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Hawks
SFN Regular
Canada
1383 Posts |
 Posted - 10/20/2004 : 14:34:30
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My computer has just crunched its 600th data unit for seti@home . Do any of you guys run any of these kinds of programs? I know of at least folding@home and fightAIDS@home, but there might be more. If you do run them, then why?
My reasons for running seti@home:
1. Why not, my CPU is idle most of the time.
2. It would be neat if someone found a signal.
3. I've run it for years, and I can't be asked switching to another.
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METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL
It's a small, off-duty czechoslovakian traffic warden! |
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
 Posted - 10/20/2004 : 15:35:40 [Permalink]
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Mmm... never heard of them! What's that?
But if I did follow the thought, I wouldn't because,
a) My CPU is already overworked;
b) I actually -gasp!- use it for -gasp!- work;
c) I'd be skeptical about it  |
"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2004 : 17:57:09 [Permalink]
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Siberia: It works like this... Then the operating system, senses that no work is being done it starts ordering the CPU to run idle. "System Idle Process" is the name of the process. Usually this shuts down parts of the CPU internally to reduce heat production and current consumption (the latter is important for laptops).
The SETI@HOME program has the lowest program priority, which means that any processing power that is needed is distributed to the "ordinary" programs you run, and it's only when System Idle Process was supposed to run that SETI@Home starts working. When you sit and write to the forum, and listen to Winamp, there are usually a few percent processing power that isn't used. Those get allocated to SETI@Home. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2004 : 17:58:25 [Permalink]
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| What's folding@Home and what does FightAIDS@Home do? |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2004 : 18:04:12 [Permalink]
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Ahhh. -retarded- Gotcha. I somehow thought they were... something else. Nevermind me, then.
quote:
How does your CPU become overworked? Did it get tired and needs some sleep? If it is, I would suggest looking for a new one, I hear illegal alien CPU's work for cheap
A twelve-year old working above its capability, for instance |
"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2004 : 18:52:50 [Permalink]
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Isn't folding@home a protien research project?
Siberia, the various kinds of distributed computing tasks basically use your CPU when it's not doing anything else, and work on stuff that requires massive ammounts of processing power. It breaks up the work into small chunks and shares it over many computers, for the net effect of a large supercomputer.
I think the SETI one is cool, because if your PC discovers a real signal, they are gonna name the aliens after you. |
Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Tim
SFN Regular
USA
775 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2004 : 22:11:34 [Permalink]
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| How do I go about signing up? |
"We got an issue in America. Too many good docs are gettin' out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their -- their love with women all across this country." Dubya in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 9/6/2004
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2004 : 04:39:12 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dude
Isn't folding@home a protien research project?
Siberia, the various kinds of distributed computing tasks basically use your CPU when it's not doing anything else, and work on stuff that requires massive ammounts of processing power. It breaks up the work into small chunks and shares it over many computers, for the net effect of a large supercomputer.
I think the SETI one is cool, because if your PC discovers a real signal, they are gonna name the aliens after you.
Fun! I understand now. I always wanted an alien race named after me
So, how does it work (other than relieving your comp of excess uselessness)? |
"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2004 : 04:52:05 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Siberia
So, how does it work (other than relieving your comp of excess uselessness)?
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
Here the SETI site. Scroll down the page to the FAQ's. I've run close to 2k units. |
"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2004 : 05:03:32 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Randy
quote:
Originally posted by Siberia
So, how does it work (other than relieving your comp of excess uselessness)?
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
Here the SETI site. Scroll down the page to the FAQ's. I've run close to 2k units.
Thanks! |
"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2004 : 05:33:54 [Permalink]
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Party Pooper imminent.....
Seti is a waste of time and resources, any alien stupid enough to try and contact others with radio is not worth finding...hint hint.
On another note I have a question for you all. Since humans are the only intelligent techno race we know of, does it make sense to look for others like us? I mean If I were alien I certainly wouldnt want humans to find out about me, only GOD knows what humans would do... |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2004 : 08:16:19 [Permalink]
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| The idea behind SETI is not that another race would necessarily be trying to contact anyone with radio waves, rather that the use of radio for communication seems to be something that a technological race would do. They are really looking for the junk, like the endless repetition of garbage that we send out on radio waves..... old TV and radio programs, ect... |
Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2004 : 09:53:23 [Permalink]
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| Yes I know, but Im assuming that they wont be found, humans will only use radio for what a hundred years, were already moving out of it, the chance that we would catch any techno society in a radio phase is so remote it becomes a pointless exercise IMO. Considerind we can only scan local systems and the unreliability of radio over vast distances, our resources could be spent more efficiently elsewhere. |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
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Hawks
SFN Regular
Canada
1383 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2004 : 12:19:43 [Permalink]
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There is probably an absolutely tiny, nearly impossibly small chance that an alien signal would be found. But if one was found, it would surely be the greatest discovery of all time. Therefore I think there is some merit to look for it.
And yes, an interesting question is: Would aliens want us to find them? Historically, humans haven't exactly been kind to newly "discovered" worlds and peoples.
For more info on other distributed computing projects (that have a higher chance of finding something useful?):
Folding@home does indeed involve predicting how proteins fold, misfold and aggregate and the impact this has on certain diseases (eg Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis, BSE) See: folding.stanford.edu
FightAIDS@home "uses your computer to assist fundamental research to discover new drugs, using our growing knowledge of the structural biology of AIDS". See: www.fightaidsathome.org
Running any of these programs should have virtually no impact on the performance of your computer, and at the end of the day something useful might actually be discovered. |
METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL
It's a small, off-duty czechoslovakian traffic warden! |
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2004 : 12:29:17 [Permalink]
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Whoever we find, Im sure they'll be some Mormons showing up shortly after in white shirts and ties. (Mormons believe there are other inhabited planets each with its own God.)
quote
There is probably an absolutely tiny, nearly impossibly small chance that an alien signal would be found. But if one was found, it would surely be the greatest discovery of all time. Therefore I think there is some merit to look for it.
--
This same arguement could be made for many things which would be the greatest discovery of all time, telekenisis for example. |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
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