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slick70+ · 05:56 AM

I've been thinking of buying one of those NewerTechnologies hard drive that looks like a mini to sit undeneath my pride and joy 1.5GHz PPC mini. Then I got to thinking...

What if I use this money (+ a bit more besides) to get myself an intel mini, firewire them together and have 2 processing units instead of one. So, any heavy duty processing on one wouldn't effect the day-to-day stuff on the other. Is there anything wrong with my logic?

Could I keep going? Could I get hold of a cheap PPC mini and use it as my jukebox, but still keep it in the loop?

I'd be very interested in your thoughts...

kick52 · May 7, 2007, 06:00 AM

just sticking in a wire into 2 computers doesnt make them 'become one'.. it will just allow you to use the others disk, it wont affect anything else (unless you make it)

unless you are thinking of distributed projects..

mac128k-1984 · May 7, 2007, 07:15 AM

The problem with what you want to do is, how will the OS take advantage of the other CPU. Schools have been doing this for years but have been using custom software to allow the cpus to work together.

I think OSX Server has GRID technology which allows some (A lot?) of this type of stuff but I'm not sure

slick70+ · May 7, 2007, 07:53 AM

Thanks for the replies. I think I need to explain myself better.

I'm not trying to run 2 minis as one dual-core. i.e I don't want to run one piece of software across both minis.

Let's imagine I was trying to edit video. Perhaps I could do this on one machine and while it's busy use the other machine. Then maybe swap files around like I had lots of HD space. So maybe one machine looks after music, email, internet and the other everything else. Could I play a DVD on one and copy the data on the other, like I had 2 DVD drives in one machine? Maybe I could separate these minis and have one hooked up to my tv downstairs and whilst it's not busy use its processing power to help my other mini out.

Am I dreaming?

BLAZE_MkIV · May 7, 2007, 09:25 AM

The running two machines at once isn't entirely unheard of. (My best is 3 busy at once.) Unless you've got an office bug enough for them all you'd need somehting like a KVM. VNC Software like Remote Desktop may do it. You're about right until.

whilst it's not busy use its processing power to help my other mini out.

This reqires software specialy designed for the task. I second XGrid the reference.

bearcatrp · May 7, 2007, 10:02 AM

I thought of doing something like this awhile back. I decided to get a 2ghz mac pro instead. You can have 4 hard drives, raise the ram to 8 or 16 gb if you plan on running alot of programs at the same time, in one box. Nice thing about the pro is the upgradability. Keep your eys open on the refurb site as I grabbed one for 1899.00.
Randy

kick52 · May 7, 2007, 11:23 AM

one thing that could help you is SynergyKM, which allows you to use the keyboard and mouse for one computer for the other. (Great for dual screen set ups)

gto47 · May 18, 2007, 11:58 PM

teleport is another great option. I often use one machine to render in 3d and the other to run photoshop/after effects. It could be more effective than a quad core mac pro depending on what you're doing. Many applications come with net render software such as maxon cinema 4d and other processor intensive programs. Firewire over ip or gigebit ethernet over afp should be fast enough for sharing most of the data. If rendering 3d, would render files over network to the compositing machine. Remember, many programs such as final cut pro and after effects allow you to connect a television or other display device via a camera or deck VTR. I think this would be a great way to get around the mac mini's single monitor limitation in a production environment. I think two mac minis, one on each monitor could contribute well to a workflow in certain cases. I warn however: don't do this just to do it. Keep in mind the largest limitation on the mini will be hard drive speed.

JKT · May 19, 2007, 05:56 AM

You might be interested in this screencast:

Home Page - Mac Tutorials : ScreenCastsOnline

Theoretically, it is possible to use two minis together to get a quad processing machine via xGrid. The problem is that consumer level apps (and most pro ones too) are not designed to exploit xGrid so it would be of (very) limited worth at the moment. Unless you are routinely running e.g. BLAST database searches, or using the video editing software used in that screencast, you aren't going to be able to do this. Definitely a technology to keep your eye on though... maybe in five to ten years time, it'll be in routine use in the majority of apps.

FWIW, the NewerTech miniStacks are great. I have two