🚀 go-pugleaf

In response to <27405@uflorida.cis.ufl.edu> from Madhan Chidambaram
 
> Can someone tell me the exact definition of a dynamically
> reconfigurable machine.  I have 2 definitions:
> 
>  --  A machine, in which at any instant of time we could use a 
>      configuration of processors which is a subset of the configuration
>      of the the whole set of available processors in the system. 
>    (Or is this static reconfiguration as we do not really change the
>    underlying configuration)?
>
>  --  A machine in which the set of processors are reconfigured some
>      time during the execution of some program. That is, in this case, 
>      the underlying configuration of processors is changed in the 
>      middle of some program execution. (Is this possible at all) ?
>
> Which of the above definitons are correct ? 

  Both are correct. The first is a logical reconfiguration, where
the physical paths over which messages travel do not change, but
the way the messages get from point to point may change; a message
path may be reconfigured so that a different 'subset' of processors
is made available without moving any wires (pc traces, etc.) The
second is a physical reconfiguration, where physical connections
between processors are changed (via a link switch, for example)
in order to alter the topology of the network.
  So to answer your question of what exactly is a dynamically
reconfigurable machine, in my opinion, it is one in which the
configuration may be changed in a way which does not require
the user to modify hardware. If this is logical or physical, it
is still dynamic reconfiguration.

Bill <Moses@NADC.NAVY.MIL>