Can I use cpu from an old (slave) G4?

[pppijn]

Hi,

I was wondering... I have 3 old G4's, with each 1,25 GHz CPU, and each about 1 GB memory.
I'm working on an iMac 1,87 GHz, 2 GB, and Intel.
I am composing music on the iMac, wich goes without problems. But I'm also writing music for video, and sometimes I have to render some material, and adapt some things, render it again, and so on, which takes a very long time. As far as I know, the workflow can be shortened by more CPU.

So I wondered if there's anyone who knows if I can connect the iMac to the G4's, or just one of them, to have one core extra?
Or maybe just do the rendering seperately on 2 or 3 G4's, as intel en G4 may clash on the different kind of CPU?
I could try for example with ethernet crosscables, but maybe things go terribly wrong...
Anyone?

Thanks

Pepijn

 

[holmesf]

Hi,

I was wondering... I have 3 old G4's, with each 1,25 GHz CPU, and each about 1 GB memory.
I'm working on an iMac 1,87 GHz, 2 GB, and Intel.
I am composing music on the iMac, wich goes without problems. But I'm also writing music for video, and sometimes I have to render some material, and adapt some things, render it again, and so on, which takes a very long time. As far as I know, the workflow can be shortened by more CPU.

So I wondered if there's anyone who knows if I can connect the iMac to the G4's, or just one of them, to have one core extra?
Or maybe just do the rendering seperately on 2 or 3 G4's, as intel en G4 may clash on the different kind of CPU?
I could try for example with ethernet crosscables, but maybe things go terribly wrong...
Anyone?

Thanks

Pepijn

Hi Pepijn,

To do this an application must be programmed to distribute computation and data amongst multiple machines on a network. This is a very difficult and time consuming thing to program -- often with only small speed gains. For this reason few applications support this (I think XCode did at one time) and probably none of the applications you wish to use support this feature. Which applications are you using, by the way?

The reason applications must be specifically programmed to take advantage of this is that the CPU operates at a speed on the order of thousands of times faster than the network interface connecting them. Due to this limitation it is too difficult to distribute computation and data automatically between machines -- it takes a skilled programmer to identify how these tasks should be partitioned.

all the best,

- Holmes

 

[pppijn]

Holmes,

thanks for the answer. I'm using Logic for composing, and final cut pro to work on video-material. Sometimes MPEGstreamclip to compress clips.

But it's a pity that you can't use the old ones. There's no way to conncet them with faster connectors, like sata? Or physically bring the CPU's together, or plug into the motherboard?

As you can hear, I'm no techno.

Your reply sounds like it's an enormous effort.
But if I can hire a programmer who can fix that, I won't have to buy a new one...

Thanks again,

Pepijn

 

[old-wiz]

You won't be able to "hire a programmer who can fix that" - you would need access to the source code for the application, which is not going to happen. Applications need to be designed from the ground up to handle the situation you want.

There's no way to hook two systems up with SATA, and the hardware is totally incompatible. G4 and Intel use totally different motherboards.

 

[300D]

Not possible.

You'll have far better results selling one of those G4s and using the money to upgrade the paltry 2GB RAM in your iMac.
2GB definitely isn't enough, hell I'm using 2.6GB just using the internet and watching a video in VLC!

 

[pppijn]

People,

but, but, but....

I thought Logic had something like Logic Nodes, and I heard similar things about Qmaster, or is that total bullocks?
Can Qmaster be used to de renderjobs from FCP?

 

[old-wiz]

If you know about Logic Nodes and Qmaster then why are you posting?

If the applications are written for it, it can be done, but obviously not trivial to setup. You need gigabit ethernet and the reference material I looked up indicates it's not the most stable thing.

 

[Transporteur]

QMaster can work pretty nicely, if you get it running.
If you already got the software, simply give it a try.

 

[pppijn]

I'll try.

Does it make sense with normal-speed-internet?

I'll try it out, at least now I know nothing gets blown apart.