Linux-only Access Grid Node

The details to construct a Linux-only access grid node are provided here.

The reference design of an access grid node is the provided at ANL (Argonne National Laboratory). It is composed of (at least) 3 PC class machines, namely the audio, video and display machines. ANL's reference system is referred to from now onward as the "recipe" system.

The recipe system uses the RedHat distribution of Linux as the operating system for the audio and video capture machines. It uses Microsoft's Windows for the display machine.

The Linux-only design presented here uses Linux as the operating system in all three machines. Any Linux distribution may be used; in all the existing implementations, we have used the Slackware distribution.

The original Linux-only access grid node, as described here, was built to participate in the SC Global conference in November 2001. With funding assistance from ARC (Australian Research Council), it was completed and participating in test cruises by August 2001. It is housed at Vislab's ATP (Australian Technology Park) facility.  By early 2002, a single machine version was operational at Vislab's laboratory in the School of Physics. ANL has also released details of a single machine node, the PIG (Personal Interface to the Access Grid) using Windows. Also available now is a single machine node using Linux, named PIGLET (Personal Interface to the Access Grid, Linux Exclusively Thanks).

Access grid nodes using the Linux-only design have been built at

• JCU (James Cook University) in Townsville
• QUT (Queensland University of Technology) in Brisbane

Further nodes are planned at

• UniMelb (University of Melbourne)
• UTS (University of Technology, Sydney)
• UWS (University of Western Sydney)
• VPAC (Victorian Partnership for Advanced Computing)

A wide range of hardware components is possible. ANL has provided a hardware guide; the actual hardware used for Vislab's Linux-only systems is here and includes local (Sydney) suppliers of the items listed.
 
 

Software

All the software for the Linux-only AG node is freely available. CDROM images of a modified Slackware 8.1, as well as the AG software, are available here, mostly as Slackware binary packages. Instructions to decompose the AG software packages are available if it is desired to repackage the for other distributions. Currently, the software to be installed for each machine is as follows, click on the link for installation instructions:

Audio Machine
    ALSA audio drivers
    rat (see this page for drivers for the latest ALSA)
    vvd

Video Machine
    vic
    vvd

Display Machine
    tkMOO-lite
    vic
    vnc   
    vvd