Linux OpenMosix Cluster: Day 1

There has to be something to do with aging PCs besides toss them in the dumpster. In the past I have been able to employ them in service capacities, all running Slackware Linux. One is a specialty "router" that handles Citrix traffic from my LAN through the DMZ out and back to the Internet. Another happily sits and monitors the links of critical systems on my LAN and will page me if one or more is broken. There is a VPN server, an intranet server, and a couple of small back-side SQL servers.

So what am I to do with all the rest of the perfectly function personal computers? The answer is I don't know - right now. But I have my virtual crystall ball. This virtual "seeing" device has served me well in the past so I have every confidence that it will continue into the future. It was this crystal ball that prompted me to take a look into this "Line-ex" stuff back in 1996. (I quickly realized it was a fad that it would never catch on. *WEG*) Recognizing merit in a technology or a way of thinking is the key to "predicting" the future. All this brings me to Cluster technology.

I will be the first to acknowledge that a 4-node cluster of 300 MHz PC's will not change the paradigm of computing. It doesn't even come close to the 2.4 Ghz Slackware system that I am currently typing on. It will not aid in the resolution of complex protein combinations as a cure for HIV. It WILL give a clear indication of potential, the possibilities of the future. It WILL afford hands on experience in an arena of computing that is usually prohibitively expensive. (BONUS: Great geek toy!)

Software to follow...