Recreation of: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=168974 Even though my school firewall has a whitelist policy on port 80, which interrupts the automatic download of Folding@home cores, I've managed to circumvent that by manually downloading, decoding (with the help of Cygwin/Linux), and extracting those ****ers to the right directory. Only seemed to work for High Performance console clients. Anyhow, I have a gaming laptop and 3 clients (shows 4 in statistics cause of a failed config). It's Intel Core i7-3610QM is half used after startup, and fully used on-demand (2 different clients using 4 cores "-smp 4"). The Nvidia Geforce GTX 670M is used all the time, except on hardcore gaming (casual gaming, HD video, and everything else works fine on Intel HD 4000). The jobs pause on battery power. I've tried BOINC, but also can't automatically download cores from who knows where (didn't bother checking details). So, is anyone interested in donating their spare processing power (and competing)? Even though I'm at second place, I've only started a week ago. Edit: You don't have to go through all that like me, just try the normal version first. The team number is still 54406. Requirements: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/FAQ-passkey
So basically you're trying to tell us your obsession with running this software has gone so far you're now hacking it into computers you don't own nor have permission to install software on, ok! No, I don't run such software. I used to back in the day when this kind of software was relevant (SETI in the 90's/early 00's), which it no longer is. Computer chips are no longer designed so inefficiently, all the latest chips have multiple power saving techniques including clocking down according to how much the core is being used. They STILL advertise this as "using up your spare CPU cycles" which quite simply isn't true anymore. It is infact worse for the environment and worse for your energy bill to keep your CPU "crunching". Even when I was running such software, it still lacked the ability to co-exist properly with other software. From FPS drops in games to longer processing times in multimedia software (due to the lower CPU resources available). Not to mention the heat in the room or the noise from the fans, heh.
Nope, all 3 clients run within the gaming laptop. I don't see how you can read different hardware parts as separate computers. Manually downloading means using my browser (obviously whitelisted) and connecting to Folding@home's public server. The "obsession" is more like me wanting to try something until it succeeds, then I'll decide. Prove to me how this software isn't relevant. It's a far-cry comparing proven medical and biological science with potential, theoretical search of outer space. Power saving doesn't mean no power, and I'd like to see usage when the system is turned on. In fact, it's worse for both when your computer is turned on doing nothing, because you're wasting resources. Also, it appears you never heard of clean/renewable energy, and I'm not paying my university's power expenses. I don't run modern high-end games with it on, obviously. I can play HD videos fine and most games, as long as the Intel HD GPU (heard of Optimus?) isn't busy and some CPU is free (hence only half used at startup). Heat and noise are minor issues, my place is actually cold without it.
It originally sounded like you were trying to run the software on school machines, now you've clarified it, I guess you're living in a dorm and doing this on your own machines but with their internet? I guess I phrased that wrong, I wasn't trying demean what they are trying to accomplish. My machine clocks all the way down to 800Mhz when idle. It also does that when I'm just browsing around and it's completely unnoticeable. Uhm, so at the chance of "wasting" a tiny amount of power that your PC needs to stay alive, you should install this software and use the full amount that your PC can provide? Renewable energy is NOT an excuse to waste it... what. You do realize the more energy you use, the less there is to go around, the HIGHER the chances that they will need to draw more power from backup systems like generators? I won't get into the whole paying the power expenses, but one day you'll need to consider that, that day sucks. :/ Fair enough, I know how cold dorms can get.
Yes, it's super high-speed on Ethernet : http://www.speedtest.net/result/2207626434.png Wifi is ~10X slower, but definitely still usable. People tend to put 'similar' things in the same category, I don't really blame you. I know what you're talking about, but I prefer a folding, sleeping, or turned off machine over an idle one. The thing is, power isn't exactly wasted when it's being used. It is wasted when the computer is just staying alive when it's supposed to be at least sleeping. Once again, it's not a waste. You should tell those things to rich people and some government officials, seeing their waste. I know, amongst other utility expenses. I might not fold for a while if it's unbearable. I'm still not used to how chilly it is, even in late summer. Good thing I have a great one with Optimus technology. The on-board graphics is amongst high mid-ends, according to benchmarks. It's in the link, but I should've re-stated it: 54406
I used . . . to fold but my PC is so lame that it cannot keep up with @Folding and at the same time browsing and doing general stuff. So it's a no go for me.
What a revival, over 5 years later. Indeed, it was the case even for my dual-core PC. Of course, no switchable graphics back then.
On a sort of related note, have there actually been any documented accomplishments/breakthroughs thanks to this project?
i used to be on the SETI @Home project along time ago. but i got abducted and probed by space vixens. so that was it for for me and the SETI @Home thing.
A simple Wikipedia search already convinced me a long time ago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folding@Home
Yeah, unfortunately "10 published papers" (where are the cures?) in 12 years as a result of thousands of people using billions in worth of electricity doesn't sound justifiable to me. There are "competing" groups (no idea why) that use special server farms fuelled solely by renewable energy and specialized hardware designed to do this in mass. Unfortunately I cannot recall the name of one that did this, it was a folding projected that was originally on BOINC that I contributed to, and then went private. But to each their own.
The thing is, you think computers are using too much energy just because of Folding@home, which simply isn't true. Most people run it while doing basic tasks that don't require much processing power, or when idle. Should they be punished for using their computers when a netbook, tablet, smartphone, newspaper, etc. could do the job with less power? It's the same mindset. The billions worth of electricity is not directly caused by the idle software, but computers being on in the first place. Don't forget that, while blaming a sole software for "wasting" energy.
Already fold. http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/user_summary.php?s=&u=85905 I'm been inactive for a few months and currently on vacation, plan on restarting when we get home.
At one time I was considering folding, but for the global warming/climate change model. The more I thought about it, the more I decided it served no useful purpose. If I'm understanding it correctly, the folding described in the links in this thread, linked to in the first post is researching the effects of genetic change or folding errors and its potential to cause those mentioned diseases, and the potential of undoing these "errors" as a means to cure them. Is this correct?
Unfortunately, Folding falls under the many "looks good on paper" ideals. It's going to take real funding and real care to solve these issues. Both are lacking. J-L: I disagree. Yes, power consumption is increased because a computer stays on all the time. However, when running software like this, the power consumption is increased also because the computer is in a working state, not an idle one.
I don't think I can change that mindset until green energy finally becomes mainstream. I do have a problem with the "waste" and "no useful purpose" though (even if they're exaggerations). You are basically correct, but correcting "errors" doesn't necessarily mean undoing, since once you're cured, there's no guarantee you'll be the same as before. That doesn't only mean you'll be worse off, just likely different. It doesn't need much funding with the current model of offloading work units. As for care, I'm pretty sure some big names disagree: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/HomePage. And don't forget the amount of users. Was I even arguing about something so obvious? Idle is a technical term for its process priority. Once again, my beef is with people who thinks this is useless (i.e. "waste", "no useful purpose", etc.)
Regarding: and Then let me clarify a bit. My "no useful purpose" statement wasn't aimed at folding in general but at using distributed computing to predict climate change. I question the validity and accuracy of the model. Even if it is accurate, it isn't telling us anything we can't already observe if we're willing to see it. It contributes nothing to a solution. We already know what needs to be done. In regards to folding for medical purposes, I don't consider that to be useless or of no value. If it could be adapted to point out what is really causing some of these diseases, specifically what is causing the damage at a genetic level, it would be fantastic. Sadly most research doesn't look for causes, just cures. I suspect that those who introduced the materials that are causing these problems are already aware of it, but profit has taken priority over health.
I see your point. Do you have the same opinion with SETI@home and the less practical ones? Just curious. Ah, just like computer security (and many other parts of life). Why bother with the cause of that malware when you can buy a better anti-virus or download this anti-malware scanner ? I don't really think that's the case for protein folding though, plus Pande lab is a non-profit entity that's part of Stanford University.
It needs a lot more care than that. Government needs to put more funding and effort into the scientific sector, as that is one area in which the U.S is falling. Instead, cost cuts for that and spending increases for other less useful things. Of course that's politics. I took your comments about electricity wrong evidently and apologize. I only wanted to say that running something like this would indeed up power usage and energy bills. And, I questioned whether it was really worth all the effort considering that "results" weren't published for years at a time, and, thus far, I don't know of any real breakthroughs. In a nutshell, I am of the opinion that there are better ways of research if the government would put more effort into it. That's just my own two cents, I'm in no way, shape or form trying to say I know better than anyone else
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand your points. So you're talking about serious real-world effectiveness, and far more (plus stringent) analysis of the data being gathered.
That's exactly right. As I said earlier on, it's a noble thing but just not doing much in reality. Could that change? Sure it could, anything is possible.
I agree with you, but almost everything starts out small. I try to take a more proactive approach on this one, because it needs more supporters to grow.
