Linux On Steroids: DIY supercomputer +Distributed Terascale Facility

[Faustine]

Tim wrote:
On Sunday, August 12, 2001, at 02:41 PM, Faustine wrote:
>
>>> Cryptographically speaking, *yawn*.
>
> "Fairly impressive" in that it's better than what I've got in my 
> basement
> right now. And for me, part of the appeal lies in the satisfaction of
> putting something like that together entirely yourself out of components
> other people considered worthless and discarded. Not to mention being 
> able
> to use it for whatever you want, whenever you want, without depending on
> anyone else's machine: a wonderful blend of self-sufficiency, ingenuity 
> and megalomania, ha.

>>So, are you now claiming you plan to build one? Why else the "part of 
>>the appeal lies in the satisfaction of" bit?

As a way to address the implicit question "why would anybody ever want to 
build a thing like that". 

For what it's worth, at one point I was tantalizingly close to getting my 
hands on a donation of 53 G3s. Unfortunately it fell through, but if an 
offer like that ever happens to come my way again, I can't really say I'd 
turn it down.

If someone else is convinced it's interesting enough to be willing to foot 
the power bill (as I had anticipated would be the case), where's the 
downside? Nobody thinks strategically enough to see why they'd be better 
off buying me a few shiny new G4s instead. Since I know that's 100% out of 
the realm of possiblity, it's better to be resourceful and take whatever I 
can get: more CPU power than I have now (or am likely to get adequate 
access to in the near future). I might have even been able to turn around 
and share/rent time on it to other "low-priority" people like myself who're 
just out to further their own research without getting underfoot elsewhere. 
Not a bad idea, at any rate. 

I still maintain that the lure of tinkering and scavaging is a large part 
of the appeal anyway. If it leaves you flat and, being rich and retired, 
have far better ways to spend your time, to each his own.

~Faustine.