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

[Larry McVoy]

On Sat, Feb 08, 2020 at 05:18:37PM +0000, Ralph Corderoy wrote:
> 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.

Or it might be a giant step backwards in terms of memory latency.