This is the documentation for the release of GNU PIPS version 1.01. It contains all information neccessary to obtain, install and use the programs of GNU PIPS.
The NetCDF applications that consist of conversion programs for PNM <-> NetCDF and a program to manipulate attributes of a NetCDF file are explained.
Another section describes the principle used for the PVM applications and how to derive new applications from them.
The appendix gives quick reference list with a description of all functions used in the PVM applications.
The Network Common Data format was chosen, because it is of importance in the field of physics. It is possible to store any kind of data in a NetCDF file, as well as attributes that describe its properties. The basic datatypes are standardized, so NetCDF files can be transferred to different architectures. However, there are very few NetCDF applications out there to date, i.e. none that process NetCDF files in parallel.
The PVM system permits a network of heterogeneous Unix compatible computers to be used as a single large parallel computer; thus allowing many computers to work on a single problem. The reader may be interrested as well in an article of [Zhang] who examined the performance of PVM on different architectures and implemented a parallel edge detector.
This system was developed as part of the Studienarbeit of Frank Heimes, student at the University of Karlsruhe, from August to Dezember 1994 and it will be maintained by his supervisor, Dr. Ata Etemadi at the ICSTM in London.