The resources required for this project are: software tools for building the MagicEight system; sufficient internetworked machines to test the scalability of the system; and I/O devices for the complex test application. The software tools (compilers, assemblers, linkers, and debuggers) I am using are from the Free Software Foundation, as well as ``vendor provided tools'' on some platforms. These are already available.
I am proposing a system that supports scalabilities from one to two hundred processing nodes. The majority of the testing, however, can take place on systems of one to eight processors. The Compaq Alphas currently around the garden area will suffice. For the occasional larger test, additional computers on student's desks will be used resulting in a more heterogeneous mix. Testing on a system larger than 64 nodes will probably not be performed.
The I/O devices will likely consists of a video camera, a digitizing card, and either a X display or an NTSC one. All of these devices are already available within the group.