On 03/31/2011 02:36 AM, Mark Wendt wrote:
> On 03/30/2011 05:02 PM, Rafael Skodlar wrote:
>>
... snip

> Rafael,
>
> I'm afraid to ask, knowing how Oracle seems to be managing all the sun
> products - is the VirtualBox a freebie, or does it fall under the Oracle
> "We have to charge way too much to keep up the Oracle name" banner?
>
> Mark

You guys ask questions too early for me (in PST :-). I believe that all 
that's necessary has been said about Virtualbox by other knowledgeable 
people.

I'm not worried too much for Oracle dropping the ball here. For now we 
can ride the wave while open source catches up; there's development 
going on too. I only run Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris VMs inside my Linux 
systems.

However, we still haven't addressed the original question about running 
multiple instances of EMC2 on the same hardware. Two options are 
possible here IMO:
- expand EMC2 in such a way to present itself as running another 
instance of itself on different CPU core(s) virtually like a thread,
- or run independent instances of EMC in VMs in different CPU core(s) 
and selected set of peripherals.

Either approach is not easy to do as it requires a kernel to handle that 
in RT on the lower level. Developing kernel is done elsewhere, EMC on 
the other hand is "local" to this community. The effort is huge 
especially with RT requirements for the OSS development model.

As others have suggested, a number of small footprint motherboards can 
be stacked to run independent EMCs where that is needed. That still 
doesn't solve sync problem. At least not easily.

There was a time when I worked for a defunct startup in late 90's where 
office space was at a premium. To solve computer space problem I stacked 
4 motherboards, low profile ethernet cards, hard drives, and power 
supplies in a large modified tower case. I used threaded rods to space 
the motherboards. That of course is not practical when you need to 
replace board(s) in the middle but worked for months just fine. Ethernet 
ports were not common on motherboards in those days.

Monitor and keyboard were switched as needed. Redhat linux was stable 
enough so there was no need for frequent updates. Connecting CD drive 
was a bit tricky but I never shorted any wires :-)  Not UL approved I 
know, but hey, Google started with cabinets of motherboards in even 
worse setup from what I can see in Computer Museum. That was before 
blade computers came about which we could not afford anyway...

It should not be too hard to build a relatively small box with a number 
of EMCs: PSUs made for 1U size boxes, mini-itx motherboards with 
parallel port connector on the back or flat cable, and 2.5" hard drives.

--
Rafael

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