Non-von1 supercomputer
posted Feb 20th 2009 1:36pm by Caleb Kraftfiled under: pcs hacks
[Chris] sent us this project, where he built a tiny supercomputer called the Non-von1. Wanting a supercomputer, but lacking space and funds, he opted to go after the supercomputers of the 80s. His system was patterned after the “Von Neumann” systems developed at Columbia university. His system has 31 8 bit processors to crunch numbers for him. The whole unit communicates with the computer using a19.2 kbps serial link. He does talk about its limited capabilities, stating that he could use it as a way to store roughly half of his cell phone’s phonebook. This reminds us of the Basic stamp supercomputer we covered back in November.
this is actually a *non*-von neumann machine, meaning it does not store program and data in the same memory space. the decidedly non-supercomputeriffic intel 8048 and 8051 are also non-von designs.