Calling all Idle Processors

[Wiz]

SETI also looks for other phenomena - there was a recent article by Hawking talking about using the SETI data to find expiring black holes. There are short term goals and long term goals to the project.
There are also TeAm goals: Overtake IBM is the next one

 

[HappyPuppy]

The best thing I can think of if we discover "other" intelligent life in the Milky Way Galaxy is that we could start killing them instead of ourselves. It would be so much easier to take sides in such a conflict. There would, I suppose, be some Earthlings who would side with the invading aliens in hopes of currying favor with them. In such a case we loyal Earthlings would have to hunt them down, bomb their strongholds, cut off their finances and kill their leaders. OOPs. Kinda sounds like something that's going on already. Which raises the quandry, why bother if all we are going to do is what we are already doing only on a far grander scale?

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< The best thing I can think of if we discover "other" intelligent life in the Milky Way Galaxy is that we could start killing them instead of ourselves. It would be so much easier to take sides in such a conflict. There would, I suppose, be some Earthlings who would side with the invading aliens in hopes of currying favor with them. In such a case we loyal Earthlings would have to hunt them down, bomb their strongholds, cut off their finances and kill their leaders. OOPs. Kinda sounds like something that's going on already. Which raises the quandry, why bother if all we are going to do is what we are already doing only on a far grander scale? >>



Why not go with rc5, ogr, or eccp109? They dont involve aliens. eccp in general is more exciting for me since it is smaller and each dp I produce makes a difference.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Seriously, how are you really going to get your money's worth out of that cpu? Let it sit there, idle, day in and day out? Or max it out 24/7?

 

[Rahminator]

I agree, SETI is a waste of time. Why not dedicate unused resources to find cures for cancer, alzheimer and other fatal diseases? Anandtech should have folding@home teams or something like that where one's work can really change the future. What's the point of searching for extraterrestrial life in the bigass-wedontknowevenhowbig-universe (and what are our chances)? Let's dedicate our work to something that is even remotely possible with current computers.

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< I agree, SETI is a waste of time. Why not dedicate unused resources to find cures for cancer, alzheimer and other fatal diseases? Anandtech should have folding@home teams or something like that where one's work can really change the future. What's the point of searching for extraterrestrial life in the bigass-wedontknowevenhowbig-universe (and what are our chances)? Let's dedicate our work to something that is even remotely possible with current computers. >>



There are several users that do that. I was VERY interrested in that project, but last time I checked they only have Windows binaries. So that means I cant help. But it is definitely a worthwhile project!

 

[smp]

Well, I don't think that 'extraterrestial' search makes any sense for me (and probably for U, too). Why do it? Even if other civilizations exist, who cares? We people can't even live together on this planet w/o killing, robbing and exploitating each other. What would alien contact bring then? Things even worse, IMVHO.

Well, it's about curuosity and wonder. Wouldn't you like to know? I mean, if we ever do pick up signals (small chance I know) I think that it would seriously broaden people's view. I think that too many people are narrow minded, small minded or close minded (whatever you want to call it).

Sure there are probably better things here on earth, so if you want to further science, then great, go ahead and crack for genome@home or folding@home (I am) ..
I worry about those too, who's to say that old Billy boy won't get his hands on this stuff and use it to assimilate the whole world!!!

No seriously, SETI is fun so let people enjoy it, no need to be a grinch and spoil the fun for people.

again
Even if other civilizations exist, who cares?
Are you serious? You wouldn't care if we knew that other civilizations existed? Honestly? Wow. I'm gonna go kill myself.. it's a wonder why We people can't even live together on this planet w/o killing, robbing and exploitating each other. Maybe it's cause we just don't care?

 

[DoctorBooze]

I already gift 5% of my income to scientific research groups - half for cancer, half for AIDS - and another 5% to support charities - Save the Children and others - so I think I'm doing about as much as I directly can towards saving the human race already; I don't mind contributing my spare CPU cycles to a bit of harmless (and quite probably pointless) fun.

 

[Logix]

<< Anandtech should have folding@home teams or something like that where one's work can really change the future. >>

A lot of people like to go alien-hunting. Others find it utterly pointless. That's fine. Seti was the original distributed computing project, so it has the most active members around here. But, there's a Team AnandTech for many other DC projects too:

ECCp-109 - Currently #2 in the world.
Folding@Home (Look for team 84)
Genome@Home - Currently #27 in the world.
OGR-24 - Currently #1 in the world.
OGR-25 - Currently #2 in the world.
RC5-64 - Currently #2 in the world.
UD Cancer Research Project - Currently #24 in the world ranked by points.

Currently, we're the #15 in the world in Seti@Home, but we're close to overtaking IBM, The Planetary Society, Microsoft, and Intel. We invite you to join any of the projects above.

I tried to get one of my friends involved with Seti, but he couldn't understand the purpose of it. But, he joined the cancer research project, and that's what it's all about. Put those wasted CPU cycles to use. And, help Team AnandTech while you're at it!

 

[DarkMajiq]

I can certainly understand the point of view that SETI is useless and is a waste of time to run, but I disagree with it. While it may not have such very earthly goals, and may never produce anything, it's one of the most active DC projects around, with lots of stats, races, and many team members, which makes it a lot of fun to participate in. And, who knows, maybe it will find something

 

[serialb]

<< I still dont get whats the point of this. We dont get anything, we just waste our own time. Useless sh1t

"Yeah yeah we're helping find intelligent life". Uhm, grow up. Your not doing crap >>



This is definitely the "Retard Quote of the Day". If your computer is turned on doing nothing but waiting for you to type that kind of worthless sh!t. That's what I called worthless. Running SETI does not require YOU to calculate the Fourier transform with paper and pencil. Grow up, and stop trashing other's interest with your narrow mind.

serialb

 

[RazeOrc]

Please everyone, lets try to keep this civilized, no need for disgruntled comments from either side (supporter or non-supporters). I origionally wrote this as a SETI thread, but I should have kept it to a distributed computing thread (but then it would have been moved by the mods). I just want people to use the power they have at their disposal for any cause greater then themselves when they're not using thier computer. This could include ANY distributed project. I also support finding a cure for cancer, aids, and the like. However I also support SETI.

After all, statistically speaking every one of these projects is very much like a lottery. Only this time the prize isn't just given to 1 person it's given to the whole group. That goes for AIDS, cancer, SETI, ect. While the chance of success may admittedly be small, the POTENTIAL for gain is incalcuable on ANY distributed computing project.

Oh and for anyone who doesn't support ANY form of distributed computing project and yet loves to take chances i.e. lottery, gambling, racing cars, doing drugs, living in a frat house , run a fortune 500 company, over clocking their computers, ect. REMEMBER, there's no potential for gain if you don't take chances

 

[EvilWobbles]

After digesting all the various opinions written here regarding Seti both pro and con. I wanted to give my 2 cents.

I've only recently gotten into Seti@Home but I have found the people who participate in the Distributed Computing Forum to be some of the nicest and most decent people I've had the pleasure of finding here at Anandtech and any other forum for that matter. Stop by the forum and meet some of these people if you have the time. For me, a big part of being involved in TeAm Anandtech Seti is about stopping by the forums a couple of times a day to see who dropped by while I was away and seeing what they had to say. People are what make life interesting.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't get into the stats and races involved with Seti. I am a numbers/stats junkie (it's the same reason I get into Fantasy football leagues). In the end, the most important thing is that I have fun doing Seti. As several members of the DC forum state, that is the most important thing.

If Seti or one of the other distributed computing projects don't interest you, that's your perogative. I think RazeOrc's purpose in posting this thread was to find people who might be interested in joining our Seti TeAm. If you are interested, stop by the forum and if you like what you see, please join the team. If not, don't waste your time and everyone else's by putting down a project that so many people here at AT enjoy.

 

[RazeOrc]

<< if you like what you see, please join the team. If not, don't waste your time and everyone else's by putting down a project that so many people here at AT enjoy. >>



-Amen

 

[Fingers]

Wow! this thing is great! I don't understand why everybody doesn't go out and do this.

Your gonna think i'm crazy, but i think my system is more stable since I've installed the client!

 

[Soccerman]

heh, this is the exact reason why I stopped posting boosters for Distributed computing in General hardware..

people are so set in their ways.. yuck, no wonder the world is in such a bad state.. I guess u don't care about Terrorism, seeing as you're not dead from the World Trade Center attacks then?? or u don't care about all the millions of starving people in the world? and the environment?

hmm, u certainly come across as a nice person.

but basically all the good responces to these type of people have been posted here already, so I'll say this:

Distributed computing is FUN!

 

[ShotgunSteven]

<< What are the requirements? Does it constantly run so you're basically dedicating a computer to it or does it run only when you're not doing anything? >>



The idea behind the various DC projects is that they use your unused CPU cycles. Browsing the web requires little in the way of raw horsepower, so I find that I get quite a bit of work processed while I do that. When I am playing games, however, the various DC projects sit in the background, waiting for some more idle time to come along.

I have actually learned quite a bit about the ins and outs of Windows since I started running SETI@Home, so I could make sure to get optimal usage out of my processor, so it has been a learning experience in more ways that one.

 

[Sukhoi]

Dinner bump!

Welcome to all the new TA members!

 

[Assimilator1]

pay

I still dont get whats the point of this.
Mainly to search for Alien signals!

We dont get anything, we just waste our own time. Useless sh1t
We do get something ,we help join in a search which needs a lot of power & its fun,it doesn't waste time because you have it running in the background when your PC would be on anyway.

Uhm, grow up. Your not doing crap

On what assumption do you base this childish statement?
Aside from searching for alien signals the recorded radio data is used to investigate various astronomical phenomenea.
So yes we are are 'doing crap' & you should grow up by not hurling insults about a subject you obviously know nothing about

CanOWorms
SETI runs as a background program on an idle priority ,so if any other program needs the cpu power SETI backs off.
The only real system requirements are ,Win 9x/NT upwards ,64Mb of RAM (it will to some degree run on less but I wouldn't recommend it) & a CPU with a FPU!

As for the download/upload rate that depends on your PC ,as an example my Ath XP with DDR RAM does a Work Unit in about 3hrs 45mins ,a WU is about 350k ,the finished WU result is usually less than 10Kb.
I use SETIQ to store WU's & results ,so when I connect to the net on my 56kdial up I then send off those results & get more WU's.My PC runs 24/7 so I download about 2.1Mb/day for my machine ,I do this alongside surfing the net.It's not a problem

Orcish
Why do it?
To prove that we are not alone in this universe ,to 'explore' the galaxy for intelligent life

Even if other civilizations exist, who cares?
I do & so do millions of other people ,& frankly I doubt you would turn the TV off if you heard a news announcement that aliens had been found!

What would alien contact bring then?
Depending on the level of contact ,new knowledge of how we could better look after ourselves/the world.
A new civilisation to explore & learn about

HappyPuppy
The best thing I can think of if we discover "other" intelligent life in the Milky Way Galaxy is that we could start killing them instead of ourselves.
An optimistic view! ,seriously though we just lack the technology to do that ,it's hard enough to send probes within our own solar system ,let alone to another star system.

Rahminator
Anandtech should have folding@home teams
It does ,but a very small one ,maybe you could be instrumental in making it a team to reckon with?

What's the point of searching for extraterrestrial life in the bigass-wedontknowevenhowbig-universe (and what are our chances?
If you don't look you'll never find

 

[Nefrodite]

while seti is kewl, i find ud's cancer distrib computing to be slightly more deserving of my cpu power team zucchini !!!

 

[MisterNi]

Just downloaded seti and joined Team AT, thx

 

[AGodspeed]

I just have one question, how can I help find UFO's by running SETI@home on my computer? I just don't get this concept. Am I sending waves into outerspace or something?

It's a little late, forgive my ignorance on this subject matter.

 

[Logix]

<< I just have one question, how can I help find UFO's by running SETI@home on my computer? I just don't get this concept. Am I sending waves into outerspace or something? >>

Basically the way it works is that Seti collects massive amounts of space "noise" through the huge satellite dish at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. What Seti wants to do is analyze all the "noise" for any peculiarities that could be the sign of a signal from E.T. The amount of computing power necessary to analyze all that data would be staggering. The costs would simply be prohibitive. So, they decided to try out a "distributed computing" framework and farm out small chunks of data to millions of regular home desktop computers and use it as a sort of a massive, collective supercomputer.

Now, all you have at home is sign up and install their software. Then, the program will connect to Seti@Home's servers at U.C. Berkeley and download a "work unit". A work unit is roughly 300-350 kilobytes in size. It is just a tiny fraction of all the data Seti has collected. Once you've downloaded the work unit, you can disconnect from the internet. The software then, anytime your CPU is idling, starts the process of analyzing the work unit for any peculiar radio activity that could be a sign an alien civilization calling out. I'm sure someone else could give you a more technical description of how the program analyzes a work unit, but on a basic level, that's what it does. When it's done analyzing the work unit, it sends back the results (usually less than 10KB) to Berkeley and downloads another 300-350KB chunk of data for analysis. Your computer only has to be connected to the internet while returning the results and downloading the next work unit.

The time it takes to complete one work unit varies from about 15 hours on a Celeron 433 to about 3 hours on an Athlon XP 1800+.

Also, I recommend checking out this page: SETI@home Frequently Asked Questions

I hope this explanation makes sense. If you have any further questions about Seti or how to get it up and running, feel free to drop by the Distributed Computing forum and post your question.

 

[Idoxash]

crazed I just join Teamanandtech yup.....

 

[ShotgunSteven]

<< Just downloaded seti and joined Team AT, thx >>



Cool, are you running the CLI version (FAST) or the GUI version with the brightly coloured graphs (SLOOOOOOW)? The CLI is the preferred version. Be sure to stop by the Distributed Computing Forum and say "Hi!"