[Beowulf] What's the category of Beowulf among Clusters?

[Eric Liang]

First of all, sorry for sending mails by  the address:
start2046 at gmail.com. Just like the pgp signature says , I use that one
in my country(yes,china).

Lux, James P wrote:
>
> On 12/20/08 6:41 AM, "Liang Yupeng" <start2046 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> Lux, James P wrote:
>>     
>>> I've been looking over the Beowulf book by Seamus Heaney, and I can't find
>>> any reference to clus
>>>       
> http://www.amazon.com/Beowulf-New-Verse-Translation-Bilingual/dp/0393320979ters
> in it, so maybe Wikipedia has been misled? Perhaps
>   
the amzon said:
Looking for something? 
We're sorry. The Web address you entered is not a functioning page on
our site
>>> it's a translation issue?<grin>
>>>
>>>       
>
>   
>> Thanks for your reply, but "no reference in the book" does not mean that
>> Beowulf is not a cluster, does it?
>>     
>
> Especially since that particular book is a translation of the epic poem
> about Beowulf.
> http://www.amazon.com/Beowulf-New-Verse-Translation-Bilingual/dp/0393320979
> (my daughter is using an older translation in her 10th grade english class,
> and prefers the new one)
>
>   
Maybe I've read the story on wiki and somebody have talk about why use
the name(beowulf) in this list(IIRC). :-P
>
>   
>>> Beowulf -> the definition evolves.. But.. I'd say it's a bunch of
>>> interconnected commodity computers intended to form a single computational
>>> resource. Some would add "running open source software" Commodity is
>>> important. It's not special purpose hardware, but leverages the economies of
>>> scale to minimize cost.  Bunch of interconnected is important.(no vector
>>> processors).  Single computational resource -> you can devote the entire
>>> cluster to  just one problem, as opposed to, say, a mass of transaction
>>> processing boxes or web servers in a high availability cluster.
>>>
>>>
>>>       
>> Maybe I didn't get you (sorry for that), it looks like that your
>> explanation on Beowulf  not the category about it but the description.
>> Thank you all the same.
>>     
>
> True enough.. But I'm not sure that developing a HPC taxonomy adds value to
> the process of doing the computation, or, more to the point, to selecting an
> appropriate way to solve one's particular computational needs.
>   
Yes, if I've decided use beowulf(or another one), but how can I make the
decision if I couldn't tell the differences of the cluster softwares?
> It's not like most folks sit there with their problem and try to analyze it
> in terms of some computing taxonomy.  The "spectrum" of possible ways to
> build a computer is small enough that you can conceptualize them all
> simultaneously.  It's not like trying to decide where to put a particular
> hummingbird in the Linnaean scheme. (K P C F G S, etc.)
>   
Hmm, I didn't mean that. I put the question here just because the wiki's
explanations have puzzled me, and  IMO, this mailling list is a
appropriately place where most fellows should have the related
knowledge.For me, if I am *interested* in one software, I'll learn more
and more details about it and compare it to the others, not just use
it.If I have offended you,I ask your pardon.
Many thanks for your reply and the books.

Eric

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