Linux cluster vs. seperate systems

[Thoreau]

This is just my mind wandering as always, but how would a Linux cluster fare when it comes to SETI crunching? I've always wanted to play around with clustering a little and this would give me an excuse to learn a little bit.

Basically, I'm wondering if I would be better off with an 800mhz duron box, an athlon 1800, and an athlon 2000 all seperate, or if there would be anything to gain by clustering them into a single 'computer.'

 

[Thoreau]

On another semi-related note, I found this little gem a few minutes ago.

http://members.shaw.ca/dan.mckay/fscoseti.htm

It claims to be the lord of SETI crunching in that it's a Linux distro that runs entirely from a floppy drive and does nothing but process work units. Sounds pretty good, although I will personally probably stick to what I have now since I'm not sure how well it compares speed-wise to other methods.

 

[Spacehead]

TA SETI's beowulf thread

SETI can't really be run on a system of several CPU working as one because SETI already slices each WU into workable sizes. You would need to reslice each WU farther for it to work on a true beowulf cluster & the SETI client isn't made for that.
Hopefully i got that right or some one more knowledgeable pipes in.

I think some one around here is using that fscoseti setup, but i don't remember who it is.

 

[Coolkid]

I was using another linux based seti floppy, but because it uses the native linux client, the times were slower than using windows

 

[Adul]

Originally posted by: Coolkid
I was using another linux based seti floppy, but because it uses the native linux client, the times were slower than using windows

really?

 

[BofRA]

Probably the best option for this would be to use KlusterKnoppix and Windows CLI with Wine.