SMP vs. Beowulf?
piotrk at ibb.waw.pl
Sat Dec 4 09:11:40 EST 1999
There are other kinds of Linux clusters. You can read discussion about
"Choosing the Right Cluster System"
For example (posted by SEWilco):
Beowulf is one of a family of parallel programming API tools. Programs
must use the API to accomplish parallel programming.
SCI is fast hardware with support for distributed shared memory,
messaging, and data transfers. Again, if you don't use the API then no
DIPC is distributed System V IPC. Programs which use the IPC API can be
converted to DIPC easily, such as just by adding the DIPC flag to the
MOSIX is the most general-purpose. Processes are scattered across a
cluster automatically without having to modify the programs. No API
needed other than usual Unix-level process use. Allows parallel
execution of any program, although full use requires a parallel program
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