3 ms·

I'd like to see a "local cloud" computing system. Where CPUs/GPUs are stored in a rack on site and at each workstation is only a KVM + monitor plus a high bandw

I'd like to see a "local cloud" computing system. Where CPUs/GPUs are stored in a rack on site and at each workstation is only a KVM + monitor plus a high bandwidth (say fiber optic) video link back to the cabinet. This would be almost a regression back to mainframe days, but it could give everyone the power of a high-end workstation as well as save energy since most scenarios wont' have a 100% load factor. An office of 20 people probably never actually needs 20x (1CPU 1hdd, etc). You could buy one rack with 5 beefy workstations and have a much more efficient load factor. As long as you could keep the video link up, the users should never feel any lag. edit: you'd also need a video-card multiplexer, so for the 20 worker scenario, you'd have one board with 5-10 gpus multiplexed to 20 fiber optic outputs (doesn't have to be fiber, but something high enough to give you 4k @ 60fps )

contingencies 10y ago
Never thought about this architecture from an energy savings perspective but it's actually probably really good. Another thing is USB over ethernet is a now a thing in the Linux kernel... so even with pluggable hardware this could make perfect sense. Interesting idea.
- digler999 10y ago
  I could also see this in a suburban neighborhood. Instead of buying "internet" from your ISP, you could buy "computing" from them. Every block has a server cabinet, with fiber video links to each house. Then your ISP is responsible for maintaining your OS. This could go either way: given the current state of American ISP's, it could be a disaster. But in a "perfect world", it would "just work" because as soon as your OS went down, the tech would be dispached to remote in and fix it, or drive out there and replace a blade in the server. In aggregate, this would drive up demand and evolve a highly reliable OS. In that case everyone should have a highly reliable service (albeit with privacy concerns), as long as the video could keep up.
  - contingencies 10y ago
    Not keen on this idea... I think individual independence in computing hardware is a very important social and technological feature against fascist technocracy. I think sharing infrastructure at the office level could make sense, or within a home, but not across a neighborhood with current technology. While you may be right that overall availability would increase under such a design, I don't really think reliability is a problem for most people right now. Maybe it would work in some special scenarios though? For example it may be a viable model to provide 'basic service' computing to individual homes within a low income / government supported housing environment, prisons, or hotels. (Fun fact: In mainland Chinese hotels, they often provide computers specifically so that people can watch porn.)
jotux 10y ago
Isn't this just thin clients?
- digler999 10y ago
  I suppose. But I'd say take it further and capitalize on advancements in VM technology so as to make it indistinguishable in performance from an attached workstation.

contingencies 10y ago

Never thought about this architecture from an energy savings perspective but it's actually probably really good. Another thing is USB over ethernet is a now a thing in the Linux kernel... so even with pluggable hardware this could make perfect sense. Interesting idea.

digler999 10y ago
I could also see this in a suburban neighborhood. Instead of buying "internet" from your ISP, you could buy "computing" from them. Every block has a server cabinet, with fiber video links to each house. Then your ISP is responsible for maintaining your OS. This could go either way: given the current state of American ISP's, it could be a disaster. But in a "perfect world", it would "just work" because as soon as your OS went down, the tech would be dispached to remote in and fix it, or drive out there and replace a blade in the server. In aggregate, this would drive up demand and evolve a highly reliable OS. In that case everyone should have a highly reliable service (albeit with privacy concerns), as long as the video could keep up.
- contingencies 10y ago
  Not keen on this idea... I think individual independence in computing hardware is a very important social and technological feature against fascist technocracy. I think sharing infrastructure at the office level could make sense, or within a home, but not across a neighborhood with current technology. While you may be right that overall availability would increase under such a design, I don't really think reliability is a problem for most people right now. Maybe it would work in some special scenarios though? For example it may be a viable model to provide 'basic service' computing to individual homes within a low income / government supported housing environment, prisons, or hotels. (Fun fact: In mainland Chinese hotels, they often provide computers specifically so that people can watch porn.)

jotux 10y ago

Isn't this just thin clients?

digler999 10y ago
I suppose. But I'd say take it further and capitalize on advancements in VM technology so as to make it indistinguishable in performance from an attached workstation.