14 ms·

Probably not clear from the pictures, but the Tiny Titan sits on the observation deck directly in front of the actual Titan supercomputer at ORNL. It's used as

Probably not clear from the pictures, but the Tiny Titan sits on the observation deck directly in front of the actual Titan supercomputer at ORNL. It's used as a hands on demonstration when tours are being given about how supercomputers work. A useful tool for explaining the basic concepts in a tangible way.

mcguire 9y ago
Now, that is cool. Tours of a computing facility are otherwise pretty useless.
- ndesaulniers 9y ago
  You don't appreciate the sheer scale of hardware? The blinking LEDs alone are a spectacle.
  - mcguire 9y ago
    At one point I noticed a dearth of blinking lights in our (CS dept) machine room and suggested we get some plywood, spray paint, and a bunch of LEDs so that anyone peering through the door wouldn't see a big room full of what looked like shelving and cable octopi.
    - benbenolson 9y ago
      You clearly haven't been to ORNL. Definitely go on a tour sometime, it's well worth it.
      - mcguire 9y ago
        I should, they do fascinating work.
      - cwal37 9y ago
        Also fun, 1-2 times a year the Spallation Neutron Source[1] is shut down and the tunnels are open for tours. Was happy to have had the opportunity to check that out when I was working there, although I think my favorite high-science tour is still the National Ignition Facility[2]. Going inside of that places was awesome. Thinking back now, LLNL had a number of great tours actually, HEAF[3] was pretty cool as well. As far as I know none of those are open to the general public though; you have to work there. Someone I was dating at the time went on the public's tour of NIF, which really only involved them standing in the lobby. Ironically, she was a nuclear physicist and I do environmental and energy economics-y things, so I was completely unqualified to know anything about what I was seeing and she didn't even get a physicist as her tour guide. [1] https://neutrons.ornl.gov/sns https://neutrons.ornl.gov/sns [2] https://lasers.llnl.gov/about/what-is-nif https://lasers.llnl.gov/about/what-is-nif [3] https://wci.llnl.gov/facilities/heaf https://wci.llnl.gov/facilities/heaf

mcguire 9y ago

Now, that is cool. Tours of a computing facility are otherwise pretty useless.

ndesaulniers 9y ago
You don't appreciate the sheer scale of hardware? The blinking LEDs alone are a spectacle.
- mcguire 9y ago
  At one point I noticed a dearth of blinking lights in our (CS dept) machine room and suggested we get some plywood, spray paint, and a bunch of LEDs so that anyone peering through the door wouldn't see a big room full of what looked like shelving and cable octopi.
  - benbenolson 9y ago
    You clearly haven't been to ORNL. Definitely go on a tour sometime, it's well worth it.
    - mcguire 9y ago
      I should, they do fascinating work.
    - cwal37 9y ago
      Also fun, 1-2 times a year the Spallation Neutron Source[1] is shut down and the tunnels are open for tours. Was happy to have had the opportunity to check that out when I was working there, although I think my favorite high-science tour is still the National Ignition Facility[2]. Going inside of that places was awesome. Thinking back now, LLNL had a number of great tours actually, HEAF[3] was pretty cool as well. As far as I know none of those are open to the general public though; you have to work there. Someone I was dating at the time went on the public's tour of NIF, which really only involved them standing in the lobby. Ironically, she was a nuclear physicist and I do environmental and energy economics-y things, so I was completely unqualified to know anything about what I was seeing and she didn't even get a physicist as her tour guide. [1] https://neutrons.ornl.gov/sns https://neutrons.ornl.gov/sns [2] https://lasers.llnl.gov/about/what-is-nif https://lasers.llnl.gov/about/what-is-nif [3] https://wci.llnl.gov/facilities/heaf https://wci.llnl.gov/facilities/heaf