DAP 610 Looking For A New Home

From: Innfogra_at_aol.com <(Innfogra_at_aol.com)>
Date: Wed Dec 3 03:14:46 2003

I think this is worth saving. To quote one of the referenced Docs:


>
> >> These machines were built by Cambridge Parallel Processing Inc.
>> (formerly Actime Memory Technology Ltd.) The Gamma II was based on Distributed
>> Array processor (DAP) technology. These SIMD machines utilize Processing
>> Elements (PEs) combined with 8-bit coprocessor for floating point speedup. As is
>> typical of SIMD architectures, the PEs are controlled by a Master Control
>> Unit (MCU) that reads instructions from a separate code store. This processor
>> doubles as a scalar processor. The DAP 500 has 32X32 PEs = 1024 that are
>> clocked at 10MHz. The DAP models operate according to a 100ns cycle time.
>> This machine supports variable length matrix operations.
>>


The DAP 610 has 64X64 PEs....10MHz

> >>
>>
>> Parallel Fortran (FORTRAN-PLUS) is supported, a goal is to support Fortran
>> 90 and Parallel C.
>>
>>
>>
>> These systems seem to be very typical of the SIMD architectures studied in
>> class. Note from above the presence of a MCU. The PEs are said to each
>> have its own part of an array memory ? sounds like a distributed memory system.
>>
>>
>>
>> These machines seem to have been built in 1988. The DAP Gamma was released
>> in 1997. The company?s home page did not respond, yet data sheets were
>> available for their computers (Hmmm). At the time that the web document was
>> written (1998), there were 115 DAPS installed worldwide. I expect that these
>> machines are still in use.
>>
>>
>>
>> These machines were geared for large-scale signal and image processing.
>> Other applications include molecular modeling and fluid flow. Fast text data
>> base searching seems to be a market area that they have had some other
>> success in.
>>
>>
>>
>> The host or front end determines the OS, typically Unix or VMS. The host
>> is typically a Sun workstation.
>>
>>
>>
>> Current works invovles a HiPPI interface. The DAP utilizes a high speed
>> data channel that supports transfers at rates up to 70Mbyte/Sec. Transfers
>> between memory and processors varies between models but is between 1280
>> Mbyte/Sec and 5120 Mbyte/Sec.
>>
>>
>>
>> This is a true SIMD machine.
>>
>>
>>
>


I want I want but it is not possible. Someone should save this. It is a full
rack mount system that uses either a Sun workstation or a VAX as a front end.
Connects by SCSI and uses the front end OS, nice.

Paxton
Astoria, OR
Received on Wed Dec 03 2003 - 03:14:46 GMT