Apple’s Xgrid Preview 2 “makes it easy to submit a long-running computation to an ad-hoc grid of Macintosh computers, so that it takes less time than it would on a single system. Building on its first preview, the new additions to Xgrid Preview 2 are a tool for submitting and monitoring jobs from the command-line, Message Passing Interface (MPI) support that allows it to configure and launch executables linked against MacMPI libraries, and numerous bug fixes,” CXOtoday reports.
“The grid software turns a group of Macs into a virtual supercomputer, so that they can work on problems faster than each could individually solve. Xgrid can operate in a screensaver mode, allowing unoccupied Macs to crunch away at some data set. Users can also configure a group of Macs dedicated to a specific task, and set up a cluster that works around the clock, every day of the year,” CXOtoday reports.
Xgrid uses Apple’s Rendezvous to discover available resources. Which means administrators do not have to enter IP addresses to set up a cluster. Xgrid Preview 2 supports Mac OS X v10.2.8 or later and requires a minimum of 128MB RAM. More info and download link here.