[Beowulf] massive parallel processing application required

[Jim Lux]

At 08:25 AM 2/1/2007, Peter St. John wrote:
>Moore's Law (which has grown in scope since Moore) applies to the 
>aggregate effect of many technologies. Individual techs proceed in 
>fits and starts. Predictions about FLOPS/dollar seem to be 
>sustainable, but e.g. I predict a jump in chip density when the 
>price point of vapor deposition manufactured diamond gets low enough 
>(diamond conducts heat way better than silicon, and chips are 
>suffering from thermodynamics limits).
>
>When AT&T divested, you could not get a decent telephone anymore; 
>they were too expensive to make so well. Then after years of crummy 
>phones, suddenly everyone had a cell-phone just like Captain Kirk's.
>
>Sure I want fiber optics to my house. But maybe the power company 
>will carry data on the wasted bandwidth of power lines.

What wasted bandwidth on power lines?  Wires of random composition 
and topology, some over 100 years old, strung hither and yon, above 
and below ground doesn't sound like a particularly good propagation 
medium for wideband signals. Sure, signal processing and adaptive 
processing can do some good, but it's still a shared medium (i.e. 
that same power line that serves you also serves 8 of your 
neighbors). Twisted pairs of wires, coaxial cable, optical 
waveguides.. that's a consistent broadband propagation medium.

Data over powerlines might be useful for time of use electricity 
metering, etc...

Jim, W6RMK