O'Grady's PowerPage

Tag: Homebrew

  • MLX project looks to revive Xgrid cluster processing efforts of yesteryear

    MLX project looks to revive Xgrid cluster processing efforts of yesteryear

    If you loved the Xgrid project from several years ago, you’re going to like this.

    Per an excellent article by AppleInsider’s Mike Wuerthele, a new project continues the efforts wherein cluster-based computing was created by connecting Macs together. The Xgrids, which worked well in extremely specific circumstances, were both corporate and federally-funded efforts with some hobbyists building their own rigs at home.

    A new MLX project that uses Macs and Thunderbolt networking appears to be emerging as a much smoother reincarnation of these earlier efforts. The project uses MPI distributed computing, and utilizes one master machine and as many worker Macs as can be afforded connected directly to the master machine using Thunderbolt 4 cables. This in turn provides extremely high-speed communications between the host machine and the workers.

    The worker machines themselves can be headless, with automatic login selected, Screen Sharing enabled, and networking having been configured manually.

    Computational software is installed, using Open-MPI through HomeBrew. The MLX project repository is then installed next.

    Beyond the software itself, a cluster of Mac Studio desktops can easily be transported in a duffle bag, and an iPad could be used as a screen. From there, up to six Apple Silicon Mac worker machines could be connected to an M1 Ultra or M2 Ultra Mac Studio host machine, or any other configuration you saw fit.

    It’s a nifty project, it has a good community behind it, and it could perhaps lead to some amazing things, especially under the Apple Silicon hardware platform.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via AppleInsider, GitHub, and Open-MPI

  • Rumor: Noninvasive glucose test for the Apple Watch reaches “proof of concept” phase

    Rumor: Noninvasive glucose test for the Apple Watch reaches “proof of concept” phase

    Apple’s efforts to use the Apple Watch as a noninvasive glucose meter appears to be making progress, and has reportedly reached a “proof of concept” stage, although it could still take years to reach the market.

    Per Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, it will still take time to become part of the Apple Watch, but the research has passed a significant milestone. Unspecified sources, seemingly within Apple, say that after 12 years they have reached what they call a proof of concept stage.

    This implies that Apple believes the technology is working, but it will still need to be shrunk down to Apple Watch size. It’s been rumored that the company’s engineers are currently working to create an iPhone-sized prototype that would then be strapped to person’s leg.

    The system, which once occupied a table top, has been tested by Apple on hundreds of people over the last 10 years. Each result was then compared to traditional tests that involve taking blood samples. The project had reached a significant milestone, but the small research team on the project recently had a major setback. Its leader, Bill Athas, died suddenly in late 2022.

    It’s been rumored that the work has been taken over by some of Athas’s deputies, including Apple managers Dave Simon and Jeff Koller, who report to Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Technologies.

    It’s also been reported that there was a 2022 Homebrew project that saw one Apple Watch owner create a complication and watchOS app that worked in conjunction with a third-party glucose monitor.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via AppleInsider and Bloomberg