Supercomputers in OC

[iCodingChaos 1]

Hello, I've been thinking of this for about 5 hours. And I'm wondering what would be needed to build a Supercomputer, how much time would it take, and what kind of coding would be need to be done? 

 

Thank you.

[dgelessus 26]

Depends on what you mean by "supercomputer". If you want to link multiple computers together for more RAM and parallel computing, a server rack in internal network mode would be a good start. This would only make sense for calculations that take long and require little communication between computers, otherwise you'd end up wasting more time on network I/O than you'd gain from having multiple computers.

[iCodingChaos 1]

I'm looking for each computer to be separate per say that each tier 3 computer case hods 3 tier memory options. How would I connect them and make sure that the overall computer looks to this specific section for it's RAM, and over there for it's CPU power. 

[TYKUHN2 2]

You cannot because of the fact a computer cannot do anything including looking for a CPU without a CPU, and (mostly) cannot hold the idea it should be looking for a CPU without RAM.

 

Also for every 1(insert unit of measurement here) of RAM the server has to give up 1(unit here) of RAM to open computers, so having 5terrahertz of CPU power is not possible (yet) if that is what your asking.

[iCodingChaos 1]

Sorry, I'm an experienced C++ coder trying to get into Lua, and OpenComputers. I was just trying to see what kind of "dynamic" things I could attempt.

[mpmxyz 27]

Interesting idea...

To make writing programs for that kind of system easier it would be a good idea to use a special table with an index and a newindex metamethod.

They would interact with other computers if necessary. (e.g. when fetching a block of data)

Internally they could use a weak table to allow for non permanent caching. (Attention: you would have to wrap non table values in tables to make that work. Tables don't shrink after "loosing" values.)

For high memory efficiency you can store your data in e.g. 1 KiB strings. That is quite easy to include in the previously mentioned metamethods and makes the communication between computers more efficient. (Lua strings are 8 bit clean; you can store a 32 bit integer using 4 characters without 0-issues.)

The only problem is that you have to write your own bytes-to-number conversion function. (vanilla Lua 5.3 has that kind of functionality included; I'm not sure about OC Lua 5.3.)

[BloodyRum 0]

I would love to see this added. Experienced coder you say? Here is a project for you. To make a supercomputer that has 1-2 "nodes" of full servers. Then write an API so the nodes act like namespaces. And the API would shift the variables around using the network. The think is the code has to know when to grab a variable and when to send one. 100 Brownie points if you can make an API for this along with an example program.

[jhagrid77 4]

I know this is late, but would it be possible to hook up multiple servers and connect them by cables to one monitor for a "supercomputer" or would it be like a monitor bordered by computers? 

[dgelessus 26]

The screen should be connected to a single computer only, if you connect it to multiple ones there might be problems with which one gets the screen, since OpenOS grabs the first available screen on boot.