What is distributed computing?

[Creedyou]

I see this all over Anandtech, what is it?

 

[Smoke]

Here you go ... check out these FAQs



Jump in ... the waters fine.

 

[Baldy18]

Basically it is the cocept of using the power of many "normal" computers to do a very large task by breaking it up into chunks of work instead of having a super computer do the work. Part of the goal is to accomplish the task, but a whole other part of it is showing the power of the average pc and getting people involved in the project and letting them help out a cause they like.

 

[Confused]

As Baldy18 said, it's using many "standard" desktop computers to do the work that couldn't be done by even the biggest Supercomputers.

For example, the Seti @ home project breaks up radio signals recorded from a radio telescope and sends them out to the computers of over 3 million people who have signed up.

RC5 is a project to show that even by brute force the 64 bit encryption is strong enough to not be broken easily, and that nothing stronger is needed. The user who finds the hidden "key" (the code that decrypts the message) will win US$1000.

Folding @ home which studies protein folding, misfolding, aggregation, and related diseases.

Genome @ home is F@H's sister project at Stanford university, which studies genomes and what happens to them and errors and related diseases.

ECCp-109 looks at elliptic curve discrete log computation. Basically it looks for Distinguishing Points, and when two users uncover the same point, each will win US$1000

There are many other projects, but i can't think of any more and i will be late for college if i stay any longer

And, welcome to the Distributed Computing forum! I hope you enjoy your stay here and will become interested in any of these projects, and join our TeAm for the project you choose to do

Confused

 

[Baldy18]

Here is all the info you could ever want about different distributed computing projects.

 

[Robor]

Others have stated what it is so I'll just say, it's a lot of fun. Whichever DC project you choose to participate in I hope you'll join Team Anandtech and visit the forums frequently!

Good luck!

 

[IJump]

Originally posted by: Robor
Others have stated what it is so I'll just say, it's a lot of fun. Whichever DC project you choose to participate in I hope you'll join Team Anandtech and visit the forums frequently!

Good luck!

And feel free to ask any questions you have. You can get some of the best support in this DC forum.

 

[FoBoT]

is DF (Distributed Folding) going to be added to the FAQ?

the AT team is small, looks like only muttley and Ellendan are currently active, but i am wondering if there is still interest in this project?

 

[Stanman]

FUN!