[Beowulf] quick and dirty cluster demo

[Jim Lux]

I was recently asked about how one would go about doing a quick cluster 
demo with the following configuration:

a laptop running a TBD version of Linux
a bunch (4-16) of diskless nodes  (implying that they need to netboot with 
PXE, etc.)
all connected with ethernet..

Seems like something like warewulf would do this nicely, but are there 
other alternatives? ClusterKnoppix?

And then, what's a nice demo showing speedup?  POVray rendering?  glitz and 
flashy is important, raw speed is not.  It would be nice if you had 
something that took, say, 30 seconds to run on just the laptop, and then, 
as you add nodes, it gets faster and faster.

James Lux, P.E.
Spacecraft Radio Frequency Subsystems Group
Flight Communications Systems Section
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 161-213
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena CA 91109
tel: (818)354-2075
fax: (818)393-6875