[comp.hypercube] PC-CUBE

ukola%adam.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu (Adam Kolawa) (12/03/87)

                            ABSTRACT

             The PC-CUBE, An IBM PC-Based Hypercube

This abstract discusses PC-CUBE, an IBM PC or  compatible based
hypercube.    Personal   computers  are  connected in a hypercube
topology with  ordinary  computer   cables.  This  is  the  least
expensive  way  to  learn  about developing parallel systems. The
code developed on PC-Cube can be transferred to a larger  system
such as the iPSC or the NCUBE hypercubes.

Communication occurs  at the rate of 115.2 K-bauds via the RS-232
serial links.  Available  for  the  PC-CUBE  is  the  Crystalline
Operating   System   III  (CrOS   III),   CUBIX   (a   model  for
programming   hypercubes   without   programming   the    control
processors),  and  Mercury  Operating  System  (   supports  both
synchronous and asynchronous message passing.) A CrOS performance
monitor  has been developed which facilitates the measurement  of
communication  and computation time of a program and its  effects
on  performance.  Also  available   is  GRAFIX  and PLOTIX  which
are  graphics  routines for  the  EGA  and  CGA,  and  a  general
profiler   for   determining  execution  time  spent  by  program
subroutines.  

PC-CUBE   provides   a    programming   environment
similar  to  all hypercube systems running CrOS III. In addition,
every  node  (personal  computer) has its  own  graphics  display
monitor  and  storage   devices.   These   allow   data   to   be
displayed   or    stored    at   every   processor,   which   has
instructional value and enables easier debugging of applications.
Some  application programs which are taken from the book "Solving
Problems on Concurrent Processors" by  Fox,  et.  al.  have  been
implemented   with   graphics   enhancement   on   PC-CUBE.   The
applications range  from  solving  the  Mandelbrot  set,  Laplace
equation,   wave   equation,  long  range  force,  to  Wator,  an
ecological  simulation.   
---------------------------------------------------------
The  system  is available from ParaSoft Corporation.
The price of the system is $1,000.00 per copy. If  you  are
interested please contact Larry Lesser at (714) 380-8375 or write
to Larry at 27415 Trabuco Circle, Mission  Viejo,  CA  92692,  or
send email to ukola@cithex.caltech.edu or ukola.cithex.caltech.bitnet.