Re: MISC-d Digest V99 #87

[theFox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Jeff Fox)]

>Since discussion of OpenSource high-performance DSP clusters is
>off-topic here, I've created a (currently unmoderated, but this may
>change in the future) list called dsp-clusters.

Interesting.  But who said that dsp-clusters are off topic.  I know
that DSP have large die and such but I don't see why a MISC cannot
be a DSP variant or that a DSP chip has to have more than a minimal
instruction set.  

>You can join the list on the following page:
>
>    http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/dsp-clusters
>
>Essentially, this is about bringing the OpenSource/Beowulf paradigm to
>DSP clusters, attempting to boost price/performance by at least one
>order of magnitude.

I can grasp the concept of an OpenSource paradigm.  A lot of Forth
projects have been of that nature.  Beowulf paradigm I don't quite
get.  Maybe I am missing something.  I think of Beowulf as just a
networked PC with software layers for multiprocesing on that platform.

If some DSP has networking hardware one could implement the software
layers that are used in Beowulf on the existing hardware there.  I
would expect it to reduce system performance by an order of
magnitude rather than boost it.  I just imagine that the layers
in Beowolf are typcial of the environment and might not be required
on the DSP.  

If you have something that has functions of distributed shared memory
in hardware I would think you would want to try to remove extra software
layers to boost performance.  If you model the software after stuff
that evolved getting network hardware designed to compete with hard
disks to act like a multprocessor bus the software might have layers
of complexity that you don't need if the DSPs were designed to be
clustered in the first place.

I must be missing something.  Maybe I am just thinking of the details
of the Beowulf implementation that are system specific too much instead
of just the idea of a standard way using clusters.

If you are talking about the multiprocessing software being Forth
or looking like a MISC variant to a user why would that be off
topic in the MISC mail list?  

>Discussion topics include both hardware and software issues.
>
>Regards,
>
>Eugene Leitl