摘要
随着计算机技术的发展和科学计算对计算机要求的提高,加上科研经费有限这一实际问题,如何进行硬件配置以期达到更好的计算和数据处理能力十分重要。鉴于近来PC机技术的日趋成熟和价格大幅度下降,特别是在PC平台上的一些适合利学计算目的(免费)的操作系统出台和大量流行的天文软件在这些操作系统上的实现,在PC机上进行科学计算已经可以达到或超过比其昂贵许多的工作站的能力。这份报告将根据我们最近进行的对Pentiom(586)/Linux上有关计算和图像处理能力的测试,和在SUN-Sparc-Classic工作站上进行的对比,就PC机在Linux操作系统上的计算和图像处理能力进行评估。期望能给今后计算机的选用和配置提供一些参考数据。结果表明,Pentium(586)/Linux的性能价格比大大好于Spatc-Ciassic,其图像处理能力和计算速度接近目前的一些流行的主流工作站。从经费、处理能力、软硬件的管理和升级等诸方面考虑,Pentium/Linux是天文界计算机的较为理想的低价位高性能机型。
We performed a series of tests of numerical calculation and BATC image data reduction on the Pentium (586)/Linux(l. 2. 13) platform. The Program image is a standard BATC open cluster field (NGC1750, taken with 2048x2048 CCD,16 MB size), Photometry of the point sources of the field is done using IRAF (2. 10. 4EXPORT/LINUX ). Some pure numerical computation tests with Fortran program are also carried out. The same tasks are done on a Sun Spare Classic machine,aimed at evaluating the ability of a PC base workstation. The purpose of such a work is to seek an alternative to the computing facilities currently used in our group (BATC, Beijing section) , taking into account a very practical consideration.- the conflict between the very limited research fund and the high demand of the computer resources. This is rather a common difficulty shared by the astronomical research institutes in China. The conclusion is;The capability/price ratio of Pentium/Linux is much higher than the currently in use workstations. In practice,Pentium/Linux platform is an ideal alternative to the much more expensive workstations.
