| Index | Recent Threads | Unanswered Threads | Who's Active | Guidelines | Search |
 |
World Community Grid Forums
Category: Support
Forum: Suggestions / Feedback
Thread: Grid software for game consoles |
| No member browsing this thread |
|
Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 9
|
|
| Author |
|
|
Jason Darienzo
Cruncher Joined: Feb 3, 2005 Post Count: 4 Status: Offline |
No deals with Microsoft or Sony are required to get the grid software on the new xbox360 and PS3. The World Cummunity grid administrators should just write sofware that runs on those consoles. They have hard drives now to always have it on there. Even the current xbox could be used. My xbox is next to my computer doing nothing when it could be working for the grid.
|
||
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
The World Cummunity grid administrators should just writesofware that runs on those consoles. Good sentiment - not as easy as you suggest. Although i notice that Sony are talking about a version of ps3 with linux. That will make it easy-ish to port / recompile the soon coming linux agent to the sony hw. Also there is a linux kit for ps2. (Not sure that there is such a thing for xbox ;) ) CtW |
||
|
|
KableKiB
Cruncher Joined: Jul 5, 2005 Post Count: 1 Status: Offline |
The World Cummunity grid administrators should just writesofware that runs on those consoles. Good sentiment - not as easy as you suggest. Although i notice that Sony are talking about a version of ps3 with linux. That will make it easy-ish to port / recompile the soon coming linux agent to the sony hw. Also there is a linux kit for ps2. (Not sure that there is such a thing for xbox ;) ) CtW Isn't the kit for the XBox and not the PS2? -Kable |
||
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
lets git a linix agent going before they tackle game consoles
|
||
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
I have been struggling to understand why there are so many people asking for a linux agent...... until I found this explanation:
http://www.allowe.com/Humor/SwitchLinux.htm Now I understand  |
||
|
|
Ben Pont
Cruncher Joined: Nov 24, 2004 Post Count: 4 Status: Offline |
I truly hope the Advisory Board, IBM and Sony don't miss a great opportunity for philanthropy and leveraging the awesome power of the cellular processor to work for the WCG. A big problem right now (and will be then) is promotion. I think a lot of kids (and adults) would love to know that when they're away or sleeping that their PS3 is whittling away at complex problems that will cure diseases, along with millions other gamers around the globe. But how many kids do you know are even aware of WCG and its mission, or how essentially easy it is to participate?
Word of mouth from active members is great, but it's not enough. Powerful and influencial people / institutions (like the ones on the Advisory Board, IBM, and hopefully, Sony) need to promote and keep this in front of younger people and connect it with their high tech toys for things to really grow aggressively. Kids will learn a lesson in community participation and compassion, and humanity will be the better for it. PS3 is practically made for work like this. Let's hope it doesn't slip through the cracks into idleness like so many other data processing devices. |
||
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
I truly hope the Advisory Board, IBM and Sony don't miss a great opportunity for philanthropy and leveraging the awesome power of the cellular processor to work for the WCG. A big problem right now (and will be then) is promotion. I think a lot of kids (and adults) would love to know that when they're away or sleeping that their PS3 is whittling away at complex problems that will cure diseases, along with millions other gamers around the globe. But how many kids do you know are even aware of WCG and its mission, or how essentially easy it is to participate? Word of mouth from active members is great, but it's not enough. Powerful and influencial people / institutions (like the ones on the Advisory Board, IBM, and hopefully, Sony) need to promote and keep this in front of younger people and connect it with their high tech toys for things to really grow aggressively. Kids will learn a lesson in community participation and compassion, and humanity will be the better for it. PS3 is practically made for work like this. Let's hope it doesn't slip through the cracks into idleness like so many other data processing devices. Same idea I had when I first heard about the PS3's Cell, after all, Sony did all the talking about the Grid processing power of the PS3 - now it is time to put their money where their mouths are. |
||
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Big dreaming and optimistic...but, not very realistic. Most people gaming are in a selfish pursuit of pleasure and entertainment. They do not care about some disease off in a far away land or even something they don't have and doesn't directly affect them.
Cell processing is a potentially great thing as seen in the Terminator series which helped to create Artificial Intelligence along with neuro nets and superconduction at room temp. But, I believe time may prove this particular chip is a big overrated and pumped up. It is probably unlikely to yield anymore performance for this type of work then the current dual cores or the quad cores coming out late 2006 and early 2007. In any case I believe the best deal will come if and when Sony and Toshiba start putting these "cell processors" in home personal computers and notebooks. IBM has already committed to use these chips in server applications. Would this require a special designed application to use the cell processor to maximum efficiency? I believe Sony has said they created an application to "easily" port existing codes? |
||
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/forum_thread.php?id=2005
----------------------------------------Check the thread which discusses the relationship between Cell processor and the application. The World Cummunity grid administrators should just write sofware that runs on those consoles. It's NO easy for developers to write the "effective" code on the processor. Of course PS3 can run applications on Linux, but they're not always effecient. From the thread; http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/forum_thread.php?id=2005#20949 This post on the thread that Einstein@home hosts said that: The Cell architecture differs quite much from the current standard CPU designs, so while potentially being more powerful, much more effort is needed on the software side. If you leave aside the synergistic processing elements (SPEs), you get a rather ordinary PPC-based machine. Given the projected price of the PS3, you'd be better off with a bunch of Macs than PS3s. To make use of the SPEs, thus accesing the full power of the Cells, you don't only need a new compiler; like e.g. with processing data in the Graphics Controller you have to implement explicit, software-controlled memory accesses / tranfers. It will take some man-months of work to implement this. (http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/forum_thread.php?id=3644) And IMHO applications depend not only upon the prosessor, but also upon eg memory. It can hardly admit that a host can crunch more just because the machine has the great CPU. The easiest way to ensure this point is just buy consoles and try crunching on them! In addition, what also has to be noticed is that making the application which is the suitable for the consoles doesn't always obtain better results. Obviously even if developers would make applicaitons for PS3 or XBOX, it is useless when nobody use them, right? Thus for Einstein@Home this would make sense for clusters of many hundreds of identical machines, exclusively running Einstein@Home, but if it's for a few dozens of users with one or two machines each, the time would be better spent by improving the Windows App by, say, 1%. (ibid) This means improving applications for PC is prior to writing effective code for the consoles unless many of them are used for crunching. How many do you think consumers are going to buy the consoles to participate this distributed computing at the present time? Just a few, I fear. Isn't it too late to try making applications for the consoles after they has spread over the world enough? They do not care about some disease off in a far away land or even something they don't have and doesn't directly affect them. It may be, but why are you pessimistic without evidence? If PS3 would be computers for general home use, not just for playing games, grid computing can happen really since consumers will be not only game-addicts but ordinary people, as this part shows:"I think a lot of kids (and adults) would love to know that when they're away or sleeping that their PS3 is whittling away at complex problems that will cure diseases". It's too early to make any decision. But, I believe time may prove this particular chip is a big overrated and pumped up. It is probably unlikely to yield anymore performance for this type of work then the current dual cores or the quad cores coming out late 2006 and early 2007. The Cell is a multi-core processor, isn't it? BTW, it must be very tough work for us to read and understand the huge number of documents which explain the Cell broadband engine:( at http://cell.scei.co.jp/ [Edit 2 times, last edit by Former Member at Aug 5, 2006 6:53:24 PM] |
||
|
|
|