More: Big BLU - Super Computer

[jjohnson at sunrise-linux.com (miah)]

On Wed, Aug 18, 2004 at 10:22:45AM -0400, markw at mohawksoft.com wrote:
> There seems to be some spark of interest in doing the project. Lets assume
> we can get the bits and pieces together, we need to address:
> 
> where it will be?
> who manages it?
> what sort of access?
> What does it do?
> 
> Obviously, the location has to be free of charge. I will check my local
> school system and city hall to see if there is any place in my town that
> would host it. It may mean indentured servitude.

Don't forget to mention that the area the computers are stored is
going to need to support the 'weight' of the cluster (how many nodes
are you all planning?) not to mention the power requirements.  

I wish I could find the url, but I've definately seen pictures where a
cluster/mainframe has went through the floor due to improper planning.

> How do we select who runs it? Group vote? Bloody coup?
> 
> What sort of access do you guys see? Shell access over the internet?

How else would you access it?

> Lastly, and probably more importantly, what do we want it to do/be? I have
> been thinking about this. I think "Big BLU" should be a learning tool and
> testbed for members. Doing redundant load balanced stuff is just too
> corporate to be fun, but parallel programing is a blast. So that means
> something like MPI (PVM is sort of fading isn't it?)

Learning tools are good, I think this is good, and could be good if
its well thought out and done correctly.  If people keep suggesting
stupid things it'll definately fail =)

> We could have contests for projects, where people submit suggestions for a
> project, and the group votes. If we have enough interest, we could even
> split up into teams and compete for the fastest solution to the problem.
> Maybe even compete with other user's groups!

Contests sounds like a cool idea.  Requirements could be that the
project must do something useful and be released as open source.


-miah