[esp-r] install on linux - sorry jon, I'd replied to you instead of the list

[pat mc cormack]

All,
Thanks for the clarity. I totally understand the issues with respect to
legacy code. Especially Fortran. I've been writing code since '76, much of
it simulator code. Yeah, I know. Why didn't we stick with Smalltalk :-)) If
someone had told me in 1980 that code I was writing was going to be still in
use in 2007 I'd have ... I dunno.. smiled weakly and backed away very
carefully!
I've been using Linux a long time. I installed my first commercial Linux
based system in the north sea back in 1995- Slackware! Good man Patrick V.
Bet esp-r compiles on Slackware (oops there's my evening gone). Open source
is evolving so fast that there is a growing gap with legacy code.
Installation wise it might be worth using one of the package managers like
YUM or YAST to figure out the dependencies and possible clashes. I was a bit
surprised that Ubuntu's Synaptic couldn't install g77 for me. I have esp-r
now running on 32 bit windows (gtk version) and 32 SmartCom Linux
(X-windows). SmartCom is remastered version of RedHat Enterprise without RH
support. Nice distro in fact.

No joy on 64 bit Ubuntu yet.

If anyone is thinking of parallelizing fortran code I'd advise extreme
caution. Dragons etc. Also, the state of multi-core micro-code is evolving
very, very quickly. This stuff will probably self vectorize in the near
future. When you get into what the compiler produces versus what the machine
does you need to be a really familiar with the guts of the machine.
I had a conversation a couple of years ago with some guys from Los Alamos on
this subject and the consensus then was that you could no longer beat the
compiler with hand optimized assembler. That was a big admission. These are
some very cool coders.

Multi-core came of age rather unexpectedly when Intel, AMD etc ran into
scaling/power issues a few years back (I was teaching C++ at Intel's fab
here in Ireland at the time). So the micro-code is playing catchup in a
field that is as yet not very well understood. (Now if someone would build a
multi-core with the second core optimised for matrix reduction the way a
graphics processor does dot-product, the speed up would be so great that I
doubt parallelization would be of any benefit)

Multi-processor parallelization ala PVM, OpenMosix, Beowulf etc is another
beast entirely. Trying to design a real parallel operating system is
non-trivial.

64 bit: I run a couple of 64 bit machines for data processing in geophysics.
Once I get this pesky project done I'd be happy to lend a hand on getting
the 64 bit end sorted and maybe doing some benchmarking.
OpenMosix hasn't got a 64 bit version as yet and I don't think the guys in
the Technion in Haifa who wrote the 32 bit version are in a position to
rewrite the 64 bit version. Be real nice if it happened though.
Has anyone run/benchmarke esp-r on ClusterKnoppix?  BTW is there a canonical
benchmarking model?

Anyhow that's my two cents worth- I love esp-r. Haven't had so much fun in a
while.

Cheers all - got to go install Slackware
Pat- Show quoted text -





On 6/2/07, Jon Hand <jon at esru.strath.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>
> A recent email about installing on Ubuntu...
>
>
> ::Subject: [esp-r] Re: Esp-r linux install
>
> ::In reply to my own earlier email... I have not managed to install esp-r
> ::on Ubuntu, yet. Ubuntu doesn't know what to do with a .run file.
>
> There web page where the linux installer was found also has
> a readme file and the 4th paragraph says what to do if
> the run file does not execute.
>
> The readme file does not list all of the library files that it
> is dependant on (that should be easy to add to the readme).
> It also does not list where to find these libraries (there are
> rather a lot of Linux distributions).
>
> The X11 version has very few dependencies.
> If you have 'the gimp' installed you should have everything you
> require for the GTK version.  Ubuntu has a software
> installer that is quite adept at installing libraries and applications
> that do not come on the initial install disk.
>
> -ESRU
>
> _______________________________________________
> esp-r mailing list
> esp-r at lists.strath.ac.uk
> http://lists.strath.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/esp-r
>



-- 
"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a
troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be
left to irresponsible action."
-- George Washington
(1732-1799) Founding Father, 1st US President, 'Father of the Country'
Source: in a speech of January 7, 1790

-- 
"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a
troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be
left to irresponsible action."
-- George Washington
(1732-1799) Founding Father, 1st US President, 'Father of the Country'
Source: in a speech of January 7, 1790
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