how to make two computer work as one?

[ffpc]

is that possible to make my two computer work as one so their workload will finish faster and it's possible to combine their hdd? if yes, how?

[ShadyHost]

depends. I think some video editing suites allow you to use a "render farm" which offloads the work onto multiple machines.

 

But for everyday use no. You cannot combine two computers. 

[rufee]

Yes it depends on what you do, physically there are always 2 computers you can run virtual machines on them but the OS can never overlap the 2 pc's (its on one or the other pc).

You can distribute the workload if you have the software to do it, but its very specific.

So as ShadyHost said no, because there is no interface that is fast enough to link multiple pc's together into one.

[Purple]

is that possible to make my two computer work as one so their workload will finish faster and it's possible to combine their hdd? if yes, how?

I think freddiew did something like this to render a video faster or something

[looney]

I think freddiew did something like this to render a video faster or something

That's not "working as one", it will just send packets to a render client, much like F@H.

[alpenwasser]

is that possible to make my two computer work as one so their workload will finish faster and it's possible to combine their hdd? if yes, how?

Truly having several machines working as one PC is probably not feasible without custom

software AFAIK (I'd be very interested in any solutions to this if it is possible).

What you can do is create your own cluster, for which you will require cluster software.

You might also be interested in this article, as well as the Wiki Article on Beowulf Cluster.

Configuring several PCs as a cluster and distributing workload is definitely

doable, but you will need to do some research.

As for combining HDDs, there are several ways to combine storage from multiple machines.

There are file systems which are actually clustered on the block level

(this would be closest to actually combining HDDs).

Alternatively you can use something like the Network File System, Samba/SMB/CIFS or SSHFS.

Strictly speaking these are not combining HDDs, but simply sharing storage between machines.

Personally, I use SSHFS on my network. It's a lot less annoying to configure than

NFS and Samba, and I encounter far fewer issues with it.

I'm not exactly a storage and network expert, so I may have forgotten something, but this

is what I've come across in my years of fiddling around with computers and networks.

Edited July 6, 2013 by alpenwasser

[ffpc]

Truly having several machines working as one PC is probably not feasible without custom

software AFAIK (I'd be very interested in any solutions to this if it is possible).

What you can do is create your own cluster, for which you will require cluster software.

You might also be interested in this article, as well as the Wiki Article on Beowulf Cluster.

Configuring several PCs as a cluster and distributing workload is definitely

doable, but you will need to do some research.

As for combining HDDs, there are several ways to combine storage from multiple machines.

There are file systems which are actually clustered on the block level

(this would be closest to actually combining HDDs).

Alternatively you can use something like the Network File System, Samba/SMB/CIFS or SSHFS.

Strictly speaking these are not combining HDDs, but simply sharing storage between machines.

Personally, I use SSHFS on my network. It's a lot less annoying to configure than

NFS and Samba, and I encounter far fewer issues with it.

I'm not exactly a storage and network expert, so I may have forgotten something, but this

is what I've come across in my years of fiddling around with computers and networks.

thx. very informative. 

[5tephenm1o5]

not really but take the parts from the worser one like ram and hdd's and put them in the better pc

[NeoZeon]

This is what we call "clustering". It is certainly possible if you can make use of MPI. This is how supercomputers are made (sort of).

here is a wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf_cluster

Edited July 7, 2013 by NeoZeon

[jocke92]

I think most clustering solution don't work well on such small workloads as loading webpages and doing regular office work. There is a huge delay handing out the workload compared to the communication going on inside on computer. The best is as said before to use something that is already build into the software like network-render for vegas, premiere etc.

 

If you want to just control two computers (and share copy paste) on your physical desktop there is a software called synergy that will do the work for you.