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So, where would you go to see magnetic tapes these days?

You're thinking your grandparents' car or a museum, right? Well now you can add "super-computer facility" to that list. Yep, magnetic tape is still the go-to medium for the shiniest computers in the world. Crazy...

In our first episode of 2018, we went and had a chat with Dr Leaf Lin, Senior HPC Systems Specialist at the National Computer Infrastructure building at the ANU. Leaf took us on a wee tour of the computer (woah!), and then we set up shop right next to the beast itself for a very interesting yack with her. 

If you're wondering what's it like to be right near a super-computer, here's what we discovered. One - they run hot (like 50-100 degrees C). Two - they are LOUD! Also three - you can't drink a beer near them (WTF!?).

But hey, when you're dealing with 70 tons of computer gear, 80,000 cores, 4,500 servers, and 70 km of optic fibre, even we at Team Wholesome can forego a tasty ale for one episode (just).

Have a listen here to see how many peta-flops it takes to not be able to tell the difference between 2 cats (that will make total sense once you've listened!).

Electronically-enhanced regards,
Rod'n'Will

PS - we've just been nominated for an Australian Podcast Award
PPS - (full disclosure, we nominated ourselves...) 


 

Copyright © 2018 The Wholesome Show, All rights reserved.


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