[Beowulf] Compute Node OS on Local Disk vs. Ram Disk

[Geoff Jacobs]

John Hearns wrote:
>     Damn Small (DSL) is, Puppy is not. I believe Puppy is it's own beast.
> 
> The FAQ on the site says its a Slackware derivative, if I'm not wrong.
> What goes around comes around I guess :-)  Maybe those kipper ties from
> the 70s will be back too.
First question on the page...

http://puppylinux.org/wiki/archives/old-wikka-wikki/categorydocumentation/historypuppy

> Actually, and here I toss in a handgrenade, if we are considering a Damn
> Small Puppy  PXE bootable  Linux in RAM, what difference does the distro
> make, so long as the GLIBC/maths libraries/MPI libraries  are the
> appropriate ones.
> I guess that statement goes for any Linux install really.
Well, you want to use something similar to the head in the compute
nodes, and you want the head node install to have all the necessary
infrastructure. Technically, you could use a different install on each
the nodes, but it wouldn't be smart.

Building a pill for the compute nodes a la Scyld or Perseus seems like
the best compromise in terms of reducing the compute node operating
environment while maintaining a common software base.

-- 
Geoffrey D. Jacobs