Oracle's Raspberry Pi SuperComputer

Oracle shows 1060 Pi3B+ super computer (That's not a cluster: This is a cluster)

Oracle's 1060 Pi Super Computer: Details here:
https://www.servethehome.com/oracle-shows-1060-raspberry-pi-supercomputer-at-oow/

Patrick Kennedy from STH stumbles upon the Oracle Pi Super Computer at a show. Corralling 1060 (yes more then 1024) Raspberry Pi 3B+ computers in to single rack. From reading the description, obviously turning on all 1060 units was something of an issue since it would need something like 5 Volts at 1000 Amps (2,500 if you listen to raspberrypi.org), which isn't really that much for a super computer, but it might be for a hotel lobby area. It certainly makes the Desktop Data Centre look pretty tame in comparison.

Some quick observations:

  • The article describes some 500 CPUs turned on. That raises the question of power consumption. If you believe raspberrypi.org then 1060 model 3B+ boards need 1060x2.5 Amps = 2,650 Amps. From the photo it appears that the venue is a hotel lobby/exhibition area, so 13KW is probz not available..... ( https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/power/README.md)
  • The power consumption thing raises the next question: How do you turn off 500 RPi's. Are the PSU's capable of powering off their outputs individually (which would be a super useful function - i.e. only come on during daylight hours when the solar system is pumping) or do you simply pull the mains plug in sets of 42 boards? Probably just powered up one of the two subracks.

Oracle extends operating system support of Raspberry Pi.
https://www.oracle.com/linux/downloads/linux-arm-downloads.html

Installation of Raspberry Pi™ 3 Image
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E52668_01/E97565/html/ol7-install-pi.html