Cray X-MP - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

  • The parallel-processor nature of the X-MP and its ability to solve multi-variate simultaneous equations rapidly is used in Tom Clancy's novel, The Hunt for Red October, when 'Skip' Tyler uses the USAF's X-MP machine to work out the performance and sonic characteristics of the October for Jack Ryan on behalf of the CIA in return for both profit and the chance to evaluate the vessel should it successfully defect.
  • The film Tron, a Cray X-MP can be briefly seen in the foreground in the scene with Flynn & Lori en-route to her work station. Also the Cray X-MP is cited in the ending credits of the film as "Supercomputer".
  • The film The Last Starfighter depended heavily on high polygon count (for the time) models with complex lighting effects, the rendering of which was made possible by the use of the X-MP.
  • In Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park, three Cray X-MPs provide the park's computing power.
  • In Jurassic Park: Trespasser, two Cray X-MPs are featured as the supercomputers supporting Site B.
  • In M. Ann Jacoby's novel Life after Genius, the main character uses the X-MP at Bell Labs in New Jersey to calculate 1.5 billion zeros of the Riemann zeta-function.
  • The Cray X-MP was used for one of the first Pixar short films, "The Adventures of AndrĂ© and Wally B.", in 1984. Special thanks is given to Cray Research in the short's credits for use of the machine.

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