[K12OSN] OpenMosix cluster

[Henry Burroughs]

Steve,

I can answer 2 and 5(sorta answers 4).  I did a bit with openmosix right
after I finished college. 

#2.  FC2 uses a 2.6 kernel.... there isn't a 2.6 version of openmosix
yet (Although the thin clients run 2.4, so you should still be able to
take advantage of the clients, you'll just have to have a client or
another system running as a "master" node).

#5: I used OpenMosix to build a parallel processing cluster.  Things
like molecular modeling (not something done very much in k-12), and also
computer graphics rendering (more of a chance).  That way, you can farm
out a job in povray, and have 40 thin-clients crunching on it instead of
your server (Think Pixar & Weta).  OpenMosix mainly migrates the
execution of the program (not the memory, so whatever system it was
started on still has the ram used...correct me if I am wrong).  As some
people have said in the past, some programs don't like to migrate
properly (OpenOffice.org)?  Not only that, a 500 meg process will
REALLY, REALLY test your switch backplanes when it moves.

I am going to be assisting a student with a science fair project, so we
may tap into some of our thin-clients here for parallel processing.

Ahh... brings back my memories of getting pvm, povray, and debian
running on headless SGI Indy workstations (had about 20 of the
suckers)... that was a royal pain... they sorta died after I left...
Henry Burroughs
Technology Director
Hilton Head Preparatory School
www.hhprep.org