Fine-Grain MIMD/SIMD/VLIW Using PCs/Workstations

PAPERS, Purdue's Adapter for Parallel Execution and Rapid
Synchronization, is custom hardware that allows a cluster of
unmodified PCs and/or workstations to function as a fine-grain
parallel computer capable of MIMD, SIMD, and VLIW execution.


The total time taken to perform a typical barrier
synchronization and/or aggregate communication operation using
PAPERS is about 3 microseconds, including all hardware and
software overhead. This is several orders of magnitude faster
than using conventional networks, and is even faster than most
commercial parallel supercomputers.


Despite this performance, a four-processor PAPERS unit can
cost as little as $30 to build, and the complete hardware
design and support software is fully PUBLIC DOMAIN.


Within the past year, there have been several traditional
publications about PAPERS and live demonstrations of PAPERS
clusters at both ICPP and Supercomputing. However, we now have
quite a bit more information available via the URL:




http://garage.ecn.purdue.edu/~papers/Index.html




It is our intent that this WWW site will become the primary
distribution source for materials concerning PAPERS.


-hankd@ecn.purdue.edu


PS: Happy New Year!
--

Return to the comp.compilers page.
Search the comp.compilers archives again.