Last time we were puzzled by strange behavior of MPICH in one of the benchmarking runs - both in comparison to normal self and also to OpenMPI. The picture above highlights just how remarkable this behavior was (here, logarithmic scaling of the message length axis was replaced by linear one). It almost feels like this was a completely different hardware. In fact, it was not. In order to understand why this happens, one has to look into the internals of the Intel Xeon E3-1535M v5 processor.
Well, now that Ronnie O’Sullivan is out, and half the excitement of the snooker world championship gone with him, it’s time to get back to business. It was easy to get fresh Ubuntu 16.04 LTS installed to the SSD warmed up by Debian 8.4 that shipped early April. With that done, the other SSD still under Windows 10, and the HDD recut to hold my precious data rather than the easily restorable OS, it was time to run some MPI benchmarks at last.
You may still remember my babe and its first setup. Now I went on to add Debian 8.3 to Windows 10 and Ubuntu 14.04.4, and boot Debian off an NVMe SSD. First off, the system had to be prepared to handle Debian. UEFI Secure Boot had to be disabled and Windows 10 Fast Startup turned off, too, for Debian would not boot in secure mode, and Windows NTFS might get into a funny state otherwise.
You’ve met my babe already. Now I’m looking in her eyes… day and night. Usability of both OS looks on par, but for Linux installation issues (see below). The 4K display support is still better under Windows, but it is not flawless either. Although there have only been two programs so far that did not use properly sized fonts - ironically, those from the PowerDVD suite accompanying an external DVD burner from Lenovo - that individual programs have to be updated to handle yet another display resolution is a sure sign of a bad system or application design.
Many people like Xmas presents. And Easter presents. And birthday presents. I like presents when I need them most. Gee, starting an HPC company means investing heavily, right? Mmm, hardware… ThinkPad P50 is simply fabulous - by the features offered (wow!), by the looks (ooh la la!), and by the price tag (ouch!). And: this cool 15.6” workstation can sit on your lap. While her elder sister - ThinkPad P70 - has been around for about half a year, P50 came down to Europe only two months ago.
Ownership (rather than “sense of ownership”) and total freedom to wear shorts when you feel like it are more than offset by the many duties of a company owner, including the arduous task of going on business to fancy locations. Sounds like a lot of fuss. Why not procuring a sinecure at an established international company, and confidently making oneself look important until it’s time to retire? Why risk and bother?
As it happens, on the 1st of July 2015 Intel celebrated a merger of its German subsidiaries. Thus, the company I was leaving turned into something else overnight, and so did I. Still, some formalities remained to be dealt with in the afternoon. There followed a relaxed ride down the fields, woods, and dales: all three traffic lights were on green. On the way out, having parted with those who cared, I predictably bumped into a group of strangers in the lobby, all clad in black, some with ties.
What do you do when your life comes to a turn? How do you cope? Especially having been buzzing like a bee for the whole of your conscious being? Is it not a bit like pulling the handbrake on a highway? Generally, it may be. In my case, it wasn’t. I still remember the clear morning of July 1st, 2015. It was a bit cool, with the Alps standing out high and crisp in the light of the rising sun.
It’s been almost a month and a half since I left my last employer. It’s been almost eight months and a half since I’ve been taking a pause. It’s been more than 50 years since I was born. Time for a change. It’s incredible what a really long vacation does to someone who’s been working since starting in the nursery. How’s that? Well, see: waking up early, going somewhere, doing things you would probably not do otherwise, meeting people you might not always like, being fed on time, put to bed after lunch, and picked up by the parents in the evening… That was my first full time job!