Dear friends,<br>Thanks. I am overwhelmed. How do you find time despite your hectic schedule to reply to emails so quickly!<br>Regards,<br>Rajib Bandopadhyay<br><br><br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2009/2/24 Robert G. Brown <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:rgb@phy.duke.edu">rgb@phy.duke.edu</a>></span><br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="Ih2E3d">On Tue, 24 Feb 2009, Rajib Bandopadhyay wrote:<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Dear friends,<br>
Can Beowulf with Linux run all the desktop applications? Will they run<br>
faster?<br>
</blockquote>
<br></div>
Let's invert the question. A linux user with a beowulf can run all the<br>
desktop applications -- on their desktop, where they belong. The<br>
desktop in question might or might not reasonably be part of a cluster<br>
computer, beowulf style or not, depending on what that cluster is doing<br>
and intended/designed to do.<br>
<br>
In general, however, they will not run faster. In order for an<br>
application to run faster, it has to be written to run in parallel, and<br>
most desktop applications are not.<br>
<br>
One exception to this is that in one very weak sense any SMP (multicore)<br>
system is a "beowulf" or more generic cluster. Multiple processors can<br>
speed up desktop apps in one way -- by reducing contention for the CPU.<br>
So if you are usually running several programs at once (including many<br>
desktop programs) and they are blocking one another, running them on<br>
many processors "can" speed them up. But this almost never happens.<br>
<br>
rgb<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Regards,<br>
Rajib Bandopadhyay<br>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Robert G. Brown <a href="http://www.phy.duke.edu/%7Ergb/" target="_blank">http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/</a><br>
Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305<br>
Durham, N.C. 27708-0305<br>
Phone: 1-919-660-2567 Fax: 919-660-2525 <a href="mailto:email%3Argb@phy.duke.edu" target="_blank">email:rgb@phy.duke.edu</a><br>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote></div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2009/2/24 Tim Cutts <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:tjrc@sanger.ac.uk">tjrc@sanger.ac.uk</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="Ih2E3d"><br>
On 24 Feb 2009, at 6:10 am, Rajib Bandopadhyay wrote:<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Dear friends,<br>
Can Beowulf with Linux run all the desktop applications? Will they run<br>
faster?<br>
</blockquote>
<br></div>
Beowulf is Linux, so yes, it can run them. Will it be faster? No.
Virtually nothing in the desktop application space can handle parallel
running, and the additional network overhead of having the applications
running on a server and displaying to your local display will most
likely actually make things feel slower.<br>
<br>
Tim<br><font color="#888888">
<br>
<br>
-- <br>
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is operated by Genome
ResearchLimited, a charity registered in England with number 1021457
and acompany registered in England with number 2742969, whose
registeredoffice is 215 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BE.<br>
</font></blockquote></div><br>