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Edinburgh Concurrent Supercomputer Project
The Edinburgh Concurrent Supercomputer (ECS) was a large Meiko Computing Surface supercomputer. This transputer-based, massively parallel system was installed at the University of Edinburgh during the late 1980s and early 1990s. History Following a pilot project involving an early 40-transputer Computing Surface installed in April 1986, funding was obtained from Science and Engineering Research Council, SERC and the Department of Trade and Industry (United Kingdom), DTI for a much larger system using T800 transputers and a MicroVAX fileserver. The Edinburgh Concurrent Supercomputer Project (ECSP) was formed to manage and support the facility, which was commissioned at the end of 1987. Over the next few years, the system received several upgrades, including more transputers (reaching, at its peak, around 400 processors) and the installation of M²VCS and MeikOS system software, which enabled multi-user access and removed the need for the MicroVAX. In 1990, the Edinburgh Concurre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meiko Computing Surface
Meiko Scientific Ltd. was a British supercomputer company based in Bristol, founded by members of the design team working on the Inmos transputer microprocessor. History In 1985, when Inmos management suggested the release of the transputer be delayed, Miles Chesney, David Alden, Eric Barton, Roy Bottomley, James Cownie, and Gerry Talbot resigned and formed Meiko (Japanese language, Japanese for "well-engineered") to start work on massively parallel machines based on the processor. Nine weeks later in July 1985, they demonstrated a transputer system based on experimental 16-bit computing, 16-bit transputers at the SIGGRAPH in San Francisco. In 1986, a system based on 32-bit computing, 32-bit T414 transputers was launched as the ''Meiko Computing Surface''. By 1990, Meiko had sold more than 300 systems and grown to 125 employees. In 1993, Meiko launched the second-generation ''Meiko CS-2'' system, but the company ran into financial difficulties in the mid-1990s. The technical tea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a type of computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instructions per second (MIPS). Since 2022, supercomputers have existed which can perform over 1018 FLOPS, so called Exascale computing, exascale supercomputers. For comparison, a desktop computer has performance in the range of hundreds of gigaFLOPS (1011) to tens of teraFLOPS (1013). Since November 2017, all of the TOP500, world's fastest 500 supercomputers run on Linux-based operating systems. Additional research is being conducted in the United States, the European Union, Taiwan, Japan, and China to build faster, more powerful and technologically superior exascale supercomputers. Supercomputers play an important role in the field of computational science, and are used for a wide range of computationally intensive tasks in various fields, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transputer
The transputer is a series of pioneering microprocessors from the 1980s, intended for parallel computing. To support this, each transputer had its own integrated memory and serial communication links to exchange data with other transputers. They were designed and produced by Inmos, a semiconductor device, semiconductor company based in Bristol, United Kingdom. For some time in the late 1980s, many considered the transputer to be the next great design for the future of computing. While the transputer did not achieve this expectation, the transputer architecture was highly influential in provoking new ideas in computer architecture, several of which have re-emerged in different forms in modern systems. Background In the early 1980s, conventional central processing units (CPUs) appeared to have reached a performance limit. Up to that time, manufacturing difficulties limited the amount of circuitry that could fit on a chip. Continued improvements in the integrated circuit#Manu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Massively Parallel
Massively parallel is the term for using a large number of computer processors (or separate computers) to simultaneously perform a set of coordinated computations in parallel. GPUs are massively parallel architecture with tens of thousands of threads. One approach is grid computing, where the processing power of many computers in distributed, diverse administrative domains is opportunistically used whenever a computer is available.''Grid computing: experiment management, tool integration, and scientific workflows'' by Radu Prodan, Thomas Fahringer 2007 pages 1–4 An example is BOINC, a volunteer-based, opportunistic grid system, whereby the grid provides power only on a best effort basis.''Parallel and Distributed Computational Intelligence'' by Francisco Fernández de Vega 2010 pages 65–68 Another approach is grouping many processors in close proximity to each other, as in a computer cluster. In such a centralized system the speed and flexibility of the interconnect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI and I, James VI in 1582 and officially opened in 1583, it is one of Scotland's Ancient universities of Scotland, four ancient universities and the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, sixth-oldest university in continuous operation in the English-speaking world. The university played a crucial role in Edinburgh becoming a leading intellectual centre during the Scottish Enlightenment and contributed to the city being nicknamed the "Etymology of Edinburgh#Athens of the North, Athens of the North". The three main global university rankings (Academic Ranking of World Universities, ARWU, Times Higher Education World University Rankings, THE, and QS World University Rankings, QS) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science And Engineering Research Council
The Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) and its predecessor the Science Research Council (SRC) were the UK agencies in charge of publicly funded scientific and engineering research activities, including astronomy, biotechnology and biological sciences, space research and particle physics, between 1965 and 1994. History The SERC also had oversight of: * the Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO) * the Royal Observatory Edinburgh (ROE) * the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) * the Daresbury Laboratory From its formation in 1965 until 1981 it was known as the Science Research Council (SRC). The SRC had been formed in 1965 as a result of the Trend Committee enquiry into the organisation of civil science in the UK. Previously the Minister for Science had been responsible for various research activities in the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) and more loosely with a variety of agencies concerned with the formulation of civil scientific policy. O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Department Of Trade And Industry (United Kingdom)
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) was a United Kingdom government department formed on 19 October 1970. It was replaced with the creation of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills on 28 June 2007. History The department was formed on 19 October 1970 through the merger of the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Technology, creating a new cabinet post of Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. Additionally, the department also took over the Department of Employment's former responsibilities for monopolies and mergers. However, in January 1974, the department's responsibilities for energy production were transferred to a newly created Department of Energy. On 5 March that year, following a Labour Party victory in the February 1974 general election, the department was split into the Department of Trade, the Department of Industry and the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MicroVAX
The MicroVAX is a discontinued family of low-cost minicomputers developed and manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). The first model, the MicroVAX I, shipped in 1984. The series uses processors that implement the VAX instruction set architecture (ISA) and were succeeded by the VAX 4000. Many members of the MicroVAX family have corresponding VAXstation variants, which primarily differ by the addition of graphics hardware. The MicroVAX family supports Digital's OpenVMS, VMS, ULTRIX, and VAXELN operating systems. Prior to VMS V5.0, MicroVAX hardware required a dedicated version of VMS named MicroVMS. MicroVAX I The MicroVAX I, code-named ''Seahorse'', introduced in October 1984, was one of DEC's first VAX computers to use very-large-scale integration (VLSI) technology. The KA610 CPU module (also known as the KD32) contains two custom chips which implemented the Arithmetic-logic unit, ALU and Floating-point unit, FPU while Transistor-transistor logic, TTL chips were use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fileserver
In computing, a file server (or fileserver) is a computer attached to a network that provides a location for shared disk access, i.e. storage of computer files (such as text, image, sound, video) that can be accessed by workstations within a computer network. The term server highlights the role of the machine in the traditional client–server scheme, where the clients are the workstations using the storage. A file server does not normally perform computational tasks or run programs on behalf of its client workstations (in other words, it is different from e.g. an application server, which is another type of server). File servers are commonly found in schools and offices, where users use a local area network to connect their client computers. Types of file servers A file server may be dedicated or non-dedicated. A dedicated server is designed specifically for use as a file server, with workstations attached for reading and writing files and databases. File servers may also be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MeikOS
Meiko Scientific Ltd. was a British supercomputer company based in Bristol, founded by members of the design team working on the Inmos transputer microprocessor. History In 1985, when Inmos management suggested the release of the transputer be delayed, Miles Chesney, David Alden, Eric Barton, Roy Bottomley, James Cownie, and Gerry Talbot resigned and formed Meiko ( Japanese for "well-engineered") to start work on massively parallel machines based on the processor. Nine weeks later in July 1985, they demonstrated a transputer system based on experimental 16-bit transputers at the SIGGRAPH in San Francisco. In 1986, a system based on 32-bit T414 transputers was launched as the ''Meiko Computing Surface''. By 1990, Meiko had sold more than 300 systems and grown to 125 employees. In 1993, Meiko launched the second-generation ''Meiko CS-2'' system, but the company ran into financial difficulties in the mid-1990s. The technical team and technology was transferred to a joint venture co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multi-user
Multi-user software is computer software that allows access by multiple users of a computer. Time-sharing systems are multi-user systems. Most batch processing systems for mainframe computers may also be considered "multi-user", to avoid leaving the CPU idle while it waits for I/O operations to complete. However, the term " multitasking" is more common in this context. An example is a Unix or Unix-like system where multiple remote users have access (such as via a serial port or Secure Shell) to the Unix shell prompt at the same time. Another example uses multiple X Window sessions spread across multiple terminals powered by a single machine – this is an example of the use of thin client. Similar functions were also available in a variety of non-Unix-like operating systems, such as Multics, VM/CMS, OpenVMS, MP/M, Concurrent CP/M, Concurrent DOS, FlexOS, Multiuser DOS, REAL/32, OASIS, THEOS, PC-MOS, TSX-32 and VM/386. Some multi-user operating systems such as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre
EPCC, formerly the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre, is a supercomputing centre based at the University of Edinburgh. Since its foundation in 1990, its stated mission has been to ''accelerate the effective exploitation of novel computing throughout industry, academia and commerce''. The University has supported high performance computing (HPC) services since 1982. , through EPCC, it supports the UK's national high-end computing system, ARCHER (Advanced Research Computing High End Resource), and the UK Research Data Facility (UK-RDF). Overview EPCC's activities include: consultation and software development for industry and academia; research into high-performance computing; hosting advanced computing facilities and supporting their users; training and education. The Centre offers two Masters programmes: MSc in High-Performance Computing and MSc in High-Performance Computing with Data Science. It is a member of the Globus Alliance and, through its involvement w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
