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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
 Posted - 08/27/2010 : 10:59:41
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So with my wife out of town for a while, I've realized that I have a lot of extra CPU cycles available. So, remembering this old thread (there was one other thread that I can't find again), I've installed Folding@Home and re-found our old SFN Team. The software seems to have been greatly updated since I last ran any work units.
I picked Folding@Home because I think it's more likely to provide useful, practical results than the other distributed computing projects of which I am aware. Sure, a person can run more than one, even on the same machine, but I'd rather aim for quantity for one than a wider breath of shallower help.
This isn't a judgment of anyone else's choices. I invite everyone to post about what they're doing or planning to do with their spare CPU cycles.
If you'd like to join Folding@Home, pick a user name, get a passkey (if you want to ensure your uniqueness in their system), then download a F@H client program and set it up using your user name, passkey and if you want to join the SFN team, use team ID number 42544.
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- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2010 : 13:37:00 [Permalink]
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xxxxxxx
Oops.
I had my own ID and Team mixed up.
They have upgraded the software, and I didn't even notice.
My folding application has been busy doing nothing since May 1st. 
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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. |
| Edited by - Dr. Mabuse on 08/27/2010 13:40:30 |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2010 : 15:06:02 [Permalink]
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| Dang. My wife's graphics card is too old to run any of the F@H high-performance clients. What they're doing is pretty cool: they're using the super-fast computing capabilities in the Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) in modern video cards in addition to the regular CPU to speed up processing by a factor of 10 to 20. They've even got a client now that runs on the PlayStation 3, using its GPU. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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the_ignored
SFN Addict
2562 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2010 : 16:20:23 [Permalink]
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Whoops. I completely forgot about that. Time to start again, to an extent, anyway.
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>From: enuffenuff@fastmail.fm
(excerpt follows):
> I'm looking to teach these two bastards a lesson they'll never forget.
> Personal visit by mates of mine. No violence, just a wee little chat.
>
> **** has also committed more crimes than you can count with his
> incitement of hatred against a religion. That law came in about 2007
> much to ****'s ignorance. That is fact and his writing will become well
> know as well as him becoming a publicly known icon of hatred.
>
> Good luck with that fuckwit. And Reynold, fucking run, and don't stop.
> Disappear would be best as it was you who dared to attack me on my
> illness knowing nothing of the cause. You disgust me and you are top of
> the list boy. Again, no violence. Just regular reminders of who's there
> and visits to see you are behaving. Nothing scary in reality. But I'd
> still disappear if I was you.
What brought that on? this. Original posting here.
Another example of this guy's lunacy here. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2010 : 23:47:46 [Permalink]
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Whooo-hoo! About five hours ago, my wife's machine finished my first work unit in over three years. I'm back!
Unfortunately, it turns out that none of my machines have young-enough graphics cards to handle the high-performance clients, not even the youngest of them. I'm not about to shell out a couple hundred bucks just to run F@H faster.
Instead, I'll just have to install the slower clients on every machine I've got access to, since the current clients are so much better behaved than the one I was running years ago. I wonder how this poor old laptop will deal with it...
Edited to add that on this laptop, opening up the display is a serious mistake. It's so slow, I can watch it rendering the individual atoms, and trying to close it makes Windows XP want to shut the whole thing down as unresponsive. Hopefully it won't take so long to finish a work unit that the server gives up on it. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 08/28/2010 : 02:02:54 [Permalink]
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My old F@H software had a progress bar. (Actually, pie-chart) But the new one is blank except for the animated atom structure picture.
It's annoying that I can't see if any progress is being made.
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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. |
| Edited by - Dr. Mabuse on 08/28/2010 02:03:29 |
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the_ignored
SFN Addict
2562 Posts |
Posted - 08/28/2010 : 05:32:47 [Permalink]
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| Yeah. |
>From: enuffenuff@fastmail.fm
(excerpt follows):
> I'm looking to teach these two bastards a lesson they'll never forget.
> Personal visit by mates of mine. No violence, just a wee little chat.
>
> **** has also committed more crimes than you can count with his
> incitement of hatred against a religion. That law came in about 2007
> much to ****'s ignorance. That is fact and his writing will become well
> know as well as him becoming a publicly known icon of hatred.
>
> Good luck with that fuckwit. And Reynold, fucking run, and don't stop.
> Disappear would be best as it was you who dared to attack me on my
> illness knowing nothing of the cause. You disgust me and you are top of
> the list boy. Again, no violence. Just regular reminders of who's there
> and visits to see you are behaving. Nothing scary in reality. But I'd
> still disappear if I was you.
What brought that on? this. Original posting here.
Another example of this guy's lunacy here. |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 08/28/2010 : 05:37:39 [Permalink]
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The display option on the GPU client has a lot of info on your work unit progress and the speed your system is working. Pretty cool.
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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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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 08/28/2010 : 06:14:32 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dr. Mabuse
My old F@H software had a progress bar. (Actually, pie-chart) But the new one is blank except for the animated atom structure picture.
It's annoying that I can't see if any progress is being made. |
Hover your mouse over the F@H systray icon. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 08/28/2010 : 18:45:39 [Permalink]
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| Wow. My old laptop can't really handle F@H very well at all. F@H causes it to overheat and shut itself down, but even then it's running at a crawl. I've got a fan blowing air under the laptop, and I'll see if that'll keep it going until it finishes the work unit it started. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/28/2010 : 22:03:39 [Permalink]
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To be honest, the @Home software does not simply use "spare CPU cycles" but is finely engineered to put your computer into high gear and exploit its every resource. It also uses "spare" house current. Before I came to the Philippines, I ran the software version that fully employed both my gaming graphics cards like separate supercomputers. Man, did that program warm up my little apartment!
Yeah, it's possible to put the brakes on @Home. But the temptation is to contribute as much computation power as possible to the projects. And that maxes out computers. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 08/29/2010 : 07:31:40 [Permalink]
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Both graphic cards in my computer seems to be compatible with the GPU-utilising software. Perhaps I'll have a look at it. But when I play Guild Wars, the noise level from the fans get annoying. I hope the F@H GPU-core has a throttel so I can run it at 25-33% speed or something like that to keep the noise level down when I'm readin SFN...
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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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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2010 : 02:44:08 [Permalink]
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F@H-work units were always large and long to finish. Contrary to SETI@home...
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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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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2010 : 19:02:07 [Permalink]
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| A little more than five days in, and I've got another 11 work units under my belt. My laptop's now almost to 39% of one WU. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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ThorGoLucky
Snuggle Wolf
USA
1487 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2010 : 15:45:59 [Permalink]
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I'd join your team, but I'm on the Furry teams for SETI, IBM World Community Grid, and LHC.
I dedicate one of my CPU cores to BOINC for both my work and home computers. I don't notice any lag.
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| Edited by - ThorGoLucky on 09/02/2010 15:48:36 |
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@Home projects, again
