#22991 - CyberSlag5k - Fri Jul 02, 2004 8:04 am
Dedicate them to a good cause!
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of distributed computation, I shall breifly explain it. Projects like SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) require HUGE amounts of data to be taken and processed. We're talking massive amounts. The solution is distributed computation. The data is sent to a computer running the project's client program and the computer processes the data when the computer is idle or it utilizes the leftover processing power when the computer is active. Once the data is processed, it is sent back to the project for analysis.
Now, SETI is neat (they analyze the radio waves in the air, I believe, for any that might be extraterrestrial in nature) but I prefer to dedicate my computer's spare processing power to a cause that's a little more practical and could one day save millions of lives. I refer to the Grid project. The project's pupose is to run simulations on various ligands on such to find the best candidates for a potential cure for cancer and small pox. The most likely candidates are sent ot the department of health/defense (depending on which task is currently running) where those mega smart, nice people will determine if they may be useful in fighting cancer or small pox.
And so I encourage all you fine gbadevvers to visit http://www.grid.org and volunteer the clock cycles that will just be wasted otherwise! Setting it up takes about 2 minutes (ok, maybe 5 the first time) and you don't need to provide an e-mail address if you don't want. Just download the client and install. It will do the rest!
Some things to keep in mind, though. You WILL be pushing your processor to its limits! Watch your heat, people. If you're getting up any higher than the mid 60's (celsius), I would recommend you discontinue use of the program (modern procs don't fry until 85 but you don't want to chance it). Also note that due to the increase of heat, it is possible that you will lower the life expectancy of your PC (although I believe you lower it down to about 10 years from 12-15 so it's not drastic so I'd not really worry about it).
Now, some aleviation to a few fears. First of all, know that programs such as these only survive by being innocuous and staying out of the way of other applications. You will experience virtually no performance decrease (providing you have more than 64 megabytes of memory) in your every day usage. Games will run just fine, boot time will not increase more than a second or two (the program has to start ya know), and if you need the processing power, the client program will happily give it up. If these things were true, nobody would do them and they would fail before long. I've been running the project for about a month now and have had zero issues. I run it at home, at about 6 computers at work, i've put it on my friends computers (with their permission of course), and even on my laptop (and wouldn't ya know the client program is smart enough to pause when my laptop is running off of the battery to conserve power).
So if you leave your computer on at night, have a few extra computers you don't use often, or just want to feel good about that athlon64 3800+ system you just built, visit http://www.grid.org and volunteer your excess clock cycles today. There's alot of work to be done and every MHz is needed. Who knows, you may be the one to bring about hte cure for cancer a few crucial months earlier.
If anyone has any questions or would like to comment on their own experiences with Grid, SETI, or any other distributed computational programs (often referred to as folding programs), please don't hesitate.]
Thanks!
_________________
When you find yourself in the company of a halfling and an ill-tempered Dragon, remember, you do not have to outrun the Dragon...
Last edited by CyberSlag5k on Sun Jul 04, 2004 6:20 pm; edited 1 time in total
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of distributed computation, I shall breifly explain it. Projects like SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) require HUGE amounts of data to be taken and processed. We're talking massive amounts. The solution is distributed computation. The data is sent to a computer running the project's client program and the computer processes the data when the computer is idle or it utilizes the leftover processing power when the computer is active. Once the data is processed, it is sent back to the project for analysis.
Now, SETI is neat (they analyze the radio waves in the air, I believe, for any that might be extraterrestrial in nature) but I prefer to dedicate my computer's spare processing power to a cause that's a little more practical and could one day save millions of lives. I refer to the Grid project. The project's pupose is to run simulations on various ligands on such to find the best candidates for a potential cure for cancer and small pox. The most likely candidates are sent ot the department of health/defense (depending on which task is currently running) where those mega smart, nice people will determine if they may be useful in fighting cancer or small pox.
And so I encourage all you fine gbadevvers to visit http://www.grid.org and volunteer the clock cycles that will just be wasted otherwise! Setting it up takes about 2 minutes (ok, maybe 5 the first time) and you don't need to provide an e-mail address if you don't want. Just download the client and install. It will do the rest!
Some things to keep in mind, though. You WILL be pushing your processor to its limits! Watch your heat, people. If you're getting up any higher than the mid 60's (celsius), I would recommend you discontinue use of the program (modern procs don't fry until 85 but you don't want to chance it). Also note that due to the increase of heat, it is possible that you will lower the life expectancy of your PC (although I believe you lower it down to about 10 years from 12-15 so it's not drastic so I'd not really worry about it).
Now, some aleviation to a few fears. First of all, know that programs such as these only survive by being innocuous and staying out of the way of other applications. You will experience virtually no performance decrease (providing you have more than 64 megabytes of memory) in your every day usage. Games will run just fine, boot time will not increase more than a second or two (the program has to start ya know), and if you need the processing power, the client program will happily give it up. If these things were true, nobody would do them and they would fail before long. I've been running the project for about a month now and have had zero issues. I run it at home, at about 6 computers at work, i've put it on my friends computers (with their permission of course), and even on my laptop (and wouldn't ya know the client program is smart enough to pause when my laptop is running off of the battery to conserve power).
So if you leave your computer on at night, have a few extra computers you don't use often, or just want to feel good about that athlon64 3800+ system you just built, visit http://www.grid.org and volunteer your excess clock cycles today. There's alot of work to be done and every MHz is needed. Who knows, you may be the one to bring about hte cure for cancer a few crucial months earlier.
If anyone has any questions or would like to comment on their own experiences with Grid, SETI, or any other distributed computational programs (often referred to as folding programs), please don't hesitate.]
Thanks!
_________________
When you find yourself in the company of a halfling and an ill-tempered Dragon, remember, you do not have to outrun the Dragon...
Last edited by CyberSlag5k on Sun Jul 04, 2004 6:20 pm; edited 1 time in total