New tools Mac OSX 10.3 (panther)

[DJ_TRicks]

My Meta devloper freind said one of the major things being put into OSX 10.3 Server that will be the first major difference in the server and the normal user 10.x seris is the ability to run and monitor clusters as well as grid computer system (aka the pattented "XGrid" that apple copywrited
to those who dont know what this is

Clustering:
is where you have a bunch of slave nodes that do nothing but process information for a master node so the combined power is the power of all the processors together to process one bit of software

Grid computering:
Similar to Clustering but different in the fact the slave nodes arnt slaves and use everyone elses processors to help co process their own information so its a collective of the computers that help everyone connnected while still doing their own work

this is the XGrid copywrite apple made about
also the 10.3 will work with both apples and PCS
with either a 3rdparty program similar to Seti installed on window machines or using the full power of the darwin installed on PCs
atholon chips will be supported with the next PC version of the darwin kernel too

also rumor is that apples newton technology in 10.2 was because apple is releasing a new PDA that will work with the 10.3 PDA os version anyway peace

 

[barkmonster]

wow, if this is tied in with the OS in a similar way to multiple cpu support it would be great.

I could get a dual cpu G4 and then use my G3 as a 3rd cpu, I don't suppose I could run unix on my atari st and use than aswell

 

[BenderBot1138]

Bigger display face... smaller control surface areas... still plays a bazillion songs...

 

[Raiden]

one thing I like about that is..

Say I want to upgrade my snowwhite imac for a new 17inch one. What do I do with the snowhite? Before I would just put it in the attic forever, but if these rumors about xgrid are true, instead of throwing it away, I could hook it up and use its processing power.

 

[edesignuk]

Originally posted by Raiden
...but if these rumors about xgrid are true, instead of throwing it away, I could hook it up and use its processing power.

mmm...perhaps, but are you really going to run Mac OS 10.3 Server as your day to day OS? There is no mention of the technology beeing in the regular release of 10.3, just 10.3 Server.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

I wonder if they will allow XGrid to work without the server? It would be great to be able to take advantage of other machines, regardless of where they are.

Certain programs do that now, I have Lightwave and I can run it on any machines on the internet that I can connect to and place the scene/object/images files on. Very nice way to do distributed computing.

I wonder if there will be any benefits on using XGrid over the Lightwave screamernet?

And nice little tidbit about the Apple PDA at the bottom. But has anyone thought that maybe Apple might just provide the 'OS' for a PDA and not the actual hardware itself?

D

 

[TMay]

I'm still having trouble with a PDA...

Those that believe that Apple will build a PDA are usually assuming that Newton OS will be revived. I personally don't see this. It implies the use of an ARM processor, and an OS split.

IBM makes some very low power PPC chips, (the 405LP and such), so, it would make more sense to me that Apple would leverage Unix (albeit a stripped down version) for a mobile applications. This would allow any developer to use existing Cocoa and AppleScript Studio to create applications, using a very lite Aqua interface.

Of course, the iPod flies in the face of this with its OS.

BTW, I don't believe that Apple is building a PDA. They may be building something else that has PDA characteristics though.

 

[Gelfin]

Why did you start two separate threads on this subject within fifteen minutes or so of one another?

 

[nuckinfutz]

Sigh

Your Credibility would probably go farther if you didn't refer to Macintosh computers as "MACS" All caps means its an acronym and MAC stands for Media Access Control. PC is Personal Computer.

That's the lesson for today.

Nuk....Macrumors Teach.

 

[cubist]

The Newton is not coming back...

... with its NewtonScript and its Soups and other, certainly innovative, but incompatible-with-everything-else aspects. Its design was a stroke of genius, but there is such a thing as too far out of the mainstream. Like APL, the Newton lives its little niche life and has its enthusiasts, does amazing things for those who learn its intricacies; but there will never be any new Newtons; its days of glory are behind it.

 

[rice_web]

Apple should most definitely include clustering and grid computing capabilities into Mac OS 10.3 Server, but please do not limit this wonderful feature to the server edition. Even if we need to wait for another revision, I would like to see this feature added to consumer machines. I propose:

Apple should release clustering and grid computing capabilities into the server edition of Mac OS 10.3 with a mention to developers that these resource-sharing services will be implemented into 10.4--thus drawing developers to write code that is optimized for clustering and grid computing.

Can you imagine if the developers of games were to adopt this technology? Three iMacs linked together would actually provide for a decent gaming machine (letting alone the potential video editing setups). Even though cumbersome, it would be so cool to have a school lab powering one gaming machine and churning out 3000 frames per second on Quake III.

Games aside, the real potential lies with companies that like to grow slowly. With clustering and grid computing, a company would be able to keep their existing machines, relying on new machines for heavy computations. Video editors that still use their B&Ws could easily buy a new G4 workstation while cointinuing use of their B&W--rather than simply throwing it out the window.

The possibilities are almost mind-boggling, but would definitely give Macs the productivety edge on a most certain note.