Connecting Computers on Network to allow them to...*

[MacEffects]

I have tons of newer Macs and a few raid towers, I was wondering I'f I could (with a 4 port PCI card or ethernet hub) maybe one that can distribute tasks across more than one computer. Like the servers (since that is what I will need it for) and don't lie I seen the G5's at the school But these will be OS 9.1 Computers (OS X if I have to) so what software and such do I need? Any help would be great, I really need to do this.

Also, FREE is best but if the software is cheap I will take it (under 100 bucks at the very most)

Thanks for the help!

[tag]

Well I don't know what type of tasks you are thinking about here, but you could look into Xgrid (http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/xgrid/). It's built into Mac OS X and allows for distributed computing across multiple Macs.

Now generally Mac OS X (regular user client edition) only offers an option for allowing your computer to be an Xgrid client. And normally you would need Mac OS X server on your main Mac which includes the Xgrid controller software to manage the machines, though I found this page at macosxhints (http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050610040807931) that tells you how to run the controller without the server edition saving you from having to purchase 10.4 Server for this reason alone.

Here is a link to apples developer howto intro section on Xgrid (http://developer.apple.com/hardware/hpc/xgrid_intro.html) which pretty much tells you what you need to know about Xgrid itself.

[MacEffects]

I have found out it is called Clustering, and that there are some softwares for a lot of money, and these are 'incomplete' packages and do not do it all, please help.