Good Morning from my Robotics Lab! This is Shadow_8472 and today, I am planning a model supercomputer. Let’s get started!
I feel swamped with projects right now. They end up stacking up and with different priorities, so I’m glad I can finally do something with this lockdown care package I recieved from Third Workshop several weeks ago.
The package contained five Minus Forum Fanless Mini PC’s, model N40. After carefully removing and discarding the wrapper, I pulled one out and hooked it up. It booted to Windows 10 setup. Nice that they included something, but for a number of reasons, I will be installing some version of Linux on these tiny machines. What annoyed me was that the screen where Windows wants me to accept the EULA did not have a reject button.
What annoyed me more was how I never received an answer from support about a partial refund per the Windows EULA. Honestly, I did that more on principle, and I don’t know how it would work. I am not the original purchaser, and they were already on sale. Token effort. Their support website didn’t have a security certificate for protecting login details, so I didn’t prioritize pursuing a couple dollars per machine any further. In the meantime, I turned my attention to booting Linux from my Debian install stick. Let me tell you: the BIOS on these things is about as user friendly as their tech support.
By default, it priorities internal boot devices over removal media, and it only gives a tiny window of opportunity to enter the boot menu, or it’s off to Win10. it’s almost like the original manufacturer didn’t want people looking at the BIOS at it’s almost like the original manufacturer didn’t want people looking at the BIOS at; I had to look up what key to press, and it was either F2 or DELETE, and when I got to the BIOS menu, it was the ugliest one I’ve ever seen. The aesthetics were on the low end for terminal style menus, but the real kicker was how they handled moving the boot order around. I wasn’t able to figure it out except that it felt like swapping items in an array instead of moving things up and down a list. Despite the challenges, I was able to boot the way I wanted to.
Assembling a supercomputer though, that is a whole other story. There are two kinds of supercomputers: distributed, like what Fold@Home is using to combat the CCP Virus Pandemic (which I intend to add these goodies to), and clusters, like what I’m trying to build. At present, I am pursuing the term Beowulf Cluster in my searches.
I just wanted to touch on another reason not to go with Windows for this project, besides me transitioning to Linux whenever possible. Windows charges per instance of their OS. Supercomputers need one OS per node, and practical supercomputers will often have at least five or six nodes working in parallel. Couple that with the already sparse number of applications for supercomputers, and you end up with virtually no supporting software to use Windows for a Cluster computer.
The biggest challenge I faced in this part of the work was knowing what to order. I had to ask someone on my family’s Minecraft server before I knew for sure that a switch would serve just fine. Then came the rest of the support system.
These little computers support Gigabit Ethernet, so that’s what I’m aiming for all along the system, primarily the network cabling. There’s a lot to know about wiring. Modern data transmission builds on the twisted pair technique originally invented by Alaxander Gram Bell. Since then, we’ve found ways to reduce noise, such as insulating the wires from each other, shielding them from each other with foil, shielding the whole set of wires from their environment with more foil, and so on and so forth. There are specs on fire safety if the cable is installed horizontally, vertically, or even in the ventilation system.
More relevant to my project is how the cable’s wires are made. One kind is made with lots of strands, making it easy to bend around and is often used between computers and the wall. The one I want uses solid wires; the wires won’t be moving around much after installation.
Rounding the computation side of things off, I have a Raspberry Pi 4B on order. That was a small adventure. Turns out the B in Pi XB just means it has an Ethernet port, and a model A doesn’t have it. Since they aren’t making Pi 4’s without Ethernet at present, all cases made for plain “Pi 4” should work for my purposes. I went for one that doubles as a large heat sink. Neither have arrives as of writing.
The final hardware challenge is power. While I’d like to just slap a strong enough power supply on the mounting board, different parts of my system will be running three unique voltages. The only ones I’d have any chance of combining are the original minicomputers, and their power supplies are matched pretty well with what they need. They also take up too much real estate on the power strip. I researched over and out of my price range, landing on the conclusion that more research would be needed to combine transformers. The plan now is to grab a couple angled three-way splitters and use the original transformers.
I haven’t even gotten to assembling the system, and it’s already a formidable challenge. Nevertheless, there is one more good reason for combining all these machines in one “casing:” I believe my family is near capacity with the number of computers our router can physically address at once, and that this project would otherwise put it over. The way it’s planned out, as the controller. the Pi 4 will be the only node to talk to the outside.
Final Question: What would you use a supercomputer for?