The fastest computers are Linux computers

[CadCrazy]

What do the BlueGene/L System, the BlueGene/P system and the New Mexico Computing Applications Center SGI system, based on the Altix ICE Integrated Compute Environment 8200 model, have in common?

First, they're the top three fastest computers in the world, according to the latest Top 500 supercomputer list. Second, they all run Linux.

It's not just the crème de la crème of supercomputers that run Linux, however. 85.2 percent of the Top 500 supercomputers run Linux. In other words, 426 of the world's fastest 500 supercomputers depend on Linux.

Linux-powered supercomputers don't require any particularly special version of Linux. New Mexico's SGI Altix ICE, for example, run pretty much standard Novell SLES (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server) and Red Hat's RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux).

One of the reasons why Linux owns HPC (high-performance computing) is that today's supercomputers tend to be made up of clusters of multi-cored processors. Typically, these are dual-core CPUs. The one notable exception is that Intel's quad cored Clovertown chips now power 102 of the Top 500. The vast majority of the fastest of the fast supercomputers, 354 systems, or 70.8 percent, now use Intel processors. Intel is followed by the AMD Opteron family, 78 system,s or 15.6 percent. After AMD, IBM takes third place with 61 systems, or 12.2 percent, that use IBM Power processors.

What does all this have to do with Linux? For starters, Linux runs natively on all these processors. The days when supercomputers from Cray and Control Data Corp. depended upon customized chips for their speed are long past. Today, speed comes from clustering standard chips into better and faster processor arrays and more effective parallel processing programming. For example, a single SGI Altix ICE 8200 rack can hold up to 512 common-as-dirt Intel Xeon processor cores. Today's supercomputer processors are then tied together into a three-dimensional matrix by high-speed intraconnect fibre.

Linux has excelled at getting the maximum of performance from the minimum of commodity equipment for more than a decade now. In 1994, Thomas Sterling and Don Becker, at Goddard Space Flight Center's CESDIS (Center of Excellence in Space Data and Information Sciences) created the first Beowulf Linux-powered clustered supercomputer. Even with that first system, which was made up of 16 486-DX4 processors connected by channel bonded Ethernet, it was clear you could deliver supercomputing performance with COTS (Commodity off the Shelf) based systems.

Since then, the story of supercomputing is really the story of Starling and Becker's initial ideas, implemented with Linux and ever-faster COTS processors and networking, taking computers to ever-faster speeds. Thirteen years later, the BlueGene/L has achieved a Linpack benchmark performance of 478.2 Tflop/s (teraflops, or trillions of calculations per second).

That record won't stay up for long, though. In just the last six months, to be a top 100 supercomputer, almost all of them Linux-powered, the entry point for the top 100 in March 2007 was 9.29 Tflop/s. Now, the slowest of the top 100 runs at 12.97 Tflop/s. With Linux, the sky, and perhaps Moore's law, are the only limits for how fast computers can go.

Source

[contactpraven2001]

great news linux rocks

[praka123]

the cost factor also is to be noted.clusters and multiple os license will make any company lost if they use licensed windows operating systems apart from windows instability!

[Quiz_Master]

HMmm.. yepp always... While using linux my PC runs smooth while displaying all glorious beryl effects. (can't even think of installing Vista )

[Gigacore]

linux makes everything fast

[aditya.shevade]

Linux Rocks.... Pumped Life into my old box which could not run even XP without glitches....

[a_k_s_h_a_y]

what ?
You guys now get to know that LINUX is used in super computers ??

that fact is pretty obvious !

Its Linux because only Linux can make use of its full power
Usually Special OS are made just for Super Computers using LINUX !!!

[nvidia]

Cool..

[The Unknown]

Originally Posted by aditya.shevade

Linux Rocks.... Pumped Life into my old box which could not run even XP without glitches....

Really True. Win XP won't run fine on my old box but Fedora 7 runs nicely that with GUI interface (GNOME) my computer is a server (Apache, MySQL, SSH, FTP).

[CadCrazy]

Windows fanboys can't digest this news

[The Unknown]

Originally Posted by CadCrazy

Windows fanboys can't digest this news

Bloody Windows. Windows go to HELL.

[CadCrazy]

No buddy no flaming please
Linux guys are cool guys, free guys and open guys

[kalpik]

Originally Posted by The Unknown

Bloody Windows. Windows go to HELL.

Sorry.. This kinda attitude is not appreciated.. Please be a little tolerant

[The Unknown]

Originally Posted by CadCrazy

No buddy no flaming please
Linux guys are cool guys, free guys and open guys

Originally Posted by kalpik

Sorry.. This kinda attitude is not appreciated.. Please be a little tolerant

You don't know the enormous amount of trouble Windows gave me. So you talk coolly. I am not telling this to you guys. It is my anger against Windows.

[bikdel]

yeah...... specialy the ever-returning BSODs and errors..

i cant even use it for a whole month.. withing 2 weeks of usage it refuses to shut down properly... it does not accept drivers, WTH??...
and guess what? no virus, no adware, no spyware, no rootkit...

i have to format every month

and then my dad comes and scolds for spoiling the computer and fiddling with unnecesary thing ....

poor dad ! he will never understand..

cheers to LINUX!!


and know what? linux is too scalable.. you have linux for PCs , cellphones, ATMs, Play Station, Ipod, Sansa , many PMPs , PSP, everything... u get linux in routers, you get everywhere......

one day all our PC bios will come in LINUX..

[indranilmaulik]

Originally Posted by The Unknown

You don't know the enormous amount of trouble Windows gave me. So you talk coolly. I am not telling this to you guys. It is my anger against Windows.

But to the contrat of so many Linux User here my WinxpPro is running in my Box for the last 5 years without any GLITCH.

[vish786]

Originally Posted by indranilmaulik

But to the contrat of so many Linux User here my WinxpPro is running in my Box for the last 5 years without any GLITCH.

problem is.... setting a server apache jakarta etcis little easier when compared to win, one can do their own required settings for network easily in lin but doing same in win is 2 tough.

[indranilmaulik]

Originally Posted by vish786

problem is.... setting a server apache jakarta etcis little easier when compared to win, one can do their own required settings for network easily in lin but doing same in win is 2 tough.

not for me.

[Cool G5]

Linux always had advantage of using less resources than other os.
Cheers to linux.

[The Unknown]

Case is different with all.

[Zeeshan Quireshi]

Originally Posted by Cool G5

Linux always had advantage of using less resources than other os.
Cheers to linux.

Windows XP Runs much more smoothly than Ubuntu 6.xx or Ubuntu 7.xx on my P4 , 256 MB RAM Machine .

And on Ubuntu , if u play music , the CPU n RAM usage shoot up dramatically , same prob with firefox .

SO in short , my XP Machine , while playing Songs in WMP 11 n browsing on Firefox with 5-10 Tabs runs much more smoothly(and has a shorter startup time) than Ubuntu 6.xx or 7.xx Series doing the same job .

[vaithy]

Yes!
I am also using Windows XP for more than three years with other Linux Distros in my home Desk top . When I bought a new system it run very fast at one month than slowed down.. for various reeason..
1.Antivirus instalation and it updates
2.Adware removal programmes
3.Windows stealth programm running in the background
4. system compromised (by virus trojans,adwares, malwares)

In the case of Linux the trouble is only at the time of installation, multimedia working , network configuration etc. Once you set up the Linux box you simply forget about it and look your business as usual.
But in the case of windows for smooth working of your system or your network, you have to babysitting all day before it..
Personally only way I've have to run Windows XP more fast than Linux is,

Disconnect the inter net connections, Don't install any software come from magazines, or trial versons, don't ..... don't... so much don't have to be used...My internet actions and downloads are using with Linux..So I don't have to worry about the virus or other malware, so my system is running fast in Windows..

with regards,
Vaithy

[The Unknown]

Guys!! Guys!! Guys!! Now don't make a Technology News topic a Fight Club Topic. Everyone has their own views about Linux and Windows. Like I have a bad experience with Windows and a good experience with Linux similarly Zeeshan Quareshi has the opposite experience. So there is not point in fighting.

[Cool G5]

^Ya.Agree with you.
Different people,different views.

[NucleusKore]

Not just fast but cooler too, thats the case with my AMD AM2. Basal temperature shows a difference of 10 deg C (between Windows XP HOME and Open SuSE 10.3) both from software probe, verified by rebooting and checking in the bios.

[CadCrazy]

Originally Posted by The Unknown

Guys!! Guys!! Guys!! Now don't make a Technology News topic a Fight Club Topic. Everyone has their own views about Linux and Windows. Like I have a bad experience with Windows and a good experience with Linux similarly Zeeshan Quareshi has the opposite experience. So there is not point in fighting.

Abe khud hi aag laga ke ab tamasha dekh raha hai aur dusaro ko ladne se mana kar raha hai

[The Unknown]

Originally Posted by CadCrazy

Abe khud hi aag laga ke ab tamasha dekh raha hai aur dusaro ko ladne se mana kar raha hai

Nice Joke Dude. But I was angry at that time.

[CadCrazy]

Ok now say with me " Linux Guys are Cool Guys"

[Hitboxx]

"In 2019, Rory John Gates asked his father, Bill Gates III, "Daddy, I'm 20 years old and I've never had sex. What can I do?" Bill replied, "Simple, son. Take the biggest car from our garage, wear your best suit, give her a big bouquet of exotic flowers, take her to the most expensive restaurant in town, buy her the best Champagne, rent a horse-drawn carriage for a trip around the lake, and end up at the presidential suite of the most expensive hotel in town. She'll be all yours." Rory was shocked. "But, Dad? What about flirting, romantic walks, gazing into each other's eyes, and reading poetry in the moonlight?" Bill scoffed, "Son, all that stuff was invented by the Open Source community so that they could have sex for free!"

In case you didn't get it, that was a joke

[Charan]

FYI .. Williams F1 Team used HP supercomputers along with Linux for windtunnel experiments for the FW26 F1 cars. I thinks this was based on cluster computing .. I dont want to argue if Cluster Computing is Super Computing ..
HP Press release
HP UNVEILS WORLD'S FASTEST LINUX SUPERCOMPUTER