From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [45.79.103.53]) by inbox.vuxu.org (OpenSMTPD) with ESMTP id 5d92c1b4 for ; Sun, 9 Feb 2020 18:43:32 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id D29019BD86; Mon, 10 Feb 2020 04:43:29 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AC6149BCE3; Mon, 10 Feb 2020 04:42:59 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 4A10F9BCE3; Mon, 10 Feb 2020 04:42:57 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mcvoy.com (mcvoy.com [192.169.23.250]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id B75CE9BCDE for ; Mon, 10 Feb 2020 04:42:56 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mcvoy.com (Postfix, from userid 3546) id 63C1035E104; Sun, 9 Feb 2020 10:42:56 -0800 (PST) Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2020 10:42:56 -0800 From: Larry McVoy To: Ralph Corderoy Message-ID: <20200209184256.GD21264@mcvoy.com> References: <20200208171837.15CA62215C@orac.inputplus.co.uk> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20200208171837.15CA62215C@orac.inputplus.co.uk> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.24 (2015-08-30) Subject: Re: [TUHS] Distributed systems, was: On the origins of Linux - "an academic question" X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Cc: The Eunuchs Historic Society Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" On Sat, Feb 08, 2020 at 05:18:37PM +0000, Ralph Corderoy wrote: > Hi, > > Rob Pike wrote: > > I am convinced that large-scale modern compute centers would be run > > very differently, with fewer or at least lesser problems, if they were > > treated as a single system rather than as a bunch of single-user > > computers ssh'ed together. > > This reminds me of Western Digital's recent OmniXtend. It takes a > programmable Ethernet switch and changes the protocol: Ethernet becomes > OmniXtend. It's a cache-coherency protocol the allows CPUs, custom > ASICs, FPGAs, GPUS, ML accelerators, ... to each hang off an 802.3 PHY > and share one memory pool. > https://blog.westerndigital.com/omnixtend-fabric-innovation-with-risc-v/ > > It might be a step towards a room of racks being marshalled as a single > computer. Or it might be a giant step backwards in terms of memory latency.