how can i Link two systems together?

Dark-Tech

I know alot about computers but i never really thought about how to do this before
Im planning on building a "MEDIA Cube", essentially i want a computer with 2 computers in it.
I already have 2 separate computers.

The first one is a
[url]
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135040[/url]
MB
[url]
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814141050 [/url]
VC x2 Sli
[url]
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141211[/url]
x2 = 4chips 4gig of ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817171001
Ps
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103191
CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118019
HS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822136074
and
[/url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822144417[url]
Running WIN XP x64 bit

The second one is
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141211
x1 = 2chips 2gig of ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813135049
MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103733
CPU
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/11-209-006-08.jpg
PS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822136074
with windows 2000 / or windows 2000 advanced server

I want to know if i can set them up to share drives, by linking them together, what drives can i share, hardrives, secondaries, usb flash, cd/dvd drives? and how to hook them up to share the drives SATA, IDE or just if a normal Lan could work
The two computers are in the same case so distance isnt too big of a deal, thanks

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Arnie

Windows file sharing? If you want to create a true hybrid that acts as one single computer, that's going to be very difficult.

Dark-Tech

well file sharing is easy enough, but i was looking for hybridism, I know theres a research group that uses software to send information to client computers and then has them send the information back over the internet. im curious if i can do the same but transfer a portion of what i do or overload on the cpu of one computer to the resources on the other.

i'd be happy if i can find out how to do it with Ethernet, but be ecstatic if i can do it with SATA or IDE, id be happy to find that i can network normally with SATA or IDE,

Arnie

The only way to get something near "hybrid" would be making a cluster. But such software is very specialized and probably optimized for more than just 2 computers. Do some research on clustering on Google and you'll see it's probably not worth it. But if you do decide to give it a shot, please let me know how you're progressing (e.g. in this topic)

You'll most likely need Linux, by the way. This kind of stuff is usually done by scientific dudes that want to get big computing power to approximate Schrödinger equation solutions or whatever.

So... it's not going to get you a powerful gaming machine.

Dark-Tech

i did some looking into it and i can do a cluster using my win 2000 advanced server OS but i dont know if it will mean i have to use the same OS on all nodes of the cluster so i think im gonna just go with a normal networking scenario, if i decide otherwise ill come back and try to update here

infobankr

Howdy,

Just skimmed through this thread - interesting topic. I need some clarity though. Are you looking to network the computers (enable them to talk to each other) or cluster them (enable them to work together)?

In related matters, you can also check out synergy - it allows you to share a keyboard and mouse with two computers and monitors. Very cool!

If you only have one monitor, you could get a kvm switch to choose which computer its connected to.

If you only want to have a separate operating system inside another one, you could try out virtualization, with QEMU.

Good luck!

infobankr

By the way, AFAIK, you cannot network over IDE or SATA.

Conversely, it is possible to run ATA over ethernet.

greatfire

i think you mean that you want to cluster them. if this is so they have to be either really similar or the exact same computer (mobo processor etc.) MPICH is your best bet for this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPICH

infobankr

Clustering can be done in many different ways... one way I commonly leverage clusters is with distcc - a distributed c compiler tool. It just connected several machines together and calls gcc on each machine, making things compile faster. Good for kernels and glibc! Gentoo users would likely be familiar with it too.

Dark-Tech

well all possible answers, i think i got, thanks, i guess if sata / ide networking is out of the question then im stuck with Ethernet and the only choice i have left if whether to try MPICH to cluster, but it sounds like it won't be very useful unless i have a large number of computers i stll don't know what im gonna do but i know what i can't now