Re: Hello - and where to begin?

> On Sun, Jan 20, 2008 at 01:50:12PM -0800, Jeff Fox wrote:
> Funny, that we're talking about this. At the end of the 80's
> Shell was replacing Crays with transputers, for some tasks at
> least. I was a teamleader, doing geologic modelling.
>
> I wanted a transputer network for myself. And my prayers have
> been answered. I bought the original Atair workstation stuff
> (from 100.000 guilders down to about 1000 for 16 transputers).
> Then I could borrow a real supercomputer a Parsytec with 64
> computing nodes and did a twin prime counting program on a
> network of over a hundred. I could afford the electricity,
> but in the summer it went too hot and tend to blow fuses ...

I recall your telling the story back when the Enron experience
was fresh in California and we had seen our electrical bills
go up by an order of magnitude.  I am very glad that I wasn't
trying to power a Cray.  At least transputers were
microprocessors not those big water cooled Cray systems.

I recall I was once shocked to read how high a percentage
of the energy we use and resulting in the global warming
goes to power PCs.  I have a half dozen of them cranking
away 24/7 on long calculations at the moment but at least
most of them are laptops.

Best Wishes