Hi, Leif,
leif wrote:
> A few days ago I was contacted by a journalist here in Denmark. He is
> working on a piece on multi core processing and is wondering if any open
> source projects is working in that direction.
In other projects, particularly the various kernels, multi-cpu and
multi-core processing has been available since forever in most FOSS
kernels e.g.
http://www.ecn.purdue.edu/~pplinux/
For many years, the distros have included the option of choosing MP/SMP
kernels. That would be a matter of checking mailing list archives or
old release notes to see when that started and when it became
mainstream. Also, I'd expect that Google make heavy use of parallel
processing so there might be a contact at Google DK.
I've got it now several machines in several forms, including the x86
legacy architecture:
Linux 2.6.31-11-generic #36-Ubuntu SMP ...
OpenBSD 4.6 GENERIC.MP#186 ...
Not all the processing has to be done on the same machine. DragonFlyBSD
does clusters. QNX, which is now hybrid Open Source, has had parallel
processing since the 80's IIRC.
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6783
Even GPUs can be added to the power:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/13/elcomsoft-uses-nvidia-gpus-to-crack-wpa2/
Apparently not all activities lend themselves to MP. I once heard it
describe as the choice of having your wagon pulled by a one large fine
draft horse or a team of chihauhas. Neither MP nor draft animals are my
area.
> ... Who can help?
How about the QA folks involved in building test versions of OOo?
Maybe those writing the spreadsheet or database?
/Lars
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected]
For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
