From kragen@dnaco.net Wed Sep 16 12:57:24 1998 Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 12:57:23 -0400 (EDT) From: Kragen To: "Goodin, Lee (AZ77)" cc: 'Beowulf_List' Subject: Re: Just slightly off topic? In-Reply-To: <199809161427.KAA04970@cesdis1.gsfc.nasa.gov> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Keywords: X-UID: 2034 Status: O X-Status: On Wed, 16 Sep 1998, Goodin, Lee (AZ77) wrote: > 1 - with all of the obsolete computers available, like 486DX4-100' or early > Pentium based computers, I'm wondering if Beowulf technology would turn > them into 'super computers'? I've often thought about the same thing. Here are my thoughts: - Most 486s do not have PCI. Those that do are probably better candidates, because 100Mbps networks don't mix well with ISA, and I've never seen a VLB 100Mbps network card. - Memory bandwidth is much, much smaller on the old 486s. - Pentia have much bigger caches, in general. - Pentia are superscalar; 486s are not. - You may be able to buy more compute power by selling your 486s and using the money to get some newer machines. > 2 - How much of an increase in MIPS can a Beowulf system create? None. > 3 - What applications can be run on a Beowulf/Linux system? Those built for it, typically scientific applications. > 4 - This is an I. T. NETWORK intensive technology, what certifications, and > courses of study would enable the novice like myself to make their own > Beowulf systems? That's an interesting question. You might see if you can join your local Linux Users' Group. You should learn a lot about parallel programming in general -- what it can and can't do. Set up a Linux machine at home, if you haven't already. Spend lots of time reading RFCs. Read O'Reilly books. Enjoy them. (These are the things I have done. I haven't built any Beowulfs. I suspect that, if you wanted to hire someone to build and run Beowulfs, you'd first try people who had done it before, then people like me if you couldn't get one of them.) I don't know of any certifications or courses of study on Beowulfs. Red Hat and Caldera have "Linux engineer" courses of study, though. > 5 - I've been considering changing careers, what certifications (if any) > would allow me to go places in the I.T. industry? I could be wrong, but I don't think many certifications matter a heck of a lot in this industry. You could try for a BS in CS. Kragen -- Kragen Sitaker The sages do not believe that making no mistakes is a blessing. They believe, rather, that the great virtue of man lies in his ability to correct his mistakes and continually make a new man of himself. -- Wang Yang-Ming