No subject

Thu Jun 12 22:07:40 PDT 2014

the introduction:  http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Beowulf-HOWTO.html#toc2 =
 (I hope that I don't need to ask for copyright approval for this =
extract)

"2.2 What is a Beowulf ?=20
Famed was this Beowulf: far flew the boast of him, son of Scyld, in the =
Scandian lands. So becomes it a youth to quit him well with his father's =
friends, by fee and gift, that to aid him, aged, in after days, come =
warriors willing, should war draw nigh, liegemen loyal: by lauded deeds =
shall an earl have honor in every clan. Beowulf is the earliest =
surviving epic poem written in English. It is a story about a hero of =
great strength and courage who defeted a monster called Grendel. See =
History to find out more about the Beowulf hero.=20

There are probably as many Beowulf definitions as there are people who =
build or use Beowulf Supercomputer facilities. Some claim that one can =
call their system Beowulf only if it is built in the same way as the =
NASA's original machine. Others go to the other extreme and call Beowulf =
any system of workstations running parallel code. My definition of =
Beowulf fits somewhere between the two views described above, and is =
based on many postings to the Beowulf mailing list: "

What this may not clearly identify clearly is the 'motivation' for =
calling these machines by this name.  The 'lore' I've hard is that the =
'Grendel' monster that one wanted to {destroy - or avoid at least} was =
the then-typical 'supercomputer' - with it's (at least) monster-like =
appetite for ($, maintenance costs, downtime, programming investment).  =
On the other hand, the vendors of the day tended to identify their =
'best' machines by names more like 'Thor' I think.  I wouldn't be =
surprised if the person who suggested the moniker visits here, though, =
so maybe we'll get the 'true' story.

------=_NextPart_000_004E_01C0BAAD.C7EA3F20
Content-Type: text/html;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; =
charset=3Diso-8859-1">
<META content=3D"MSHTML 5.50.4134.600" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>
<DIV>From Jacek Radajewski & Douglas Eadline's excellent 'Beowulf =
HowTo' see=20
the introduction:  <A=20
href=3D"http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Beowulf-HOWTO.html#toc2">http://www=
.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Beowulf-HOWTO.html#toc2</A> =20
(I hope that I don't need to ask for copyright approval for this =
extract)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"<A name=3Dss2.2>2.2 What is a Beowulf ?</A> </DIV>
<DIV>
<P><I>Famed was this Beowulf: far flew the boast of him, son of Scyld, =
in the=20
Scandian lands. So becomes it a youth to quit him well with his father's =

friends, by fee and gift, that to aid him, aged, in after days, come =
warriors=20
willing, should war draw nigh, liegemen loyal: by lauded deeds shall an =
earl=20
have honor in every clan.</I> Beowulf is the earliest surviving epic =
poem=20
written in English. It is a story about a hero of great strength and =
courage who=20
defeted a monster called Grendel. See <A=20
href=3D"http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Beowulf-HOWTO-5.html#history">Histo=
ry</A> to=20
find out more about the Beowulf hero.=20
<P>There are probably as many Beowulf definitions as there are people =
who build=20
or use Beowulf Supercomputer facilities. Some claim that one can call =
their=20
system Beowulf only if it is built in the same way as the NASA's =
original=20
machine. Others go to the other extreme and call Beowulf any system of=20
workstations running parallel code. My definition of Beowulf fits =
somewhere=20
between the two views described above, and is based on many postings to =
the=20
Beowulf mailing list: "</P>
<P>What this may not clearly identify clearly is the 'motivation' for =
calling=20
these machines by this name.  The 'lore' I've hard is that the =
'Grendel'=20
monster that one wanted to {destroy - or avoid at least} was the =
then-typical=20
'supercomputer' - with it's (at least) monster-like appetite for ($, =
maintenance=20
costs, downtime, programming investment).  On the other hand, the =
vendors=20
of the day tended to identify their 'best' machines by names more like =
'Thor' I=20
think.  I wouldn't be surprised if the person who suggested the =
moniker=20
visits here, though, so maybe we'll get the 'true' story.</P>
<P> </P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>

------=_NextPart_000_004E_01C0BAAD.C7EA3F20--