[Beowulf] Setting up First Beowulf System: Recommendations re racking, linux flavour, and up to date books

[Robert G. Brown]

On Thu, 11 Dec 2008, Prentice Bisbal wrote:

> Personally, I recommend starting with the "why" and learning the theory
> of parallel programming. It will make designing effective parallel
> programs easier. I have these two parallel computing texbooks on my
> bookshelf:

Excellent point.  Don't forget Ian Foster's book:

   http://www-unix.mcs.anl.gov/dbpp/

This has the advantage of being available for free online as well as in
hardcover if you prefer it that way.  So you can read it NOW and see if
it meets your needs, and explore the other books below (where I haven't
read Wilkinson and Allen but have looked through GKKG and agree that
it's a lovely book) as you can obtain a copy.

    rgb

> Parallel Programming: Techniques and Applications Using Networked
> Workstations and Parallel Computers (2nd Edition)
> by Barry Wilkinson and Michael Allen
> http://www.amazon.com/Parallel-Programming-Techniques-Applications-Workstations/dp/0131405632
>
> Introduction to Parallel Computing (2nd Edition) (Hardcover)
> by Ananth Grama, George Karypis, Vipin Kumar,  Anshul Gupta
> http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Parallel-Computing-Ananth-Grama/dp/0201648652
>
> I haven't read either one cover to cover, but I have read portions, an
> both are relatively easy to read. Most parallel programming is done
> using MPI, so you might want to start there for actually writing
> parallel programs. For that, this is a good book:
>
> Parallel Programming With MPI (Paperback)
> by Peter Pacheco
> http://www.amazon.com/Parallel-Programming-MPI-Peter-Pacheco/dp/1558603395/
>
> Again, I haven't read this one in it's entirety, more of a reference for
> me, since I hardly actually do MPI programming as an admin. It's looks
> very easy to read. I'd go so far as to say it's the "gold standard" on
> this topic, since I've seen it recommended over and over again.
>
> 4) Any major Linux distro (Red Hat, SUSE, Debian, Ubuntu) will work
> well. I use a rebuild of RHEL. Not sure which distros have all you need
> right out of the box.
>
>
>
> -- 
> Prentice
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Robert G. Brown	                       http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/
Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305
Durham, N.C. 27708-0305
Phone: 1-919-660-2567  Fax: 919-660-2525     email:rgb at phy.duke.edu