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first post! woo hoo...
way to go apple...

Yikes.....I'm wondering, now that all these clusters are popping up, will we see a list where 1/2 of the top 10 supercomputers in the world are based on OSX? When will someone fork over the money and shoot for #1 on that list?

Did they completely overlook the original G5 cluster at Va.Tech? Aparently so, since all they said was that VaTech was in the PROCESS of building one, rather than ANOTHER one, which vaulted into third place the first time it was a viable competitor.

Built for "a user who uses it all day and all night". Well, now I know why they didn't choose a Windows server. Glad to see my tax dollars going for efficiency.

Simply fabulous.

of course, thurrott just had a quote a week ago saying that AMD servers trounce Xserves in almost every single way...

and somehow , they're too expensive !!!


ugh.. what BS

Cool! From personal experinece, I know OS X Server and XServes are awesome. Too bad it's going to see how fast we can kill people, or get them to the other side of the planet.

what about Infiniband? I thought the Mach5 machine wasn't going to use it, so how will it be as fast in real terms as the VTech cluster?

"Too bad it's going to see how fast we can kill people,"

Such is life. get a grip and deal with it. Frick'en cell phones kill people . . .
(with those one handed dialer drivers)

_Stealthy

Vtech is passing a lot of information around. The MACH5 one is passing smaller amounts of information around , but doing a lot with it. They don't need the same networking oomph as the Vtech cluster.

Think Secret are reporting something interesting in this vein too. Looks like XServe's are beginning to catch on.

I wonder how Stealthy would feel if those people he refers to were friends or family- probably quite different.

Such is life

Don't get me wrong guys, I love my Apple, but do you think that we can entrust national security to such an untested system.

Patriot - you'd rather they used 'tested' windows ?

Or "super tested" 80386 processors?

"Did they completely overlook the original G5 cluster at Va.Tech? Aparently so, since all they said was that VaTech was in the PROCESS of building one, rather than ANOTHER one, which vaulted into third place the first time it was a viable competitor." - BuriedCaesar

I think it's just semantics though. They are re-building their cluster using Xserve, not building another one as in a second cluster. The article does make it sound like VT is building one for the first time for readers unfamiliar with the story. However, it is correct if you strictly look at it from the Xserve G5 point of view since the previous cluster was based on PMG5.

No to Shrub, and Mr. Bungle,

First of all, I should ask if either of you are challenging the need for the Army. If you are not, then I want to know if you are suggesting that the Army should disengage from conducting reasearch that may enhance their mission-effectiveness, thus putting fewer soldiers' lives at risk.

An unfortunate geopolitical fact of life is that that many nations need standing military forces, who have been entrusted with a mission and whose members are prepared to risk their lives for their respective countries. I think we would all be better served if we thank them for their willingness to serve, and require our leaders to make sure that our men and women in uniform are not ill-used.

I guess Patriot wants an x86 cluster capable of stealing credit card numbers even faster than they can now. How about that for "tested?"

Patriot,
This system is for research purposes, it has no place in the command infrastructure, which by the way isn't entrusted to any single system. In fact managing multiple redundancies was one of the prime motivations behind the ARPAnet project, which of course became the Internet.

Re: Viridian

Thank God somebody with sense is here. I'm tried of hearing people whine about how bad our military is. If we didn't have them, we either wouldn't be here, or we wouldn't be allowed to whine about government things we don't like. It seems like these people think if we disbanded our military, everybody else would do the same and live in harmony. Maybe our military too does good of a job of sheltering us from the cruelty of the larger world. Pathetic.

From Viridian:

"First of all, I should ask if either of you are challenging the need for the Army"

Um, no, and why would you have to ask? I think a properly deployed military force could act as a deterrent in many, if not most situations.

"and require our leaders to make sure that our men and women in uniform are not ill-used."

Yes. That would be refreshing!

Krioni-
"I'm tried of hearing people whine about how bad our military is"

Who was whining? I looked at the posts 3 times and couldn't uncover any whining or any references to how bad our military is. Put the crack pipe down, it'll all be alright...

Yeesh, ya make a comment lamenting war and death and some folks just go apeshit. Go figure...

Mr Bungle:

The original poster complained:
"Too bad it's going to see how fast we can kill people"

Perhaps he is merely lamenting the necessity of doing that. Unfortunately, that is not a safe assumption, as many people in the world seem to think there is no such necessity, and advocate letting enemies kill us instead (although they might not realize that is what they are advocating). Reasonable people DO "lament war and death" while being still appreciating those who prevent others from killing us. Unreasonable people have gotten a lot of press lately saying that all fighting is wrong.

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You win the war, by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country!"

"Perhaps he is merely lamenting the necessity of doing that. Unfortunately, that is not a safe assumption, as many people in the world seem to think there is no such necessity, and advocate letting enemies kill us instead"

Safer to assume someone's whining. I see. Didja ever hear the term "knee-jerk"?

Mr. Bungle,
I asked because it appeared at first blush that you were supporting No To Shrub's statement about the military use of the MACH 5 cluster. Your later posts make it abundantly clear that you were not.

And I agree with you: while it may be necessary to occasionally engage in war, violence and death should always be lamented. It diminishes us all, no matter how just our cause.

Heaven save me from patriots and military that must enslave me in order to save me from enemies I didn't even know I had.

re: thanks but no thanks
"Heaven save me from patriots and military that must enslave me in order to save me from enemies I didn't even know I had."

Oh, for goodness sakes - you can read about the enemies you "didn't even know you had" in such conservative stalwarts as the New York Times, and view those right-wing propaganda machines called CNN and BBC.

If al Quaeda and other terrorist groups and other violent extremists are not your enemies, then you must be against free speech, freedom of religion and the press, and basically any non-theocratic fanatical tyrannies.In that case, your enemies would be modern civilization. Which is it?

wasnt this thred about super computer a while back......

Umm...clear this up for me will you? How exactly is the military "enslaving" you? If you haven't been forcibly conscripted, you're talking shit. And I can guarantee that there are people out there who wish you ill, even without you knowing anything about it. The tinfoil hat brigade may be paranoid, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they're wrong about everything.

"wasnt this thred about super computer a while back..."

Amen!!

iMacs to supercomputers. Hmmm, seems that Apple is a very versatile company. Way to go, people!