Slashdot Mirror

The United Devices client has it at 50% by default, and is easier to configure.

What I loved about SETI@Home compared to other distributed computing networks like http://www.ud.com/ was that there was loads of clients out there for Operating Systems and hardware dating back to the 80's. Hell you could even get a client for Satan itself, http://www.sco.com/ OpenServer

Now, you basically have to run Windows, MAC or Linux, if not you can feck off

I've got 2 old AlphaServers in work that have been running SETI@HOME since 2000, one running NT4 and one OpenVMS 7.1, never any downtime with either of them, time to call it a day on 15th December, it's a shame

Jonathan
~~~~~~~~
Oscar The Grouch Does California, Nevada, Arizona - http://www.mccormackj.fsnet.co.uk/oscarthegrouch/

I've looked into grid computing a few times and ran a few clients as well. It seems that Jiva does the same exact thing, but much cheaper. Then again there is also Parabon and united devices, though they tend to charge even more than Sun.

So the burden of creating and testing other platforms lies with the makers of the grid software, in IBM's case this is United Devices (incidentally, I work for United Devices). And since the ROI on a non-window client is just very low (there are only few non-windows machines possibly joining these types of grid vs. the enormous costs of testing the correct working of such a client), there will not be any non-windows client anytime soon. Do not forget it's not just the client that has to work, the actual task module that does the work (the Human Genome program) also needs to be available on other platforms

There's also a commercial product that United Devices sells (see its product page), which is based on the same codebase that runs the World Community Grid and also grid.org and cellcomputing.jp, and this product has a windows, linux, aix, solaris and macosx client.

Disclaimer: my views are my personal ones and not necessarily endorsed by my company!

willy-nilly connect over SSL ports (443)

I use relatively tight network security and I haven't noticed any problems with this new client from United Devices. It certainly doesn't need to have port 443 open.

Back to Folding@Home for me!

In fact, it's a hell of a lot better behaved than Folding@Home, in terms of only grabbing the "unused" cycles from my PC. I thought BOINC was reasonably good, but it's still rather immature, and the folks at SETI@Home seem to encounter one disaster after another. Frankly, I think they've got more CPUs than they can handle. Projects related to human health seem like a much more fruitful investment, IMHO.

Interesting note: If you follow the links to the United Devices site, you will see that they boast about having folks from both SETI@Home and distributed.net on their staff.

I already split my time between two distributed computing projects on the same computer... Folding@home (Via the Google toolbar) and United Devices. Haven't run into any problems with it, so far.

help finding a small pox vaccine than helping the already way-too-rich entertainment industry.

Apple should give a set away to United Devices (Profit) or Grid. Both of these ventures specialize in distributed Cancer/Drug simulations. Let's find a cure for breast and prostate cancer!!!! Go Go Go!!!

Team 2ch is the team of the 1st place in UD Agent.

Their Wiki site(is a Japanese site.)

Good Question!

Net is that we ARE going to use the Dells. Purdue has partnered with United Devices to capture the unused cycles in the 2100ish machines in the 60 instructional labs. The UD install team was at Purdue 10/30 & 10/31 working with research computing to do just that.

Bigger picture this is about leaving no cycle un-consumed when we're in need of cycles. It is clear that no matter how large Research Computing's budget is, there will be needs that exceed the supply. Recycling, UD, Gifts, etc are some of the ways we're going after the chronic under-supply of resources.

David Moffett, AVP Research Computing, Purdue University

Do you know why? United Devices filed a law suit over some bullshit IP non-sense. BOINC did not have the $ to fight so they had to give in. One of the stipulations was that it could not be used for commercial purposes for the next 18 months. I tried to find the page on BOINC's web site that had the lawsuit info but can't. Rest assured that they will make it OpenSource (OSI approved) as soon as possible.

I wonder when my United Devices client (ud.com) is gonna add that project... It's currently working on smallpox and cancer...

Should I change projects? Switch UD in favor of D2OL or what? And why? ;)

fuck #3, run the cancer one, up #1 no end.

What if we are all dead by the time the aliens come???
Lets cure cancer first!!

The United Devices (UD) Cancer Research project allows people to crunch data (much like SETI@Home) but instead of finding alien life the idea is to find a cure for cancer. The software (as far as i can tell) models how various chemicals interact (IANAChemist, so I can't really give much more detail than that - check out the site if you're interested of course).

Though this post to clarify the previous one may be getting offtopic :p

The United Devices (UD) Cancer Research project allows people to crunch data (much like SETI@Home) but instead of finding alien life the idea is to find a cure for cancer. The software (as far as i can tell) models how various chemicals interact (IANAChemist, so I can't really give much more detail than that - check out the site if you're interested of course).

Though this post to clarify the previous one may be getting offtopic :p

My friend and I are opening a business, we were thinking of turning the 40+
computers we have into some kind of rentable cluster.

We came across the United Devices website.
Basically you run this distributed client (ala
seti@home) on your machines, and when they're not in use you get paid for
your underutilized CPU time. The bank loves it because it means we make
enough for rent without even having to rely on our primary business.

For a small private school in maine, this means more money for the labs that
could be used to pay for a bigger pipe to the internet, better equipment, ect.
I hope the schools sysadmin sees this.

Guys, instead of trying to do something whose only purpose is to allow people to rip off games, why not do something noble that will help humanity. Here are some suggestions:

1.) Seti@Home
2.) Cure Cancer
3.) Evolution@Home
4.) Entropia
5.) eOn
6.) Climate Prediction
7.) Particle Accelerator Design
8.) Analytical Spectroscopy Research Group

See a complete list here: http://www.aspenleaf.com/distributed/distrib-proje cts.html

And no, I don't consider cracking encryption "noble". Especially when people don't seem to get the point that if it takes tens of thousands of computers months and months to crack some encryption, it is GOOD ENCRYPTION.

At home and at work I run the United Devices client as it works on the Cancer Research Project. (sorry, Windows clients only)

Ah,United Devices- you guys rock, what with the helping me help cure cancer and all.

They are running UD :)

So for $1300 you _always_ have the latest, fastest model inc tech support, electricity, write-off, maintenance, etc.

Also, if you have a need for only 1 month of computing power, you pay 1/12th of that figure AND still get all the advantages (write-off, etc) I mentioned.

For really big companies who need this kind of computing power 24/7/365, just use your already present desktops in your company and install the Enterprise version of the MetaProcessor platform.

disclaimer: yes I work for United Devices. That's why I know our security rocks in the first place.

They are using the United Devices Alliance MeteProcessor.

The software is push-based, just like the software you can download to participate in our global research projects. Unlike many other distributed computing clients though, ours has the ability to update itself, which greatly reduces administration overhead.

Also, although the client software normally operates independantly in a push-based manner, it is possible to do MPI as well, it just has to be coded as part of the actual application software.

The software is push-based, just like the software you can download to participate in our global research projects. Unlike many other distributed computing clients though, ours has the ability to update itself, which greatly reduces administration overhead.

Also, although the client software normally operates independantly in a push-based manner, it is possible to do MPI as well, it just has to be coded as part of the actual application software.

I wonder if Gateway didn't think of charity. This way reactions are the company must be in some kind of trouble. If they would have donated the CPU-cycles to charity (I'm thinking of united devices or something like that) I guess publicity would have been on their hands.

UD is also the software enabler behind Gateway's Processing On Demand

and UD also happens to be my employer</disclaimer>

Why not just run the Cancer agent on them? The publicity generated from this will certainly be worth more for Gateway than selling processor time, simply considering how much money (and time) it would cost to set up the network.

Or how about you do something useful and join United Devices? Oh, wait... it's partly sponsored by Intel. We can't endorse Intel in any way!

found any aliens yet?

Me? I'll spend my spare CPU cycles trying to find a drug combination to cure cancer.

Sorry if this comes across as flamebait or redundant, but I just think that there's more relevant problems here on Earth that we could fix.

yeah guys... drop your other distributed computing projects and go for this one. The other ones will never help people as well as this: http://members.ud.com/download/gold/.

• Support for multiprocessor machines, heterogeneous networks, LAN, and WAN
• Support for scheduling of virtual processes or explicit distribution to available processors
• Support for virtual shared memory
• Support for synchronization, locking, and latency hiding

woof.

United Devices is another company that does grid computing for cancer research. Which leads me to ask the following question (this may be a stupid question, but I'm bio illiterate)..

Wouldn't protein folding have some sort of similarity in finding a cure for cancer?

Oh. You mean like UD's Team Slashdot?

This kind of info makes me glad that I run, on my home and office Windows machines at least, the United Devices Cancer Research Project agent. In my case, that's all the idle cycles of about 17 machines (yes, that includes installations of the client on office desktops with managerial approval) dedicated to investigating possible drug candidates. That is, when the machines are powered on. :)

The targets seem achievable and intelligently chosen (at least to me, admittedly a layman), the goal is far more noble than - if not as sensational as - SETI@home, the results won't be sold to the pharmaceutical companies, and the client software is stable and stays out of your face.

I think the parent was referring to the UD project

You may be interested in reading this little FAQ page. The most relevant question is the bottom question, which states that the IP is Oxford University's and National Foundation for Cancer Research's. Yes, they will release it to the scientific community.

Maybe you should do a little research before spouting off about how there are no useful distributed computing projects out there.

There is one setup for United Devices, check out slashdot team.

There is one setup for United Devices, check out slashdot team.

I will admit there's some irony in my being a member of the alt.smokers.pipes team for this though :)

How about United Devices? They have a project that's helping find a cancer cure. Plus, they have a really cool screen saver of a model of the current protein you're working on floating around your screen.

Personally I like United Devices although there is a bit of controversy surrounding them. Check out their faq.

Personally I like United Devices although there is a bit of controversy surrounding them. Check out their faq.

AIDS:
FightAids@Home

Cancer:
United Devices
Find-a-Drug
Distributed Folding
Parabon Computation

Bioterrorism Antodotes:
Find-a-Drug
Drug Design Optimization Lab

Other Diseases:
Folding@Home
Genome@Home
Community TSC

Every other distributed computing project that's currently available for you to participate in:
Internet-based Distributed Computing Projects - Active Projects

Kirk
Internet-based Distributed Computing Projects

Q: Are you going to sell the results of this project to large pharmaceutical companies?

A: No. The results of this study are the intellectual property of the University of Oxford and the National Foundation for Cancer Research, who will make the scientific findings of this project available to the greater scientific community.

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned this, but United Devices has a distributed computing project up that helps find a cure for cancer. Phase II, which began late last summer, is called LIGANDFIT, and 'helps scientists to characterize therapeutic targets and identify and assess drug canididates by performing automated docking of flexible ligands to a protien's binding site.' I'd encourage anyone who has a box with cycles to spare to check it out- i'm pretty sure they've got a linux client, as well as a windows one. I've been running it for 80+ days now, and i haven't noticed any problems with performance- and it's the least we can do for the public good.

The cancer project is being run through United Devices. This is a non-profit project and the data being generated will not be sold to a for-profit firm.

There's also Folding@Home which researches protein folding as well - although instead of only for cancer research it's generally for other medical research such as Alzheimer's, MS, etc. - also non-profit.

There's Genome@Home which analyzes the genome for medical purposes. Non-profit.

And, finally, if you're looking for a generic listing of distributed computing projects, check here.

You forgot UD: Cancer Research which is what I run.

And, frankly, if you have so many spare cycles to run a distributed agent, you have the cycles to spare for USB. It's below the noise level.