Isn't this a Contradiction in Terms? IBM Dishes Out Small, Low-Power Supercomputer

Isn't this a Contradiction in Terms? IBM Dishes Out Small, Low-Power Supercomputer

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Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, Dar
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It's a good thing it runs Linux. 128,000 CPUs running Windows would crash about 40 times a second, on average.

John

Reply to
John Larkin

In article , snipped-for-privacy@highlandSNIPtechTHISnologyPLEASE.com mentioned...

LOL! Ya know, ever since I went to W2000 I've gone from seldom seeing (weell, okay, occasional) an NT BSOD to almost never. I only have to reboot at work to reload the virus def files from our server. I leave it on 24/7 otherwise.

Of course I did the Microsoft Update a week or so ago, so that helps keep the nasties away. But we've had a few bad days recently, so I'm knocking on wood.

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Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, Dar

And consume the entire world's communication capacity spewing Swen virus.

Reply to
Don Taylor

[snip]
[snip]

Same here, I love Win2K up thru SP3... backed out of SP4, it was just plain weird.

Likewise I *never* reboot except when required by a program install.

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

XP still blue screens without too much difficulty. Not as much as NT4 used to, but it does it. I've had at least two just in the last week.

Damien

Reply to
Damien

How is that a contradiction in terms? You forgot to include the word "consumption" after "low-power". Not a contradiction at all in terms at all. It is a high-powered computer with low energy requirements due to a more efficient design.

Damien

Reply to
Damien

Thank you BillG for that wonderful Windows Registry idea.

An OS should only have to be restarted after a kernel recompile.

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The Rules of Operating System Design

1) Applications must not crash the operating system. 2) APPLICATIONS MUST NOT CRASH THE OPERATING SYSTEM.
Reply to
JeffM

On Sat, 15 Nov 2003 13:25:07 -0800, Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, Dark Remover" Gave us:

Is What a contradiction in terms? You failed to specify what you believe to be a contradiction.

Aside from that, the term supercomputer does not EVER mean that the thing has to be physically large in size.

So, as things get smaller, so to does their consumption rates.

Again... where is the contradiction?

Reply to
DarkMatter

On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 13:22:45 +1100, "Damien" Gave us:

There could be a big difference between a man that uses his computer for e-mails, and document nd spreadsheet generation, etc. and one which you may perhaps be like, that always is attempting to tweak his box, OC it, or run a bunch of multimedia apps on Bill's failed version of a multimedia capable computer OS.

What are you doing on your "always crashing" box?

If only normal things, then I would ask what are you running in the task bar?

As far as I am concerned, business personnel have gotten far far too much leeway with what they do to, and on their work PCs.

Reply to
DarkMatter

see

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Reply to
Jeff

In news:3fb6df7a$0$13968$ snipped-for-privacy@news.optusnet.com.au (Damien):

I'm convinced the whole thing is Karma.

In my garage are two bikes. A 1981 Yamaha Maxim 650, always babied, which there is ALWAYS something wrong with it, hard to start, runs bad. It's supposed to be a good bike... the oil pan is off of it now. Then there is a

1971 Suzuki RV 90J (little 90cc dirt bike, big wide tires, 2-cycle rotary valve intake) and it has so far not required any major engine servicing. ANY! And it's been abused, very very abused... been through other consumables though, 2 chains, 2 rear sprockets, 2 pairs of rear shocks, new seat, 2 new tires, new front fender... yet it starts on the first kick, even after sitting in a corner for a year. Now *that* is Karma. Both bikes are made from the same kind of metals and plastics, but one has clearly worked much better over the years than the other, and under much harsher conditions. Is it manufacturing, materials, or Karma?

It might be a combination of all three, but there something to say about the position of the stars when the item was manufactured, its "birthday" if you will... I think the state of the universe at the moment of conceptulization determines part of how an entity further interacts with the rest of its reality (and hence our experience with it.) This is disregarding the technology aspect.

I've built PC's that have worked fine even with Win98, and had troubles with Win2k. I've used WinXP for 6+ months now, abused it with 10GB of hardcore applications, use it for lots of advanced things like CNC, programming uC's, render/animation, games... and can't remember a single BSOD.

Generally, I've found the following to be true in regards to PC's:

  1. Backup important data!
  2. Avoid junk no-name hardware and the hottest cutting-edge technology.
  3. Update BIOS and drivers religiously (especially video drivers.)
  4. Don't install a bunch of junk software and expect things to work perfectly! Software dude A knows knothing of sotware dude B...
  5. Heat is a bad thing! Keep your components cool and clean.
  6. BSOD's indicate a problem! Even in '98, they are not normal. (Maybe more likely though, due to 98's poor memory management.)
  7. Anti-Virus software /w email scanning... mandatory. Even if you don't need it, you'll eventually need to scan something.
  8. Firewall, mandatory. ZoneAlarm is great, don't leave the 'net without it. Get a spyware scanner also, like BPS Spyware Remover. You'll be surprised at the junk you can find.
  9. Norton WinDoctor - great all-around tool.
  10. Defrag... once in a great while at least. And goto
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    occasionaly too.
  11. And one last thing, losing everything and formatting is NOT optional. It will happen eventually, even to the best of us. Be prepared.

We humans seem to have this egocentric notion that our particular OS is bulletproof and eternally-sustaining, yet if you think about it, changing one specific bit on any OS will render it useless. So have a backup if nothing else.

-M

Reply to
Mark Jones

3) DATA IS NOT INSTRUCTIONS.

John

Reply to
John Larkin

Mark Jones wrote: ||| ||| XP still blue screens without too much difficulty. Not as much as ||| NT4 used to, but it does it. I've had at least two just in the last ||| week. ||| ||| Damien ||

I have XPpro on my notebook since 22 month no crash of the OS, single apps sometime crash i.e. Eagle, 2020, realplayer, mediaplayer. But it is much better than '98.

|| || I'm convinced the whole thing is Karma. || || In my garage are two bikes. A 1981 Yamaha Maxim 650, always babied, || which there is ALWAYS something wrong with it, hard to start, runs || bad. It's supposed to be a good bike... the oil pan is off of it || now. Then there is a 1971 Suzuki RV 90J (little 90cc dirt bike, big || wide tires, 2-cycle rotary valve intake) and it has so far not || required any major engine servicing. ANY! And it's been abused, very || very abused... been through other consumables though, 2 chains, 2 || rear sprockets, 2 pairs of rear shocks, new seat, 2 new tires, new || front fender... yet it starts on the first kick, even after sitting || in a corner for a year. Now *that* is Karma. Both bikes are made || from the same kind of metals and plastics, but one has clearly || worked much better over the years than the other, and under much || harsher conditions. Is it manufacturing, materials, or Karma? || || It might be a combination of all three, but there something to say || about the position of the stars when the item was manufactured, its || "birthday" if you will... I think the state of the universe at the || moment of conceptulization determines part of how an entity further || interacts with the rest of its reality (and hence our experience || with it.) This is disregarding the technology aspect. || || I've built PC's that have worked fine even with Win98, and had || troubles with Win2k. I've used WinXP for 6+ months now, abused it || with 10GB of hardcore applications, use it for lots of advanced || things like CNC, programming uC's, render/animation, games... and || can't remember a single BSOD. || || Generally, I've found the following to be true in regards to PC's: || || 0. Backup important data! || 1. Avoid junk no-name hardware and the hottest cutting-edge || technology. || 2. Update BIOS and drivers religiously (especially video drivers.) || 3. Don't install a bunch of junk software and expect things to work || perfectly! Software dude A knows knothing of sotware dude B... || 4. Heat is a bad thing! Keep your components cool and clean. || 5. BSOD's indicate a problem! Even in '98, they are not normal. || (Maybe more likely though, due to 98's poor memory management.) || 6. Anti-Virus software /w email scanning... mandatory. Even if you || don't need it, you'll eventually need to scan something. || 7. Firewall, mandatory. ZoneAlarm is great, don't leave the 'net || without it. Get a spyware scanner also, like BPS Spyware Remover. || You'll be surprised at the junk you can find. || 8. Norton WinDoctor - great all-around tool. || 9. Defrag... once in a great while at least. And goto ||

formatting link
occasionaly too. || 10. And one last thing, losing everything and formatting is NOT || optional. It will happen eventually, even to the best of us. Be || prepared. || || We humans seem to have this egocentric notion that our particular || OS is bulletproof and eternally-sustaining, yet if you think about || it, changing one specific bit on any OS will render it useless. So || have a backup if nothing else. || || -M

I found backups absolutely necessary. And never think the backup is secure, the CD/DVD doesn't read anymore, or like on my new desktop the backup-HD stops functioning. So my advise is: keep another backup on your 2nd computer and another on an USB-stick, which seems to be quite reliable. Also I still can use my 1st PC from 1987, a 286 with coprocessor, a blatant

20MHz and 2Mb. Never any part failed, the keyboard became yellowish, but still is better than any new KB that comes with the computer nowadays. Even the mouse works still perfectly. But with the rapid pace of hard- and software progress, this kind of ruggedness is certainly overkill, I do not want to go back to the pre-windows software I had been running that time, like ACAD2.4, I like it more in the -2004 version. :-)) Also comparatively the price tag was around 5* what we pay today for a multiple of performance. I cannot imagine a better idea than what BGates had, to create a common OS-interface for all apps. This idea has not only made Bill rich, but also the success of the PC. Otherwise this tool would have remained with only professional users and few tech-freaks like todays Linuxers. I LOVE BILL GATES :-(

ciao Ban

Reply to
Ban

On Sat, 15 Nov 2003 19:06:54 -0800, the highly esteemed JeffM enlightened us with these pearls of wisdom:

BTW, the uptimes numbers listed in this site are DAYS, not hours. Thus, the top runner has (supposedly; usually systems are updated at least once a year in a typical environment) 1688 DAYS of uptime.

You will notice that all the systems listed are BSD/OS and FreeBSD. This may lead you to the conclusion that these are the best, but that is erroneous. The reason is that HP-UX, Linux, NetApp NetCache, Solaris, and recent FreeBSD kernels return to zero after 497 days. Therefore, you will never see the OS report an uptime of over 497 days. However, other uptime indicators show that all of these OS's have the same general reliability.

Keep in mind that Windows DOES report uptimes of over 497 days, but does not appear on this list. Other statistical lists show that Windows Server OS's are far inferior to Unix-type OSs with regards to stability, uptime, and availability, not to mention throughput.

BTW, here is the info on my system:

Linux version 2.4.20-20.9smp ( snipped-for-privacy@porky.devel.redhat.com) (gcc version 3.2.2 20030222 (Red Hat Linux 3.2.2-5)) #1 SMP Mon Aug 18 11:18:01 EDT 2003

23:42:04 up 46 days, 8:51, 6 users, load average: 0.00, 0.05, 0.07 99 processes: 98 sleeping, 1 running, 0 zombie, 0 stopped CPU0 states: 2.2% user 0.2% system 0.0% nice 0.0% iowait 97.1% idle CPU1 states: 2.2% user 1.1% system 0.0% nice 0.0% iowait 96.2% idle Mem: 512776k av, 496844k used, 15932k free, 0k shrd, 112320k buff 363696k actv, 0k in_d, 7696k in_c Swap: 4194248k av, 310932k used, 3883316k free 168764k cached

Yes, my system has been up for 46 days, 8 hours and 51 minutes. The last reboot was due to a kernel upgrade.

--
Greg

  --The software said it requires Win2000 or better, so I installed Linux.
Reply to
Greg Pierce

Surely Data are not instructions or A Datum is not an instruction let's get the programming right :)

Reply to
Mjolinor

a

new

even

May I propose that in 1971 the Japanese were still trying to enter the market, build quality was superb, value for money was unbelievable. Once they dominated the market they went the same way as all monopolies. I would further suggest that an engine with 3 moving parts, all of which are substantial parts, stands more chance of working for a long time than one with two or three hundred? moving parts. Just food for thought :)

Reply to
Mjolinor

I read in sci.electronics.design that DarkMatter wrote (in ) about 'Isn't this a Contradiction in Terms? IBM Dishes Out Small, Low-Power Supercomputer', on Sat, 15 Nov 2003:

OTOH, IT managers obstruct the provision of essential functions. For example, a certain organization **needs** to put its own reference numbers on document files that it receives from elsewhere. But this is NOT ALLOWED, because the people who put the numbers on 'might' use the facility for other purposes.

The absence of the reference numbers means that people have to keep separate cross-reference tables. It takes a long time to keep these up to date.

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Reply to
John Woodgate

In article , jeffm snipped-for-privacy@email.com mentioned...

3) Operating system should not crash the operating system.

I think the reason why my W98SE PC gets constipated is because the OS can't resolve what to do with memory freed up when progs are finished running.

The most problems I have with W98SE are when I try to run Acrobat Reader. Sometimes it freezes, and task mgr says not responding. So I end the task, restart it and it seems okay. For awhile anyway..

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Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, Dar

In article , jeffm snipped-for-privacy@email.com mentioned...

BTW, one other thing. Our mainframe used to have a prog called simon (systen integrity monitor?) that was run periodically at times to check the hardware. Among other things, IIRC, it did some barberpole tests to memory with the supply voltage changed a few percent to a higher and lower value. MS-DOS used to have EMM386 or some prog that did memory tests during bootup, but I don't know how it's done with the different windoze OSes. But the hardware does need an occasional check. If it can't be done during regular operation, then the OS should be shut down and the hardware checked for integrity.

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Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, Dar

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