Uses for a beowulf cluster?

[Shachar Tal]

Hi,

The university I work for is considering switching from it's monstrous
multi-CPU computers to Linux Beowulf clusters. I've been reading about the
subject, and I know that clusters are used to distribute computation
between nodes.

What we want to do is make, let's say, a 16-node cluster and let users log
in to the cluster (via telnet, ssh, whatever) and do whatever they usually
do: read their mail, telnet elsewhere, run netscape, use gcc, you get the
picture.

My question is: Will a beowulf do the job or is it not up to the job? Has
anyone done such a thing?

Shachar Tal
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Taub Computer Center, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology
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