Re: [SLUG] MOSIX

From: Kevin Fogleman (snotr0cket@home.com)
Date: Tue Feb 15 2000 - 12:11:48 EST


Not to be rude or anything, but why bother? You could probably pick up parts for an old PIII 500 system for next to nothing and have tons more processing power than a MOSIX cluster.

--Kevin

2/18/02 9:33:18 AM, Russell Hires <rhires@earthlink.net> wrote:

>Okay, everybody!
>
>I'm getting closer to my goal for getting MOSIX up and running on my little
>network (I've got 3 computers altogether). I'm writing this to get myself a
>little confidence as I make changes to the two machines that are actually
>going to be running MOSIX. I also want to list the hoops I've had to go
>through to get this far.
>
>First, there's the hardware. I've got a Compaq Pentium 133 as the main node,
>which I got from work for $50. I had a time figuring out what was wrong with
>booting it in Linux, though, since the ethernet card had a chip in it for
>Bootware (whatever that is) that seemed to be looking for some kind of a
>server. But I got that solved -- took out that chip! I also had to get a
>second ethernet card for my PowerPC, since this is my firewall/nat machine
>(thanks to Derrick Glidden for the script to get nat working). In a stroke of
>luck, I also got a 3COM12-port ethernet hub for $10 from work. To this I've
>connected my PowerPC, the P-133, and a 486/66 I got for free from a guy I
>used to work with. The 486 was a challenge, since it has unknown hardware,
>and I couldn't figure out how/where the interrupts were, nor whether the
>ethernet card I had was going to work or not. After much haggling with trying
>to get kernel 2.4.x burned to a CD (I'd normally ask the list, but I'm rarely
>able to go to meeings) so that I can get support for the 3COM ethernet card
>3c509...I compiled the kernel, but no dice on the ethernet card. I finally
>figured that one out, though after some help from this list about the isapnp
>tools. The tools helped me figure out what kind of ethernet card it is, and
>the kernel recognized it, but it still didn't work. I then had a brainstorm:
>The kernel modules aren't being recognized by the kernel! I had to insmod the
>exact path to the module, and then it was recognized, and I was finally
>connected! Whew!
>
>Second, there's the software. I just talked about the kernel, but now there's
>the MOSIX stuff. I had originally gotten the 1.5.2 version of MOSIX, but when
>I went to look again, I saw that it is now at 1.5.7, which matches up with
>the 2.4.17 kernel. So, I just copy the source from my PowerPC to the other
>two computers, untar, and then follow the MOSIX instructions, since MOSIX
>patches the kernel. Actually, it does more than that, since it also automates
>a lot of the kernel building process, and it changes a few files (5 /etc
>files and two or three others). Now is the fun part. Because the automatic
>patch/build/install process wasn't tested on Debian, I have to make a few
>adjustments on my own. This primarily relates to the fact that Redhat/SuSE
>have different directory structures when it comes to init files. The docs
>seem aware that Debian might be used, but the auto install doesn't check the
>environment, unfortunately...
>
>Third, there's heart, a.k.a., lack of confidence ;-) I'm afraid of updating
>the LILO and rebooting on the 486, since I had such a hard time getting the
>ethernet card to work. With the Pentium, the problem is that I haven't been
>able to figure out LILO on a machine that also has Win95 on the primary drive
>(Linux is on a secondary drive)...so I boot from floppy for now. It works. I
>have to update the kernel to another floppy, I guess. Another thing that I
>think about is that I'm doing something that will really change these two
>computers (and I feel like there's no going back)...if I mess up, I'll have
>to start over again, or get stuck, or something. Maybe it's just stupid
>fear...
>
>More updates as they happen!
>
>Russell
>



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