[gentoo-cluster] Gentoo Science

[Shanon Loveridge]

Sounds interesting. I have been talking to sedeiner
about working on HPC / bioinformatics with gentoo and
would be interested in forking on any project in this
realm.

Shanon [abstract] 

--- Andrew Fant <afant@××××××××.cc> wrote: > ( please
pardon my crosspost on this.  It won't
> happen again)
>
> For those involved in high-performance computing
> (HPC) and computational
> science and engineering (CSE)*, Gentoo, is a
> powerful tool, both on the
> desktop and on servers or clusters.  With it, users
> can build environments
> that do not waste time offering unwanted network
> services and system
> daemons, and the binaries for the OS can be highly
> optimized to take full
> advantage of the system architecture.  In
> particular, this can improve the
> efficiency of numerical simulations that depend on
> floating point
> performance. Shaving 1 or 2 cycles from an operation
> may not seem like
> much, but when the routine is executed 5 million
> times per calculation,
> the savings rapidly add up.  Also, Gentoo doesn't
> have a rigid release
> cycle with EOL dates forced on users who have
> working systems.
> Administrators and users have the ultimate control
> over when upgrades are
> made and to which packages.   Finally, a group of
> enthusiastic volunteers
> have written ebuilds for over 100 different
> scientific and engineering
> applications and libraries, making them readily
> accessible to the user
> community.
>
> * Computational Science and Engineering is related
> to but distinct from
> Computer
> Science.  It is not usually concerned with research
> into computing for its
> own
> ends, but as a tool for making advances in other
> fields.  It covers areas as
> broad as Geographic Information Systems,
> Bioinformatics, Computational Fluid
> Dynamics, and Chemical Reactor Design, with many
> other fields as well.
>
> With the potential advantages of Gentoo-based HPC
> and CSE environments, we
> feel that the Gentoo community ought to do more to
> reach out to potential
> users and developers in these fields.  Gentoo
> doesn't come without a
> learning curve, and even when that curve is
> conquered the need for a
> specialized peer group is not obviated.
> Furthermore, Gentoo lacks name
> recognition in these fields, and even when a
> developer or administrator
> finds Gentoo and discovers the benefits of its
> philosophy, there is often
> a sense of isolation that discourages him or her
> from moving forward with
> Gentoo-based solutions.   To address these issues,
> we propose the
> formation of a Gentoo-science project, encompassing
> both desktop and
> server issues, with the following list of potential
> project goals.
>
> 1)    To act as a clearinghouse for information
> about the use of Gentoo
>       Linux in  computational science and
> engineering, including the
>       installation of major third-party
> applications, such as Matlab and
>       Mathematica, which are often less than
> completely Gentoo-friendly.
>
> 2)    To be a presence for Gentoo at technical
> meetings and trade shows,
>       both in informal settings, such as BOFs and
> badge button campaigns,
>       and in more formal settings, such as organized
> symposia or vendor
>       booths.
>
>
> 3)    To coordinate with the sci herd and other
> appropriate Gentoo herds
>       for bug-testing, code validation, and
> potential tree restructuring
>       as necessary and desirable.
>
> 4)    To provide input to project teams about the
> specific needs of
>       computational science and engineering users,
> in particular the
>       gentoo-server, gentoo-cluster, and
> gentoo-desktop teams.
>
> 5)    To advocate with developers and independent
> software vendors for
>       increased distribution neutrality in
> specifying software
>       pre-requisites for applications, and to
> encourage use of packaging
>       systems that are ebuild-friendly.
>
> Contact information:
>
> At present, there is no official irc channel or
> gentoo forum or mailing
> list for this proposed project.  Once the level of
> interest is determined,
> a mailing list will probably be set up to make
> communications easier.  The
> proponents of this project can often been found in
> #gentoo-server or
> #gentoo-cluster on irc.freenode.net.   Please feel
> free to post your
> comments as followups to this message.  E-mailed
> comments or requests to
> be added to the possible mailing list should be sent
> to afant@××××××××.cc
> (having "gentoo-science" in the subject would be
> greatly appreciated).
>
> Thank you to everyone for your attention and
> thoughts about this exciting
> new
> direction for Gentoo.
>
> Andrew Fant
> afant@××××××××.cc
> JFMuggs on freenode.net
>
>
>
> --
> gentoo-cluster@g.o mailing list
>

=====
"We can debug relationships, but it's always good policy to consider the people themselves to be features. 
People get annoyed when you try to debug them."

Larry Wall

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