Post #23,749
1/10/02 10:11:12 AM
1/10/02 10:30:03 AM
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Grid Computing. The next big thing?
And how does cluster software and open-source in general fit in? Any comments?
I believe that OSS has advanced the rate of growth in both the supercluster market and the grid computing phenomenon? I also believe we are just starting to see the tip of the iceberg.
[link|http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2835949,00.html|
Open source is the loom for fabrics]
By Rob Fixmer
eWEEK
January 7, 2002 [TalkBack!]
In the fall of 1998, Erick and Linda Von Schweber, founders of the Infomaniacs think tank, published an article in eWEEK predicting the evolution of "a new wave in computing--one that we believe promises within the next five years to deliver almost limitless cheap computing power and to change the balance of power among technology vendors."They called their idea "computing fabrics" and described it as "a new architecture" that would "erase the distinctions between network and computer" by linking "thousands of processors and storage devices into a single system."
Today, only three years into their five-year time frame, the concept is called "grid computing," and, increasingly, it's hailed as the Next Big Thing. Fabric? Grid? The only difference is the density of the weave.
Recently, as I reread the von Schwebers' prescient article, I realized that the one major phenomenon they failed to anticipate proved as important as all the things they got right.
Although Linux was already gaining popularity on campuses and in research centers in 1998, the phenomenon they underestimated was the open-source movement. As it turns out, it is the open-source Globus Project that is making grid computing possible in a way--and at a speed--none of the proprietary initiatives they cited could have hoped to achieve.
In 20/20 hindsight, it now seems to have been inevitable. Open-source development is the human version of distributed processing, and it boasts many of the same efficiencies that make grid computing attractive.
<<<<<
P.S. Here is a related article.
[link|http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=02/01/09/0351213|
New company markets 'personal' Linux cluster in a tower-sized box]
Wednesday January 09, 04:50 AM EST [ GNU/Linux ]
- By Grant Gross -
Several initiatives in the past year have focused on bringing high-powered Linux clusters to businesses. Now comes a Linux cluster machine designed to be plugged into a workstation or laptop box and fit under your desk. A young company called Rocketcalc is pitching its Redstone desktop tower-sized box as a personal cluster computer.
Bryan Lewis, principle partner at Rocketcalc , says the company has been marketing the Redstone machines to universities, where math and science researchers can use the power of a Linux cluster, and to graphics and engineering related businesses. But Lewis acknowledges that some individuals have expressed interest in the Redstone, with a stock configuration cost ranging from $4,500 to $6,500.
Edited by brettj
Jan. 10, 2002, 10:30:03 AM EST
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Post #23,754
1/10/02 10:39:52 AM
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this is new? why do ya think they call it switch fabric in
the network. The old Fortune computers, little engines that could used similar technology, make everything independant with the os handing off calls to all the little processors. 1986 thereabouts. Unisphere, Cisco Alcatel is currently doing that with switches and routers.
thanx,
bill
My Dreams aren't as empty as my conscience seems to be
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Post #23,831
1/10/02 9:15:18 PM
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Here's what I did this weekend, and kicked a note to someone
WHHEEEEEEEE!!!!!
I created a vanilla mosix cluster server, as per specs.
I THEN used "ClumpOS":
[link|http://clumpos.psoftware.org/|http://clumpos.psoftware.org/]
to create a bootable CD for peer node.
When you boot a PC with the CD, is automagically
creates a Mosix client which then joins the cluster
as a compute server.
Imagine:
Configure a single server.
Plug in a stack of vanilla PCs, no hard disk, no monitor, no nothing.
Boot from CD, which picks up it's IP via DHCP.
Toss tasks to the server, and they run anywhere.
Also, check out the 3d monitor that comes with ClumpOS.
Now to determine where my balance between compute and IO
come into play.
Barry
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Post #23,978
1/11/02 8:17:05 PM
1/11/02 8:51:28 PM
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Not new, just "soon to be" bigger, eh?
Seldom do new innovations make it big overnight, possibly with the exception of the "web" and the Beatles? :)
Notice I didn't call it the net (which has been around since the 60's.)
Edit #1 -
Examples of up-and-comers, yet not too new:
e-commerce
peer-to-peer software
pda-cell phones
net radio
What else can we add to the list?
Edited by brettj
Jan. 11, 2002, 08:51:28 PM EST
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Post #23,989
1/11/02 9:33:18 PM
1/11/02 9:36:36 PM
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Add to the list
Smart Clothes (as in computers that you wear)
Chemical Computers
Biometrics
Quantium Computing
Biochips
Holographic displays
Bubble Memory
Combo PDA/Pager/Phone/GPS unit (One step up from the Visor Cellphone module)
Kitchen Appliances (Toasters that can make toast and read your email)
Video Game consoles that double as a Personal Cmputer with add ons. (XBox eat your heart out! The revenge of the Coleco Adam and Atari Graduator keyboard.)
High power fuel cell batteries (imagine a laptop you can run for days off the same battery)
Affordable Wireless Internet
More broadband at affordable prices
Networkable Home appliances (imagine your whole house networked up to small appliances like the VCR, TV, Cable/Satelite receiver, Coffee Makers, Lights, AC, all control by computer.)
"In order to completely solve a problem, you must make sure that the root of the problem is completely removed! If you leave the root, the problem will come back later to get you." - Norman King
Edited by nking
Jan. 11, 2002, 09:36:36 PM EST
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Post #24,025
1/12/02 10:14:44 AM
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We forgot about Virtual Reality in the living room.
Thanks to the power of cluster software.
P.S. Can you expand on the topic of Bubble Memory. I am unfamiliar with the term.
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Post #24,038
1/12/02 12:29:12 PM
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Bubble Memory
It was a technology that AT&T came up with before the breakup. My father used to talk about it, but hardly anything was done with it.
It is supposed to be smaller than conventional memory and hold more as well. It uses magnetism instead of electricity to hold the bit.
An official definition is:
A type of non-volatile memory composed of a thin layer of material that can be easily magnetized in only one direction. When a magnetic field is applied to circular area of this substance that is not magnetized in the same direction, the area is reduced to a smaller circle, or bubble.
After the breakup of AT&T, no more research was done on it. As a result it was too unpredictable and too expensive to use. Maybe if more research is done on it, it can come out in an affordable version?
"In order to completely solve a problem, you must make sure that the root of the problem is completely removed! If you leave the root, the problem will come back later to get you." - Norman King
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Post #24,043
1/12/02 12:52:54 PM
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Main problem with bubble memory . .
. . was that it was a single sequential stream - like a looped recording tape. This made it very slow if used as a random access device. It was used in some devices where the sequential stream was appropriate, and I saw some bubble memory units in a surplus store quite some years ago.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #24,056
1/12/02 3:41:32 PM
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Yup.. had (briefly) a Sharp 5000 laptop IIRC
with cute, not-so-tiny bubble memory modules. S l o w yes, but - so was the CPU - then. Think LCD screen was about 16 lines high.
Geetin senile - think it ran MSsssDOS 1.0, but mainly useless as tits on a board. But! - the bubbles indeed stayed in place with power off. Eventually swapped it off to a 'consultant' for another Otrona ;-)
A.
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Post #24,154
1/13/02 5:14:00 PM
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nearly everything I learnt about bubble memory...
...came from the Dr. Who story 'Logopolis'. So it may well not be right :) The only big deal they made of it was it's non-volatility.
On and on and on and on,
and on and on and on goes John.
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