like to get, thus pissing them off more. -nB
Slashdot Mirror
I was in no way thinking that an oxide would form. I was hoping there would be some impicit sarcasam. :)
-nB
how the hell did that get past the lameness filter? :-)
damn that's a lame filter.
-nB
Well there should be a fair ammount of lithium there by now, not sure about the oxygen though. :)
-nB
I concur.
While I have a cluster of 10 24" rack mount units (each 2U, each holding two PCs) that are older than dirt, I cluster them for the sake of learning how. It's far cheaper than buying 10 xeon systems or what-not. In my case space is a non-issue, nor is performance. If you are serious about cluster computing then maybe you should consider something purpose built? As I see it, the mini-ITX is only good for front-ends to any given system.
-nB
The weather service uses names for much the same reason the semiconductor uses codenames. It's just easier on the human mind.
-nB
I'm just curious about what they will do if they have to retire the greek char.
For example Katrina will not be used in the next rotation when it would be due, because of the damage associated with it.
For some reason I feel reluctant to retire a greek character O_O
-nB
"Good leaders are worth more than their weight in gold."
This statement is exceptionally true. I now work for a manager, who works for a manager trying his best to be a leader, who in turn is working for yet another manager. It's killing him, but the staff sees he is trying and we pull for him. My direct manager is more staff than management anyway, so I don't really pay any attention to him except when something's borked.
Two of the best _leaders_ in my department are techs. not engineers, not management, techs. Everyone resepects them, does what they suggest, and we always come out ahead.
-nB
The former, thanks ;)
-nB
Sounds very much like Heinleins foundation in his future history series (I forget the name at the moment, which means I need to re-read the future history).
-nB
Back in the earlier days I noticed that my AMDs ran hotter than Intel equivalent procs. Now that the tables are reversed, and opteron seems to be proficient for this stuff I may look at AMD when the time for a new round of PCs comes up (I'll build one of each and see what happens). Most of my work is render based, not live streaming, so I never looked in that direction. In fact the long ass pipelines that make the Intel a poorer choice for games work marvelously for my application. I have to admit to not trying an opteron based system, as my target device was to run a single thread app, which all but takes over the system anyway.
As to the software, it is a combination of C(++) compiled with Intel optimizing compilers and P4 assembly code for two of the tightest loops in the app. I do not desire to re-write them (as I did not do so in the first place).
-nB
I have used AMD in the past and every time I've had issues with the system. More than once (countless times actually since the 80286 days) I've had the CPU simply fail, and in the past I've seen support (hardware & driver) being sub standard when compared to the Intel solution.
While I agree that the driver support seems to have gotten better over time, and in fact it looks as if AMD _may_ be finally coming into their own, at least as a gaming platform, I've been burnt one too many times by AMD to go back and try it again.
Besides, the Intel solution is still vastly superior for my application (video processing), and I play all of two games, both on a console.
-nB
While I am an Intel fanboy, and thus don't like AMD per se, this is in fact a huge deal. Shared memory systems are the holy grail of high performance computing, but traditionally have been so expensive that smaller groups (mom and pop shops, Jr. Colleges, many universities) simply can not afford them. This will open up a new era of HPC and I am glad for it. Now if they will support the P4m and/or Xenon I would be hopping with glee.
-nB
Besides which, what is they use Buy it now exclusively?
-nB
teh one !!11!1!!1
-nB
I feel dirty writing that.
Making the program understandable and maintainable is far more important than trying to squeeze out every last ounce of performance.
.c files. Hopefully the fact that there is 3 lines of comments to every line of code (on average, and written as clearly as I cna tink to do) will make up for it.
For the most part I agree with you on this. Where I have to depart, and where, I suspect, the person asking in the first place was going, is small loops that are accessed repeatedly. I have some code that I maintain which is (was now) slow as syrup at 100 Kelvin. As it turned out, there were 5 or so operations that were always called, recursively, which were written for maintainability, not speed. I re-wrote those functions with a mind for speed and simply commented the hell out of it. Now the program runs acceptably (downright fast compared to the old rev), the users are happy, and the code is incomprehensable in 5
-nB
It is up to the employee to insure their tools. Most do not, as they have the (mostly deserved) feeling that anyone who breaks into a dealership is there for the cars, not the tools. Since the shop does not own the tools, the shop's insurance does not cover them. The mechanic's homeowners insurance will not cover them as they are not "personal tools", they are used for business, much like your car insurance not covering you when driving for an employer in your vehicle, only when driving for yourself. It's a hell of a catch 22, but that's where the insurance is (or isn't as the case is here).
-nB
Thought it was TPS . . .
hmmm, we better get the Bob's together again to deal with this one.
(yes I got the TPM == content protection joke, just felt like correcting you anyway, fits with the theme)
-nB
It's actually an interesting thought experiment.
One must assume that if we've figured out FTL travel, we also have exquisite detectors to seperate the EM signal from the noise.
hm... I wonder if we can have some fun with this (along the lines of DHMO/Hydroxil Acid)
Hey record exec! did you know that by using FTLT it is possible to capture the remanant of earlier broadcasts, in essence making every broadcast a recording?
What!! Who do I call about this! Who can we sue!
-nB
In this case the right being not a written law, but rather case law. While I don't see any judge wanting to overturn the Betamax decision, it can be done (far easier than if it was a law passed by congress). Once Betamax is voided all hell breaks loose.
-nB
"Why? Do you even know why the UN (& before them, the Legue of Nations) was created? Is this one those "The UN is a sign of the apocolypse!" crazy ideas that seem to be so prevalient right now?"
No, it's a "I'm tired of all the fuckups that have their root in the UN"
And, while I'm at burning karma: To the mods that modded me Troll: Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, My previous post was flamebait, not trolling.
-nB
While I think you're joking about that last part (at least I hope you are) I agree with the GP poster, withdrawl our forces from all UN operations. (of course I've wanted that for a long time).
To our comrads in the UN who want to yank the the root servers: Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.
-nB
Add to that they usually have to buy their own tools, including specialty tools, and the up-front cost is kinda high.
My uncle works at a cadillac dealer as a mechanic, they had a break-in last month and most of the guys lost their tools. Dealership essentially shut down their service department for a week, also fronted the guys money, interest free, to buy new tools. Corp sent two sets of specialty tools for the shop to share.
(I have a feeling the owner of the dealership paid for the shop tools, not Corp, as he also fronted the interest free money). So while they're getting a break, they still have to re-buy all their tools (about 100K for a full set).
-nB
I think it is a brilliant idea though.
For example DRM'd WMA10 or whatever, using bit torrent, $5.00 per movie unlimited viewings, $.99 per movie, one viewing. That would take off like wildfire (and likely displace a good measure of piracy).
If they want to host all the bandwith then make it $10/$3. For super DRM'd, can't watch it on TV without a "special decoder ring" media I think the sweet spot (for unlimited viewing) is in the $5-7 range. much more than that and people will complain, because they can buy the disk at WalMart for $10-$20 and watch it where ever/when ever they want.
-nB
I would tend to think that a "White Worm" that escaped to the wild would not likely do too much damage in the first place. That said, since the intent was not malicious (even if the result was) there is a good likelyhood that corp.s would only get a fine (and a small one at that) if one got to the wild.
Honestly though, I would be more worried about government worms, as those employees are much harder to fire for incompetance, and as a result will likely pay less attention to detail when crafting one of these things. Hell I could see a pissed off government IT guy "going postal" er. . . "going wormey?" and unleashing a destructive worm, not meant to escape, but escaping none the less and wreaking blaster level havoc.
The real catch here? You can not sue the government without the governments permission (at least here in the US).
-nB
Capitulating that you have not taken anything from them (we'll stay away from the whole lost sale thing) you have still violated copyright and that is wrong. While I am not one to excuse the ??AA's actions, I also attempt to follow the law of the land to a reasonable extent. If you really feel that way, buy your format of choice from allofmp3 and really piss them off. As I recall allofmp3 does, in fact, pay for the songs you download, it's just not as much as the ??AA would like to get, thus pissing them off more.
-nB