[Beowulf] Computing Inverses of Matlab Matrices

[Joshua Baker-LePain]

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 at 11:21am, Phil Smith wrote

> I currently have a 32 node Beowulf cluster and wish to use it to
> compute the inverses of large matrices. My need to do matrix inversion
> is part of a much larger program which is all currently written in
> matlab.

Ooh, that's going to get you in trouble (says a fellow Matlab admin).

> Does anyone know of an easy way to have Matlab use the Beowulf cluster
> to compute the inverse? I only have one matlab licence buying 31 more
> is not an option.

The short answer is "Not going to happen".  There are some packages out 
there that let you do parallel "stuff" with Matlab.  But, AFAIK, they all 
require a Matlab license for each "user" running Matlab (and TMW considers 
a "user" to be user at host).

The standard answer at this point is that it's time to go to "real code" 
in $INSERT_LANGUAGE_OF_CHOICE_THAT_IM_NOT_MENTIONING_TO_AVOID_THAT_FLAMEWAR.
And, really, it's a good answer.  When I looked at parallelizing Matlab 
code, the effort involved was actually comparable to re-implementing it in 
parallel in a "real" compiled language.

Good luck.

-- 
Joshua Baker-LePain
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Duke University