KWSN Orbiting Fortress

Michelle · Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 7:48 am Post subject: Need help with something :)

**I've posted this on the group page at FB too.**

Guys, I need to do a report on any topic for an assignment. Couldn't think of a topic so decided to do dc projects. The teacher had no idea what dc is so she might find it interesting. Now, I've got to sort of stretch it out a bit and fill up some pages so I came up with a questionnaire.

This is where you guys come in. Smile

I'd love some responses that I can use to fill in the gaps and give some info about why people people get involved in the projects etc.

Name (first name or alias):

1. How long have you been involved with distributed computing projects?

2. Why did you become involved?

3. What sort of projects do you prefer? e.g. medical, space and/or physics, environmental, mathematical etc.

4. Do you do it for the research or for the statistics?

5. Would you consider yourself a stats whore? (I will use 'addict' in the report)

6. What made you decide to join a team rather than participate as an individual?

7. What are some of the risks of participating?

8. Does it put a strain on your computer? Overheating etc.?

9. Any suggestions for people who may be considering getting involved?

10. Do you recommend any particular projects for new participants?

#ni-1

_________________
My brain hurts.
Jammy's Brain Donor.

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alpha_fruit · Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 7:56 am Post subject: Re: Need help with something :)

Michelle · Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 8:04 am Post subject:

Thanks so much, Ann. Great responses.

#ni-1

_________________
My brain hurts.
Jammy's Brain Donor.

[img]http://www.katrinashome.com/KWSN_Michelle_counter.php[/img]

The Knighty NI · Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 9:02 am Post subject:

Killerrabbit · Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 9:52 am Post subject:

Name (first name or alias): Kevin Winter (Wabbit98), USA

1. How long have you been involved with distributed computing projects? Since 1999

2. Why did you become involved? I heard about SETI@Home in the newspaper.

3. What sort of projects do you prefer? e.g. medical, space and/or physics, environmental, mathematical etc. Persoanlly math and physics.

4. Do you do it for the research or for the statistics? The stats.

5. Would you consider yourself a stats whore? (I will use 'addict' in the report) I would.

6. What made you decide to join a team rather than participate as an individual? Big Monty Python fan so I went out the find a team like that. Basically more fun in a team than doing it all alone.

7. What are some of the risks of participating? Your computer getting prematurely old. Risky projects that can really work the processor.

8. Does it put a strain on your computer? Overheating etc.? The older it gets the more strain it is under. Thankfully I have AC so it can help keep the house temprature comfortable.

9. Any suggestions for people who may be considering getting involved? It needs to be your own computer, and you really are committed to one or more projects.

10. Do you recommend any particular projects for new participants? Probably start with one of the established ones, they will work the best and then start to branch out and see what else is available.
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stooper101 · Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 10:32 am Post subject:

Name (first name or alias): Eric - 'Sir Stooper' - Wisconsin, USA

1. How long have you been involved with distributed computing projects? - 2 years

2. Why did you become involved? - Was at first looking for info on overclocking my pc, but kept running into the phrase 'folding' all the time on the website I was reading. Researched, and became fascinated that I could help with big science questions. Always been a nerd at heart.

3. What sort of projects do you prefer? - Physics/science

4. Do you do it for the research or for the statistics? - Sometimes reasearch, sometimes stats. I'll get an itch to do a project with hard science for awhile and go nuts, but eventually want to see the numbers again.

5. Would you consider yourself a stats whore? - Yes, bonafide

6. What made you decide to join a team rather than participate as an individual? - Thought it would be fun to socialize a little.

7. What are some of the risks of participating? - Addiction, thoughts of winning the lotto enter your dreams so that you can have a big farm of PCs.

8. Does it put a strain on your computer? Overheating etc.? - I have ended up setting some machines to work 24/7 which will produce a lot of heat. I have only had my boxes shut down on their own a couple of times due to over-stress (thanks Primegrid). But all are crunching away with (mostly(again the addiction makes you upgrade components on occassion)) original parts. Other times, my machines get shut down when not doing 'normal' computing.

9. Any suggestions for people who may be considering getting involved? - Seek out a friendly team (like the Knights!). I've gotten great help in areas of computing, getting projects to run properly, and choosing projects from the team.

10. Do you recommend any particular projects for new participants? - Start with something you are passionate about. Be it finding answers to medical questions, helping design parts of a particle accelerator or looking for huge prime numbers. Then feed your curiosity by doing some other projects. After that, you may find you want to test any project that comes along or you may want to concentrate on just one area. There are no rules (except #4).

Good luck on the report! #ni-1

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>stats<

KWSN imcrazynow · Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 11:10 am Post subject: Re: Need help with something :)

Sir Papa Smurph · Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 11:27 am Post subject: Re: Need help with something :)

Blurf · Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 2:07 pm Post subject:

1. How long have you been involved with distributed computing projects?

9/8/2006

2. Why did you become involved?

Love the idea of helping cure illnesses and solve different issues occuring in our world

3. What sort of projects do you prefer? e.g. medical, space and/or physics, environmental, mathematical etc.

Prefer Seti but I participate in 20 or so projects

4. Do you do it for the research or for the statistics?

Both

5. Would you consider yourself a stats whore? (I will use 'addict' in the report)

Yes

6. What made you decide to join a team rather than participate as an individual?

Just a chance to chat w/ like-minded people

7. What are some of the risks of participating?

The cost of having to replace computer parts more often then the average user due to 24/7 use.

8. Does it put a strain on your computer? Overheating etc.?

Nope

9. Any suggestions for people who may be considering getting involved?

Just enjoy it...don't focus on project breakdowns. They will happen to every project at some point.

10. Do you recommend any particular projects for new participants?

Seti/World Community Grid/Milkyway/Rosetta
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Gemjunkie · Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 3:44 pm Post subject:

Name (first name or alias): Philip aka Gemjunkie

1. How long have you been involved with distributed computing projects? Started Folding around May/June 2010. Joined this team July 3,2010 and began BOINC to participate in the POTM.

2. Why did you become involved? Modern home computers are amazingly powerful lately, rivaling mainframes of not too long ago. It seems a waste to have them just fetching email and playing games. Contributing spare processing power is a very attractive idea.

3. What sort of projects do you prefer? e.g. medical, space and/or physics, environmental, mathematical etc. Most any doing real research, which most projects seem to be.

4. Do you do it for the research or for the statistics? I do it for the research, but the statistics provide motivation to work harder at it and facilitate the competitive aspects.

5. Would you consider yourself a stats whore? (I will use 'addict' in the report) Sure, but what other feedback do we have for the cost and effort? At least in the short term. We're not going to subscribe to a lot of scientific journals waiting for papers to be published based on the data we may have helped process.

6. What made you decide to join a team rather than participate as an individual? It's more fun within a team and the community pools knowledge, an individual is hard-pressed to monitor news and status of so many projects.

7. What are some of the risks of participating? Like any hobby with a strong competitive component, it's easy to get carried away... more, better, faster. High electric bills, it only takes 3 or 4 desktop systems to draw a KW. Less, if they're multi-GPU monsters.

8. Does it put a strain on your computer? Overheating etc.? Yes, it can. It's used by some to stress-test new systems, but you can adjust settings to reduce resource usage to levels you're comfortable with and that your system can handle.

9. Any suggestions for people who may be considering getting involved? Try it, it's free, fairly easy for most projects, if you don't like it stop doing it. If you don't regularly open the computer and clean out the dust, etc., start.

10. Do you recommend any particular projects for new participants? The shorter sub-projects of PrimeGrid, primaboinca, Rosetta, Aqua if you have a quad-core & 64-bit OS.

#ni-1

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(older, before split CPID)

Blurf · Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 5:49 pm Post subject:

Sorry Michelle forgot my name

Blurf aka Pete
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Michelle · Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 7:02 pm Post subject:

Wow! Thanks, everyone.

#ni-1

You've given me heaps to work with. We have to put six pages in the discussion section so I was worried about not having enough to put in but this will fit in nicely with the info re dc how-to, projects, stats etc.
_________________
My brain hurts.
Jammy's Brain Donor.

[img]http://www.katrinashome.com/KWSN_Michelle_counter.php[/img]

tiberius · Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 1:15 am Post subject:

KWSN - Sir Tiberius

1. Since 1999
2. As per my SETI profile, "The only way to save humanity from itself. We need to gain some perspective..."
3. Aside from those I get involved with for the sake of the team (and possibly SETI), projects with clearly defined goals/outcomes that I think have some benefit (see 4)
4. Research, don't care about the stats
5. No
6. More social, team provides support
7. Dead puters, power bill, noise, unhappy spouse due to previous points
8. Yes, on all components (CPU, GPU, power supply, hard drives etc.)
9. Join an established and active team and be a bit discerning in the projects you choose to participate in
10. No, choose projects that interest you
_________________
Shrubbing inconsistently since 1999

Gemjunkie · Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 7:32 am Post subject:

Pooh Bear 27 · Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 9:46 am Post subject:

Name (first name or alias): Tim aka Pooh Bear 27

1. How long have you been involved with distributed computing projects? Interested since 1999, have credit since 2001.

2. Why did you become involved? Friend told me about the original SETI before BOINC came about. Once BOINC took over it became a slight passion.

3. What sort of projects do you prefer? e.g. medical, space and/or physics, environmental, mathematical etc. I used to love the space/science. I now am into the mathmatics more than anything because of what it can do to futher computer research. I originally was into the space.

4. Do you do it for the research or for the statistics? Yes. Some of both. I've always had the passion for the research, but I now have a hunger for statistics.

5. Would you consider yourself a stats whore? (I will use 'addict' in the report) Not really. I do run projects that do give some stats pushes, but I always move back to my passion after a bit.

6. What made you decide to join a team rather than participate as an individual? When BOINC came around, teams started to explode more. I searched long and hard for a team that seemed to fit me. I am a fan of comedy, parody, etc. The group I chose gives me that, plus is a great bunch of people.

7. What are some of the risks of participating? Bad or unstable hardware will die quickly. If you get a good machine it should last for years. I have ran some for many without issues, I have had some die from bad hardware. Addiction to getting the credit can be risk, especially if you keep spending more money on hardware when you should not.

8. Does it put a strain on your computer? Overheating etc.? Again, if a computer is built correctly, it should run without issue. Be careful of unscrupulous projects that could try and harm your computer. There have been some that sent our virii and other tojans.

9. Any suggestions for people who may be considering getting involved? BOINC is meant to be used as "extra cycles", there are some of us who consider having extra computers just to crunch. It's a fun thing to just get involved and maybe help out in something that you have a interest in. There are cancer researches, mega prime finding, searching for intelligent life, and other great projects that all can use more help. Take it easy at first. Just try out a stable project and see if BOINC is for you. If it is, then have fun. Many of us are around to answer your questions, comments, concerns or just lean on when you need an friend. We are a community and as in any there are good and bad participants.

10. Do you recommend any particular projects for new participants? Depends on what you are interested in. Visit the BOINC websites and search for the project that grabs that interest. I love Primegrid and hope more join, but you choose your own.

John Galt 007 · Prince Joined: 31 Dec 2007 Posts: 1206 Location: Wisconsin

Sir Hamster of Elderberry · Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 12:19 pm Post subject: Re: Need help with something :)

Name: Sir First Name or Alias #ni-1

1. Since 1999.

2. It seemed like a cool project, and a good way to put my computer to good use when it wasn't doing anything else (most of the time).

3. I maintain some loyalty to SETI, since that got me started, but I now contribute to other projects too.

4. Both, at one time or other. I was WAY into stats for a while, but now I mostly ignore them.

5. Reformed.

6. A really hoopy group name.

7. There have occasionally been people who got into trouble for putting work computers to "unofficial use". There are rather more who did, but never got caught.

8. I had some issues with a video cards burning up, but that was probably due to the video card being defective in the first place (and Thank you Dell, for the free replacement).

9. Jump in and do it. Figure out what you are doing later.

10. Well, Einstein at Home is a local product, but I don;t actively pimp for it.
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-- Have you seen my goat?

Sir Hamster's Goat · Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 12:22 pm Post subject: Re: Need help with something :)

Michelle · Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 4:40 am Post subject:

Thanks, everyone. I've pretty much got all I need now.

#ni-1

Not quite sure where to put the goat's responses. Confused

_________________
My brain hurts.
Jammy's Brain Donor.

[img]http://www.katrinashome.com/KWSN_Michelle_counter.php[/img]

Killerrabbit · Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 10:31 am Post subject:

Simple ignore the goat until you can find it inside your soul.

Ni
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