I decided that it would be far more fun to train by beloved puppy to run my code for me. After maybe a week of work I'm maybe a few days away from burning my first CD. Everything is still very much in the proof of concept stage, but I have had this working, and I'm not too far away from producing something that'll work 'out of the box'
Inital steps to use this:
- Set up a SIMPLE network, just some computers and a switch. No servers, and, importantly no outside connections.
- Boot one of the machines from the CD
- This will set up a PXE boot server, so boot the other PC's from there
- At this stage you should have a cluster of PC's ready to run code.
But, and here's the important thing, if you're a geek like me you can (just about) justify calling that pile of old hardware a 'scalable supercomputer.'Yep, that's right, supercomputer.
Admit it, that got you're attention.
Ok, so to actually qualify as a supercomputer proper you'd need a LOT of expensive computers, not just the old junk you found in a skip somewhere, but I did say scalable!
I admit it, I'm joking around. I don't intened for this thing to ever actually be a proper clustering solution, I just want an enviroment to teach myself something about MPI, and I though, if I'm going to do this, why not have a little fun?
When I think of a supercomputer I think of big shiney things with flashy lights and steam errupting everywhere. I think of the cutting edge of modern computing. When I think of puppy I think of a small, fast, light OS perfectly suited to running on older, slower computers. I just love the idea of running it on a supercomputer! What else other than an OS callled puppy could make that steaming beamoth of modern computing cutter! What machine could be better suited to the low requirements of Puppy.
I guess by now you've all guessed I'm a teenager with a tendency to exagerate and a love of irony. I would like you all to know that I do yes know that anything I could set up in my bedroom is a massive distance from a supercomputer, and that what I'm trying to do with puppy has been done many times with OS's far better suited to the job.
I just thought it could be amusing. Puppy and supercomputers? Why not!?
If anyone can come up woth a good name for this then perhaps we could use it to attract a bit of attention puppies way?
Anyway, if anyone actually cares, I should be able to get an iso uploaded in the next few days, if I get time to work on it.
