30 Nov 2008世界上最快的计算机是Linux计算机
There are fast computers, and then there are Linux fast computers. Every six months, the Top 500 organization announces “its ranked list of general purpose systems that are in common use for high end applications.” In other words, supercomputers. And, as has been the case for years now, the fastest of the fast are Linux computers.
有快速计算机，于是就有快速Linux计算机。每隔6个月，Top500机构报告“其通用系统排序名单，这些系统一般用于高端应用。”即超级计算机。而且，按照多年来的实际情况，快速计算机中最快的是Linux计算机。
As Jay Lyman, an analyst at The 451 Group points out, Linux is only growing stronger in supercomputing. “When considered as the primary OS or part of a mixed-OS supersystem, Linux is now present in 469 of the supercomputer sites, 93.8% of the Top500 list. This represents about 10 more sites than in November 2007, when Linux had presence in 91.8% of the systems. In fact, Linux is the only operating system that managed gains in the November 2008 list. A year ago, Linux was the OS for 84.6% of the top supercomputers. In November 2008, the open source OS was used in 87.8% of the systems. Compare this to Unix, which dropped from 6% to 4.6%, mixed-OS use which dropped from 7.2% to 6.2% and other operating systems, including BSD, Mac OS X and Windows, which were all down this year from the November 2007 list.”
正如451小组的一位分析家Jay Lyman所指出，Linux日益强大，在超级计算领域中独一无二。“当被看作是超级系统的基本操作系统或者混合操作系统的组成部分时，Linux现在占有469个位置，即占Top500超级计算机的93.8％。这意味着比2007年11月大约多了10个位置，当时的Linux在这些系统中占有91.8％。事实上，在2008年11月的名单中，Linux是唯一数量有所增加的操作系统。一年前， Linux是84.6％的最强超级计算机使用的操作系统。2008年11月，超级系统的87.8％使用开源操作系统。与此相比，Unix从6％下降至4.6％，混合使用的操作系统从7.2％下降至6.2％，而包括BSD、Mac OS X和Windows在内的其它操作系统今年都从2007年11月的名单中下跌。”
Microsoft is proud that a system running Windows HPC Server 2008 took 10th place… behind nine supercomputers running Linux. Even then, this was really more of a stunt than a demonstration that the HPC Server system is ready to compete with the big boys.
微软自豪的是，一个运行Windows HPC Server 2008的系统排第10位…跟在9个运行Linux的超级计算机后面。尽管那样，这实际上不只是一次示范准备与大亨竞争的高性能服务器系统的特技表演。
You see, there are no Microsoft programming tools to write supercomputer compatible applications. That will come years from now with Visual Studio 2010 and when Microsoft’s F# is more than a research project language. In short, Windows HPC isn’t ready for prime-time.
你知道，微软没有用来编写与超级计算机兼容的应用软件的编程工具。从现在开始还有几年才有Visual Studio 2010，那时，Microsoft’s F#不只是一种研究计划的语言。总之，Windows HPC还没有为黄金时间作好准备。
In the meantime, the real work is being done on the Linux computers. The number one supercomputer? Once more it’s IBM’s Linux-powered Roadrunner That’s the same supercomputer, which this summer broke supercomputing’s sound barrier: a sustained run of more than one petaflop per second or 1.026 quadrillion calculations per second. Beat that Microsoft!
与此同时，人们已经在Linux计算机上真抓实干。第一名的超级计算机是谁？又是Linux驱动的IBM走鹃，这是今年夏天打破超级计算声障的同一台超级计算机：以超过每秒一千万亿次浮点运算即每秒1,026万亿次计算的速度持续运行一段时间。结果打败微软！
The Roadrunner does have competition now though. The Cray XT Jaguar also recently busted the petaflop wall. The Cray also, of course, runs Linux. In the XT’s case, it’s running CNL (Compute Node Linux). CNL is based on SUSE Linux.
虽然走鹃现在的确有竞争力。但Cray XT Jaguar（美洲虎）最近也打破每秒一千万亿次浮点运算这面墙壁。当然，克雷同样运行Linux操作系统。在XT这个例子中，运行的是CNL（Compute Node Linux，计算节点Linux）。CNL基于SUSE Linux。
Needless to say, all the Linux systems do have working parallel-processing languages, like GCC, PGI and PathScale. For now, and the foreseeable future, Linux will not only stay the fastest computers, they’ll also be the most useful fast computers.
毋庸多言，所有的Linux系统确实都有有效的并行处理语言，像GCC、PGI和PathScale等。就眼下和可预见的未来而言，Linux不仅将继续保持在速度最快的计算机上，而且也将是最有用的快速计算机。
Til next time,
Jason at 00:00
