So I’ve decided to go with ODROIDs instead of Raspberry Pis. The basic plan is to build out the mITX board I’ve had forever into the host node. I’d like to put LAMP on it too to get some more practicable experience, but it’s a Sandy Bridge Celeron, so that might necessitate its replacement as the head by something different. I’m just going to call it MP for now (it’s a stupid name, but this entire project is stupid.)
1x Biostar NM70I-847 as host node
4x ODROID C1+ as client nodes
1x 4-port AC-USB adapter or powered USB hub (allowing us for a mobile battery pack as an ad hoc UPS) as a single PSU
1x Linksys WRT-54G as the network switch, cause I have one
I’m thinking about getting some ODROID XU4s as well, either a single board for the aforementioned replacement head, or more. I’m also thinking of postponing building the 847 until I can afford to just make it a big NAS, and instead investing in a larger cluster of the cheaper machines, but I’ve been putting it off so long, I want to just build it, even if I run into multiplatform issues with MPI.
There are a few reasons for deciding on ODROIDs instead of the Pis. They're cheaper, more powerful, more power efficient, have gigabit ethernet, DDR3 instead of DDR2, and have the onboard eMMC pins (in case the need ever arises for more storage, the eMMC can be added for the system, freeing up the uSD slot.) Additionally, ODROID provides images for a larger variety of GNU/Linux distributions. These hopefully mean that MP will be feasibly scalable into something resembling a usefully large cluster, while providing a slightly lower barrier to entry. Scaling isn’t so important now, but the ability to expand the per-node storage and increase the speed on the interconnects without significantly modifying or replacing the nodes themselves is a boon on top of that lower sticker price.
