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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
 Posted - 02/06/2005 : 00:46:21
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If your computer is on for long periods of time, without really being used, a wide variety of projects could use your help. These are "distributed computing" projects, in which large or numerous calculations are broken down into managable chunks, and sent off to many computers around the world, and the results eventually sent back to a central server for incorporation into the solution sought.
Probably the best-known project is SETI@Home, in which chunks of data from the Arecibo radio telescope are analyzed, looking for possible radio signals from other worlds. But there are many others to pick from, if you'd rather your computer's idle time do more than generate heat.
Here's a sampling of what can be found on the Web. I tried to stick with "easy" projects, which don't require users to compile anything or send emails with results, but I'm also not familiar with most of these (so don't complain to me if you pick something which makes you work a lot, or destroys your computer, etc). If you know of other projects, please post them here.
- Distributed.net is running an RSA encryption-key-cracking project, and an optimal Golomb Ruler project
- FightAIDS@Home runs biomedical calculations for HIV/AIDS research
- Folding@Home attempts to learn how proteins take their all-important shapes
- Generalized Fermat Prime Search is looking for prime numbers
- Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search is also looking for primes
- Grid.org is currently running a Human Proteome Folding project, and possibly something on cancer research
- MoneyBee attempts to predict stock behaviour
- SETI@Home is the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (at Home), searching for radio signals from other worlds
- Übero manages distributed computing projects for hire, and may pay you for your PC's time
I'm participating in SETI@Home these days, and if there appears to be enough interest, I'll go ahead an start an SFN team people can join for that project.
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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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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2005 : 06:59:40 [Permalink]
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... prime numbers? lol.
Guess I'll join the SETI one. Thanks Dave! |
"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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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2005 : 07:07:26 [Permalink]
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Don't forget Sumerian_Translator@Home where your computer uploads digital images of cuneiform tablets, translates them, and then sends them to me so I can use the data for my dissertation!
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2005 : 19:52:45 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Cuneiformist
Don't forget Sumerian_Translator@Home where your computer uploads digital images of cuneiform tablets, translates them, and then sends them to me so I can use the data for my dissertation!
If you scanned all the photos, and distributed an completely automated engine for it... Why not?
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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
26020 Posts |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2005 : 02:02:47 [Permalink]
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I run the SETI and Folding distributed computing programs. Run the SETI one because I would be vastly amused by getting to name the aliens when we find them (IF). And run the folding one because it is a fascinating and important bit of work. Understanding the exact structure of protiens is very important work with implications many branches of biology and medicine.
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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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Starman
SFN Regular
Sweden
1613 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2005 : 02:11:58 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dude
Run the SETI one because I would be vastly amused by getting to name the aliens when we find them (IF).
Dude-oids? |
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2005 : 05:29:12 [Permalink]
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Aw, Cune. [pet]
I'm running the SETI one, just because I love when my sister flashes me that special oh-my-she's-such-a-geeky-loser look. |
"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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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2005 : 08:41:50 [Permalink]
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For those who would like to join the SFN SETI@Home team (assuming you're already a SETI@Home member), you can click here. And you can view team stats here.
So come on, be more of a geeky loser by uniting with other geeky losers!  |
- 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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Paulos23
Skeptic Friend
USA
446 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2005 : 08:47:08 [Permalink]
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| I am already on a team, otherwise I would join in Dave. But I have been running SETI on and off since I had a 386. |
You can go wrong by being too skeptical as readily as by being too trusting. -- Robert A. Heinlein
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. -- Aldous Huxley |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2005 : 09:03:23 [Permalink]
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| Yay! I joined 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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astropin
SFN Regular
USA
970 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2005 : 10:41:15 [Permalink]
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| I'm getting high speed access for the first time tomorrow...YAAAHHHOOO! I will join the team after I get things up and running. I also plan on doing the folding at home project. |
I would rather face a cold reality than delude myself with comforting fantasies.
You are free to believe what you want to believe and I am free to ridicule you for it.
Atheism:
The result of an unbiased and rational search for the truth.
Infinitus est numerus stultorum |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2005 : 10:58:08 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dude
I run the SETI and Folding distributed computing programs.
I take if from that, that the Folding program is not a screen saver? Or are you running them on two different machines? Or what? |
- 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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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2005 : 11:12:13 [Permalink]
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| gah people, seti is the one that least needs your help, get the protein folding one, we would own creationists if we find the self-replicator. (which is far more likely than the seti serch IMO) |
"...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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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
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Topic Locked
