[TUHS] Distributed systems, was: On the origins of Linux - "an academic question"

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi,

Rob Pike wrote:
> I am convinced that large-scale modern compute centers would be run
> very differently, with fewer or at least lesser problems, if they were
> treated as a single system rather than as a bunch of single-user
> computers ssh'ed together.

This reminds me of Western Digital's recent OmniXtend.  It takes a
programmable Ethernet switch and changes the protocol: Ethernet becomes
OmniXtend.  It's a cache-coherency protocol the allows CPUs, custom
ASICs, FPGAs, GPUS, ML accelerators, ... to each hang off an 802.3 PHY
and share one memory pool.
https://blog.westerndigital.com/omnixtend-fabric-innovation-with-risc-v/

It might be a step towards a room of racks being marshalled as a single
computer.

-- 
Cheers, Ralph.