[Beowulf] Supercomputers - iPad versus Cray

[Prentice Bisbal]

Man climbed the mountain, because it was there, and techies will
continue to build clusters and other things out of unusual hardware
merely because they are there, too.

At the risk of being flamed, I think some of you are missing the point.
Neither the Register article or Dongarra's article were advocating for
the building clusters from iPads, I think they only meant to show how
far computing hardware has come in terms of power and cost.

To say that people should only build clusters out of the proper hardware
is like telling artists to throw out their paints and brushes since we
now have cameras, that do a better job than they can.

BTW - I'd never waste my time building a cluster out of iPads, but I
defend the right of others to do so if that's what turns them on.

--
Prentice





On 03/08/2012 02:02 PM, Lux, Jim (337C) wrote:
> Any more bizarre than a cluster of Furbies? Or PS/2s, or any other weird hardware.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: beowulf-bounces at beowulf.org [mailto:beowulf-bounces at beowulf.org] On Behalf Of Ellis H. Wilson III
> Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2012 10:43 AM
> To: beowulf at beowulf.org
> Subject: Re: [Beowulf] Supercomputers - iPad versus Cray
>
> The article with Dongarra is particularly weird however, as that is a guy who /does/ know a lot about computing.  Perhaps it was just a sensationalist spin for the NYT since so many now have iPads at home so the average iJoe will connect with the article (read: Oh I have a dated supercomputer in my hands!).  Either way, it still surprised me as the article should have just ended before the laughable suggestion that we tether these chic monitors with a brain together.  That was a little disturbing coming from him.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf at beowulf.org sponsored by Penguin Computing
> To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf
>