dan@ccnysci.UUCP (Dan Schlitt) (01/21/89)
Having lost all hope of ever being able to get one, I stopped reading
about the "minisupercomputers". Now I find that I am expected to know
something about them. I am not so foolish as to believe that I can
get unbiased and authoratative information as a result of this
request. (Just look at some of the groups I have cross posted to. :-)
But I hope I can get some useful information out of it.
Let me make the request a little more specific. We are not looking
for a machine to take over our load of general purpose computing
(e.g., replace our vax) nor are we looking for a workstation (graphic
or otherwise). What we need is some thing that will fly when doing
numerical computation and simulations etc.
We would strongly prefer something with a 4.3BSD Unix-like operating
system. It must have a good optimizing fortran compiler. (I know,
but the users are physicists and chemists of a certain age and they
have always programed in fortran.)
To make things even more definite, suppose the total system cost must
be in the range of $500,000 to $1,000,000. The hardware should not be
at the top of its migration path -- we should be able to add
processors, memory, disk, etc. to make it bigger and better in the
future.
Ok folks, what is today's best buy?
Send mail and I will summarize any useful stuff that I get.
--
Dan Schlitt Manager, Science Division Computer Facility
dan@ccnysci City College of New York
dan@ccnysci.bitnet New York, NY 10031
(212)690-6868dan@ccnysci.UUCP (Dan Schlitt) (01/26/89)
In article <1188@ccnysci.UUCP> dan@ccnysci.UUCP (Dan Schlitt) writes:
That is me. My mailbox has contained some helpful replies. Thanks to
you all. I do plan to put out a summary, but first I want to know if
folk have opinions about a couple of systems that have yet to be
mentioned. Edited down my question was:
:
:We are not looking
:for a machine to take over our load of general purpose computing
:(e.g., replace our vax) nor are we looking for a workstation (graphic
:or otherwise). What we need is some thing that will fly when doing
:numerical computation and simulations etc.
:
:We would strongly prefer something with a 4.3BSD Unix-like operating
:system. It must have a good optimizing fortran compiler.
:
:To make things even more definite, suppose the total system cost must
:be in the range of $500,000 to $1,000,000. The hardware should not be
:at the top of its migration path -- we should be able to add
:processors, memory, disk, etc. to make it bigger and better in the
:future.
Now the added questions. What about Multiflow? Any experience with
them? And how about the hypercube designs? How do they compare with
the more straightforward multiprocessor machines?
:
:Ok folks, what is today's best buy?
:
--
Dan Schlitt Manager, Science Division Computer Facility
dan@ccnysci City College of New York
dan@ccnysci.bitnet New York, NY 10031
(212)690-6868