Re: [9fans] "FAWN: Fast array of wimpy nodes" (was: Plan 9 - the next 20 years)

[ron minnich <rminnich@gmail.com>]

On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 12:58 AM, John Barham <jbarham@gmail.com> wrote:
> I certainly can't think ahead 20 years but I think it's safe to say
> that the next 5 (at least doing HPC and large-scale web type stuff)
> will increasingly look like this:
> http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22504/?a=f, which talks
> about building a cluster from AMD Geode (!) nodes w/ compact flash
> storage.  Sure it's not super-fast, but it's very efficient per watt.
> If you had more cash you might substitute HE Opterons and SSD's but
> the principle is the same.

It's nice. We did that one a few years ago. Here is the 7 year old
version: http://eri.ca.sandia.gov/eri/howto.html

We've been doing these with the Geode stuff since about 2006. We are
certainly not the first. The RLX was doing what FAWN did about 8 years
ago; orion, about 3-4 years ago (both transmeta). RLX and Orion
multisystems showed there is not much of a market for lots of wimpy
nodes -- yet or never, is the real question. Either way, they did not
have enough buyers to stay in business. And RLX had to drop its wimpy
transmetas for P4s, and they could not keep up with the cheap
mainboards. It's a tough business.

ron