Homebuilt Supercomputer

How it came to be and What it is?

I decided to start inventorying and liquidating some of my belongings that are in storage. I never use the items, anymore atleast, at one time they were all used on a daily basis. Most of these items are older electronics that have been sitting in a closet for a few years. Amongst these things I found a few iPods (some broken, some in parts), digital cameras, several sets of headphones, 9 different cellular phones and their accessories, lots of wires (chargers, interface cables, and many computer wires), and enough working computer parts and accessories to assemble 4 fully functional computers. The computer hardware is where I decided to allocate the majority of my time, figuring out what went where and what I could do with all of this stuff!  I have been wanting to build a couple more computers just for fun and for research but currently lack the funds necessary to do so. I would need a case for each computer and some smaller accessories to make these computer fully functional. I thought, "hell, I can build just about anything, and there is nothing I have ever attempted that I was unable to do so why not build a computer from scratch."  I decided I would construct a computer case that could house all of these components and allow easy hardware changes. Cases like this do exsist and are usually referred to as Tech Stations. Most tech stations are open air computers with no panels, just a frame with the mounting points to mount all hardware within. I started to draft up ideas of what it was I was wanting to build. Here is the basic idea for this project. Using new and scrap steel and aluminum I have the appropriate tools to fashion a frame capable of housing all of these computer parts, I would be building my own Supercomputer! The one tool that would have made this project easier to complete is a welder. I currently do not have a welder at my disposal although I know a few friends within the Houston area that do have welders and are more than happy to let me come over and weld away. Unfortunately, my car is not big enough to carry this fully assembled Supercomputer so the welding idea was now not such a good idea, I would simply use a drill, bolts, lock washers, nuts, and screws to assemble this frame.  Here is the rough sketch of exactly what I am talking about building:

What you are seeing above is a frame that has two motherboards attached: one at the top and one about 18" below. The final project will consist of a frame that houses 4 or 5 motherboards and the appropriate hardware to operate them.  Construction has begun and I will post pics of the Supercomputer later to this post for you all to view.

What's the Purpose?

Originally, the point of building this was just to get all of the computer hardware that was not being used out of storage and put it to good use while getting to experiment with different computing variations. Now, the Supercomputer project has taken a different turn. My entire house is wired with Cat 6 Ethernet Cable, one to two cables run to each room so that network capable devices can connect interface with the entire house through the network. Currently the home network or "The Hive" as it is appropriately named consist of 2 Gigabit Routers and 2 Gigabit Switches with over 26 different network capable devices connected and communicating with the world via the the 60Mbps Internet Connection provided by Comcast's Xfinity Internet Service.  Some people have asked me, whats the point in having all that shit connected to the internet. Well, here it is. The Hive houses 10 Terabytes of Video, Audio and Software Media that streams throughout the house on demand.  In the living room the Apple TV connects to the 50" Samsung Plasma and is able to stream any of the 150 different TV Shows or 741 different Movies housed on The Hive Network in 1080p Hi Definition. I have managed to eliminate tangible media to an extent.  I now never have to put a DVD in the DVD Player, change CD's or rewind a tape. Everything can be controlled from either a remote, a computer, or my iphone or ipad.  The Hive has over 60,000 songs and contains a little over 500 different CD's of music that can be streamed thru the network to the stereo. I have the 5.1 speaker setup in the living room along with a 2.0 Stereo Speaker setup in the bedroom and am currently wiring the back office for the same setup as the bedroom. This enables me to listen to any song in any room of the house and control it all from my phone if I want to. I have eliminated the need for a radio in each room.

By now I'm sure you get the picture, The Hive does many other things besides just streaming music and video around the house, it also allows me to game on the PS3, Xbox or anyone of the computers, transfer files between laptops and The Hive, and do work remotely from another state while still having access to all my files on The Hive. The reason for the Supercomputer is to add functions that The Hive does not currently do. When complete the Supercomputer will contain around 25 Terabytes of Hard Drive space. This will enable it to make a mirror image backup of every device contained within The Hive networks. If any device fails at any time, there is no need to spend the thousands of dollars and countless man hours to rebuild the data but now it can be copied in a matter of minutes from the Supercomputer.  The Hive will make backups of devices remotely so if my phone and laptop are in New York they will backup to The Hive in Houston, TX. One of the big features that the Supercomputer will be able to do is control the thermostat at the house and the lighting either from the phone or iPad or remotely, like lets say while driving home from work, or returning from a vacation in the Bahamas. This feature will require the purchase of several ip capable (internet protocol capable) outlets and will most likely not be utilized at my current residence as I am renting. Although, this is a feature that I want The Hive to do and will make sure that it is capable of this so that when I purchase a house in the next few years I will be able to lower the temperature before I get home and turn the porch light on from my phone no matter how far away from the house I am.

As you can see the Supercomputer idea has transformed from a way to clean up old computer parts to helping me eliminate even more redundant tasks and automate my life further.  Stay tuned to see this project unfold and what it will be capable of....