LINUX AT THE PEAK OF PERFORMANCE
Twice each year, in June and November, the world’s fastest 500 supercomputers are revealed. Eagerly anticipated by the high-performance computing (HPC) community, the Top500.org list paints a picture of computing at the top end, and the difference from run-of-the-mill PCs is stark.
Perusing lists from the list’s 28 years highlights various trends, including one that will be of particular interest to Linux Format readers. From the dominance of Unix in the early days, a remarkable change has taken place more recently. After making its first appearance in 1998, Linux was powering the majority of the top 500 computers by 2004, it became universal in 2017, and it has remained the only operating system used in the planet’s top supercomputers ever since.
Why is Linux the dominant operating system in high-performance computing? That’s a question we aim to answer here as we take a look at the history of Linux in supercomputing. We can’t talk about the upper echelons of computing without also talking about the hardware, though, so be prepared for your jaw to drop as we also highlight some facts and figures about the world’s fastest calculating machines.
Linux’s super debut
In 1998, almost a quarter of computers in the Top500 list were manufactured by supercomputer specialist Cray Research, and the remainder of the