Grid demo

Check out up to date info!

You can find up to date information about the Grid demo at fennogrid.asm.fi

Take part in a spectacular demonstration of the co-operative computing power of all of the computers at ASSEMBLY!

Grid computing is the hottest thing in computer science allowing clusters of computers to work together to solve the most processing intensive tasks (e.g. Seti@Home). Typically these computers are located in locked up data centers or spread across the world. At ASSEMBLY we are attempting to create an ad hoc super computing cluster using the same principles as professional grid computing uses.

Organized by FennoGrid, the grid computing demo links together all the computers at ASSEMBLY for demonstrating the power of grid computing. We'll link all computers together to render as many frames of a computer generated animation movie as possible, but meanwhile we'll have also fun playing a massive multiplayer space shooter (3000 players!). FennoGrid also organizes a seminar on grid computing.

This is an unique event that requires that everybody at ASSEMBLY participates. Please be part of it!

How to participate

The Grid demo will take place in two phases:

1. Trial run on Thursday 2.8 at 20:00 - 22:00. This is to test that all systems work
2. Grid computing demo on Friday 3.8 at 16:30 - 18:30. This is the real thing! Once we get going, the actual demo phase will most likely last 15-30 minutes.
   

All you need to do is to download an installation package (URL to be provided later) and install it onto your machine. Then you need to start the program when the time comes. You'll be automatically linked into the grid along with the other 3000 other computers. Please note that the other computers can't interfere with your computer, so you'll be completely safe. You'll be interacting only with our secure server.

Rendering

We'll attempt to render as many frames as we can of a computer generated animation movie using the open-source 3D package Blender.

Playing the game & prizes

While your machine is rendering the movie, you can play a cool space shooter game. You'll be controlling your ship with the cursor keys and shooting with your space bar. The more you kill other players, the more powerful your ship becomes (more powerful weapons and better protective shields). We'll continue playing until only one player is left or the time runs out in which case the winner is the player with most points.

The game is available from Thursday 20:00 onwards so you can rehearse before the competition starts. The game will continue to be available until the end of the event, if you want to play more.

The three best players are awarded with prizes:

• 1st place: 3 computer tickets to ASSEMBLY Summer '08 or Winter '08 (your choice)
• 2nd place: 2 computer tickets to ASSEMBLY Summer '08 or Winter '08 (your choice)
• 3rd place: 1 computer ticket to ASSEMBLY Summer '08 or Winter '08 (your choice)

Required hardware & software

• A Windows XP/Vista PC or an x86 Linux machine
• Preferably 1GB main memory (for animation rendering)
• Capable of running Java applets / applications (we'll distribute the Java Runtime Environment)
• Connection to the PartyNet