eugene@wilbur.nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya) (06/04/90)
Peter Brewer of the SRC makes a good point.
I've not tried to say whether loosely coupled distributed networks
constitute supercomputers.
My favorite example is Manasse's factoring using email of all things.
I think its just a matter of time before a few other supercomputer
users will resort to things like using gangs of workstations to solve
their problem. I know one of our computational fluid dynamicists
has Mark's code and has given serious thought to taking spare cycles
on our workstations rather than use supers. I think he intends to ask
rather than use an improved Morris style flooding algorithm.
It's also a matter of time for other disciplines to do this as well.
Sure it will be harder than writing convention code, but some users are
getting desparate for their fractions of a super. 10% or 1% of a super
sounds like a lot of what people are getting everywhere. Imagine
battling worms seeking out unused cycles (one could write a novel, maybe
make a movie)....
But I think for purposes of discussion, supers are confind to "one box"
be it a 2 foot high octogon or a aircraft carrier sized build
(Cray machine to Smith machine). A different newsgroup can be used for
loosely coupled distributed computing.
As to 3090s being supers. David just sent me a note: he visited
IBM Japan's Tokyo Research Lab. Since 3090's aren't seen as supers, I should
just post this to s.c.j. (which most don't read, but I fear the noise
ratio might drive some of you away): use the '=' command and just look
at headers (if rn, or nn, etc.), I might just forward these things to
news groups as needed rather than post to s.c.j., but then I have to
think of which group to post......
--e. nobuo miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@orville.nas.nasa.gov
{uunet,mailrus,other gateways}!ames!eugenelerici@super.ORG (Peter W. Brewer) (06/05/90)
In article <6485@amelia.nas.nasa.gov> eugene@wilbur.nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya) writes: >Peter Brewer of the SRC makes a good point. >I've not tried to say whether loosely coupled distributed networks >constitute supercomputers. > >But I think for purposes of discussion, supers are confind to "one box" >be it a 2 foot high octogon or a aircraft carrier sized build >(Cray machine to Smith machine). A different newsgroup can be used for >loosely coupled distributed computing. > > >--e. nobuo miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@orville.nas.nasa.gov > {uunet,mailrus,other gateways}!ames!eugene I note in passing that someone claims an olympic record of 12.5 GFlops.. must have been thinking of Mark Spitz I think the CM-2 achieved 16GFlops. I offer lunch/dinner to the first to achieve 1/4 TeraFlop. Whether it be the Burton Box, the SuperScary CM-X (Watch that X-factor you CRI stock holders), or maybe Steve Chen.. Wouldn't be great to have a Cray2 whose foreground processor was a front end to the CM-2 fully loaded? Maybe more than one? And wouldn't it be great if the CRI/CM CEs were Kathleen Turner twins? And wouldn't it be great if they\ brought beer and it was TeraFlop beer made in Colorado Springs ??? -- Peter -- Peter Brewer |||| ||||| ||||||||| |||||| //|||||\ |||||| lerici@super.org || ||__ || || || || || THE Supercomputing || || ||^^^^^^\\ || || || Research Center ~~~ |||||||| ||||| || || ||||| \\|||||/ ||||||
lgreen@cup.portal.com (Lawrence H Greenwald) (06/05/90)
As for 3090's being supercomputers...Don't bet on it!! We have a 3090-400 running in our shop, and some recent rumors have us inter- ested in another manufacturer's machine (a plug compatable) that's supposed to be TWICE as fast. An IBM 3090-400 runs about 50 MIPS (That's strictly a guess!!) I won't name names because it's all in the rumor stage right now. Larry Greenwald
brooking@mcnc.org (Jim Brooking) (06/06/90)
In article <30538@cup.portal.com>, lgreen@cup.portal.com (Lawrence H Greenwald) writes: ... > An IBM 3090-400 runs about 50 MIPS (That's strictly a guess!!) > What's a MIPS doing in c.s.s? We talk MEGAFLOPS here, boy! They talk MIPS in alt.evil or other kinky newsgroups. -- >8-} >:-) %\( 8^) :+/ |'[ ;-) :-O B^\ :-) Jim Brooking........North Carolina Supercomputing Center.......(919)248-1145