Hello All,
It's been a pretty busy week for me, but I've managed to finalize the supercomputer design and components. We will be putting the letter trays inside a bigger metal frame (also from IKEA- pictures to come), and each node will essentially be an independent computer of its own, with a laptop hard drive, its own power supply, and motherboard. We will connect all four nodes with a switch- which we are still working out some details on. This system will then be perfect to install Hadoop upon.
But such a straightforward design, in all honesty, seems kind of boring. So I've been thinking about some possible areas for innovation/improvement, either in the hardware or after we build the supercomputer.
1- I was able to talk with my faculty advisor, Mr. Mac, at the BASIS science fair today. We discussed how supercomputers definitely love massively parallel tasks, but what happens when a task is necessarily serial and CANNOT be easily parallelized? How much human input will be required then to split this task into somewhat parallel chunks (as independent as possible), and how can we reduce it?
This area is called non-linear computing, and there's a lot of research going on in it. One of my ideas was to make the nodes more specialized and have the master node able to tell which area of the code requires a specific task. Like, if you have code with a lot of 3D visualization in one part, then the master node could send that part of the task to the GPU (graphical computing unit). There's a lot of research to be done to reach this point, though, and we'd probably have to build a new programming language to make there be enough differences for the computer to automatically pick up what kind of node a task requires. Also, you'd have to integrate nodes which are slightly different and have them work together flawlessly. Still, I think it's a good idea.
2- Finding some way to get rid of the switch (most expensive part) and have the nodes send messages to each other without it.
3- Another far fetched idea, unless you're using tiny Rasberry Pi "computers", but some way to make the supercomputer really tiny so you can have it next to you on your desk. It would be available to plug in via USB to your laptop, so your laptop can send away calculations that eat up the memory and make it slow down or freeze.
Still thinking- hopefully I find some interesting and feasible ideas for innovation soon! Tell me in the comments-- what would you want a supercomputer to do or have? Nothing is off limits, tell me your wackiest ideas!
PS: Next week is my "spring break."
Over and Out,
Anvita
It's been a pretty busy week for me, but I've managed to finalize the supercomputer design and components. We will be putting the letter trays inside a bigger metal frame (also from IKEA- pictures to come), and each node will essentially be an independent computer of its own, with a laptop hard drive, its own power supply, and motherboard. We will connect all four nodes with a switch- which we are still working out some details on. This system will then be perfect to install Hadoop upon.
But such a straightforward design, in all honesty, seems kind of boring. So I've been thinking about some possible areas for innovation/improvement, either in the hardware or after we build the supercomputer.
1- I was able to talk with my faculty advisor, Mr. Mac, at the BASIS science fair today. We discussed how supercomputers definitely love massively parallel tasks, but what happens when a task is necessarily serial and CANNOT be easily parallelized? How much human input will be required then to split this task into somewhat parallel chunks (as independent as possible), and how can we reduce it?
This area is called non-linear computing, and there's a lot of research going on in it. One of my ideas was to make the nodes more specialized and have the master node able to tell which area of the code requires a specific task. Like, if you have code with a lot of 3D visualization in one part, then the master node could send that part of the task to the GPU (graphical computing unit). There's a lot of research to be done to reach this point, though, and we'd probably have to build a new programming language to make there be enough differences for the computer to automatically pick up what kind of node a task requires. Also, you'd have to integrate nodes which are slightly different and have them work together flawlessly. Still, I think it's a good idea.
2- Finding some way to get rid of the switch (most expensive part) and have the nodes send messages to each other without it.
3- Another far fetched idea, unless you're using tiny Rasberry Pi "computers", but some way to make the supercomputer really tiny so you can have it next to you on your desk. It would be available to plug in via USB to your laptop, so your laptop can send away calculations that eat up the memory and make it slow down or freeze.
Still thinking- hopefully I find some interesting and feasible ideas for innovation soon! Tell me in the comments-- what would you want a supercomputer to do or have? Nothing is off limits, tell me your wackiest ideas!
PS: Next week is my "spring break."
Over and Out,
Anvita
I'm excited for these pictures. And I'm impressed that you're going the extra mile to not be bored. And, personally, the only way I could say that a computer was deserving of the title "Super" would be if it had an alternate identity, a swanky outfit, and at least one arch nemeses.
ReplyDeleteIf a super computer could bring my food, and by food I mean ice cream, then life would be pretty sweet, pun intended.
ReplyDeleteHi Anvita, I am Noah from Lutheran High School in Parker, Colorado. I love computers and have a basic understanding of what you are talking about. As a amateur software engineer myself, I was wondering what kind of operating system this would run to divide what needs to be computed. Would it run windows with special code put in the system 32's? Would it run Linux to provide a easier human/computer interface? Would it run on an operating system you create yourself? Has that even been thought of yet?
ReplyDeleteHi Noah, Sorry for the late reply-- I've been travelling. We are planning to use Linux (specifically Ubuntu) since Linux is most widely used for servers and the kinds of scientific applications we want to run. Thanks for reading my blog! Hope you'll enjoy it.
DeleteThat appears to be excellent however i am still not too sure that I like it. At any rate will look far more into it and decide personally! Dr Kodali
ReplyDelete