SUMMARY: HOW TO LINK WORSTATIONS?

[Larry Lay <lay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Many thanks to:

Nick Hill, Richard A Bemrose, Ethan VanMatre, James(Jim)Belonis II, Robert R. Schneider, Keith Strange, Pete Simpson, Stan Horwitz, Joel_Gallun, C.Ruhnke, Tom Webster, Serguei Patchkovskii, Gary George

This is my temporary conclusion since I will continue my research on this issue. If any point of my words is wrong, please correct me.
1. DEC TrueCluster is basically for system redundancy, not for parallel computing. Although it is doable, see point 5.
2. TruCluster does NOT support alphaWorkstation. (I don't know what this means. Is it because a "special chip", or just different BIOS in server level boxes?) The connection mechanism is MEMORY CHANNEL (special cards plus special hub).
3. For Gaussian 94 program, what I need just LINDA, for IP base networked computers. Gaussian Inc, offers a special (cheaper) license of LINDA for just work with g94(g98).
4. For general purpose, I have to use the distributed computing methods, such as PVM (parallel virtual machines), which is a public domain freeware.
5. There exist DEV version of PVM, DIGITAL PVM, but that only support multiprocessor box (SMP), and cluster based on MEMORY CHANNEL.
6. Another public domain program, Beowulf, works only for LINUX on Intel boxes. I suspect I will work for LINUX on alpha boxes.
7. I probably just need a good 100baseT hub or switch. No special hardware is required. 

Larry (Tsan H. Lay)
UNIX System Administrator
BellSouth Wireless Data, Phone: 732-602-5132