Emerging Architectures & Novel Form Factors

To illustrate differences in platform use, form factors, and design approaches, Valpo has acquired a range of non-X86 platforms. Some of these are concurrently used within a variety of the parallel and distributed computing systems:

These include:

  • The ARM chips found in the Raspberry Pi single board computers (SBCs),
  • The Exynos5422 CPUs in the ODROID XU4 SBCs, and the
  • the GPU-driven systems
    • NVIDIA GPUS (pascal, the mathematicians),
    • NVIDIA Jetson units

all as part of the parallel systems collection.

An initial RISC-V system has also recently been deployed as well:

“ein.valpo.edu”

The RISC-V architecture is a relatively new addition to the computer architecture ecosystem. Unusually, the heart of this system is fully open – the entire design of the chip is available to anyone. This platform provides students and faculty with access to a platform for experimentation and development on a groundbreaking approach to CPU design and implementation.

Specifications

Thanks to Bryan Bockover, who assembled (and named) ein.

The “Ottocluster”

As part of an ongoing interest in environmental issues, alternative form factors, and student-led research there is an ongoing project team associated with the Ottocluster project. This effort is dedicated to keeping electronics out of the waste and recycling streams by repurposing used computer equipment into atypical form factors for ongoing research use.

An initial effort has been to convert inexpensive, low-material use furniture into a housing for a research cluster. This has also allowed for exploration of additive manufacturing technologies, include laser cutting/engraving and 3-D printing.

Thanks to Terry Wade, who initiated this project, Cody Packer who contributed to it, and to Dylan Grace & Fred Yaniga, who have continued it.