[Beowulf] use for a cluster -- wall of monitors

[Jim Lux]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Isaac Dooley" <idooley2 at uiuc.edu>
To: <beowulf at beowulf.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 19, 2004 3:40 PM
Subject: [Beowulf] use for a cluster -- wall of monitors


> The NCSA has a project called Display Wall-in-a-Box
> http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Projects/AllProjects/Projects82.html
> Their system lets you build a wall of displays...
>
> Isaac

Indeed, it was the article in ClusterWorld that gave me this idea, but
currently, you'd spend more on the monitors than on the cluster. Turns out
(having looked into extensively) that monitors intended for use with
computers are VERY different from those you watch TV on.

1) Design life is MUCH shorter on the monitors than the TVs.  Typically the
design is for half brightness after some 8-10k hrs of use.
2) The spot size on a TV is bigger than on a computer monitor (it makes it
brighter, but has less resolution, no big deal on a TV that reproduces, at
best, about 500x500 pixels). (For the technically inclined, it has to to
with the accelerating voltage, the beam current, and focus electrodes in the
electron gun)

There's also the issue of seams.

If you look for projectors (the NCSA approach), they're still quite pricey,
at least for decent ones.