Slashdot Mirror
IBM Grid Near 50,000 machines - Slashdot Users #13
another similar writes "IBM's World Community Grid is off to a roaring start. Since kicking off six weeks ago (original Slashdot story), the grid has grown to almost 36,000 users with almost 50,000 machines. Growth continues as more media coverage hits.
There is a team of Slashdot users - currently ranked 13th in points with only 79 members. If you have spare cycles, download the software, join us and crank for medicine. For those of you with dual processor systems, you'll have to use a homebrewed tool - beyond two is not supported yet. Alas, you also have to be running Redmond's finest. According to their FAQ, a Linux client is slated for development in 2005."
Which is why there are only 79 /.ers signed up. When they get the Linux client, they'll get 79,000 /.ers.
How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
a Beowu...
no.
I can't say it.
500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
If, as the submitter implies, Windows ME is Redmond's "finest"...
World Community Grid's mission is to create the largest public computing grid benefiting humanity. Also, jtr finds passwords a lot quicker on the grid than on my old P4.
Slashdot should have a team developing a client.
SETI@HOME 4 LIFE
It's SOOOOOoooo..... long to wait for.
They're saying We are committed to adding a Linux client in 2005
so im guessing it's just a matter of days.
I've got nine computers here that would be perfect for running the software (above 2.0ghz). Should I join Jew's for Science or the Slashdot team?
http://codeus.info
b-b-but... BOINC has the funnier name! And it's linux! LINUX!!!!!!
Does the client work under ABI translation on Linux or *BSD on x86?
There is a team of Slashdot users - currently ranked 13th in points with only 79 members.
and
Alas, you also have to be running Redmond's finest. According to their FAQ, a Linux client is slated for development in 2005.
Seriously, are they at ALL suprised that there are only 79 members? They are talking about the linux capital of the universe.
For those keeping track,
"IT IS ANTICIPATED EVENTUALLY THAT IBM WILL TRANSFER WORLD COMMUNITY GRID TO A NON-IBM OWNED WORLD COMMUNITY GRID ENTITY OR ANOTHER ENTITY"
This is from the license. Just something to watch for in the future if you like Big Blue (or don't like them) or are concerned about it.
There is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men. -- Boondock Saints
When I read the summary, I still thought that 2005 was still a long ways away,
Hope this linux client comes within the first few days of 2005
This sig is definitive. Reality is frequently inaccurate.
This requires two computers, one "fast" and one "slow," to work, but you can get a massive number of points. Run the WCG client on your slow computer for up to 12-13 days (the limit is two weeks per unit) or until its almost done, then run it (over a network or whatever) on your fast computer. The result is a work unit that took a long long time with a fast machine's speed rating. BAM! HUGE POINTS.
They should really fix it and record the machine speed every few %.
Actually it's only "slated for development" in 2005. We get to wait another couple years for an actual release.
It's funny that the article makes a big deal about having only 79 members and being ranked 13th in total points. Well, as of now, they are also ranked 15th in total members, so when you combine the two facts it isn't nearly as impressive.
That's like saying your car comes from Yugoslavia's Finest!
Easy News will give you free gigs for your UD points. Think of all the pr0n DVDs and XBox games you could be downloading for free, you usenet whores.
Membercount has already doubled and we're at 8th place.
Woohoo!
Also, the Global Grid Exchange client runs in a secure Java sandbox, so there's no fear of being 0wned by malicious code.
crank for medicine
no comment...
</too easy>
Can anyone find any info on the network bandwidth this thing will use up? I may not use the PC for anything else, but I don't want my wee little cable modem fed network swamped when I'm on the Apple boxen.
--- Ban humanity.
http://www.easynews.com/gigs/
You already need to have an Easynews account. 15 days = 1 gig.
- c -
It's already ranked #7 and climbing steadily! Go slashdot!
Change your name to Homer Junior! Your friends can call you Hoju
i'm now a member of team slashdot! i just made a donation to the tsunami relief effort, considering donating to lokitorrents... what else, while i'm feeling charitable??
It seems to run on WINE for me, but I've only ran it for maybe 3 minutes now. I'm using TransGaming's Cedega (formerly WineX) version of WINE to run it though, so I'm not quite sure if it works with plain WINE.
-b0lt
got sig?
99.9% of the time, it uses no bandwidth. The only bandwidth it uses are for uploading/downloading packets at the start/end of processing. Depending on the particular packet and the speed of your computer, that can be every few hours or every few days.
... that for a company that touted to spend a billion dollars on Linux for R&D in a year (in 2001), and have a large Linux on-line material, when it comes to show off their expertise, with all the media attention and hype they hope to produce with such an announcement, they favor starting off with Windows clients.
Am I missing something ?
you also have to be running Redmond's finest?
Are we supposed to know what it is?
The software that we licensed for World Community Grid came only with a Windows client. We are committed to adding a Linux client in 2005 and are currently in the planning phase of that effort. Keep an eye on this space for more updates.
uh, no, doesn't really sound like that.
Evolution is a state-sponsored, state-protected religion.
http://www.distributed.net/ Been around forever, have done far more impressive work than Big Blue . . . and I think they've had Linux clients for a little while.
Alas, you also have to be running Redmond's finest.
What does Solitaire have to do with this?
"Actually it's only "slated for development" in 2005. We get to wait another couple years for an actual release." ... sounds like Longhorn.
Slashdot should have a team developing a client.
Yeah but it'd be written in Perl.
Trolling is a art,
Windows only, and only 2 processors? Darn. Now what am I going to do with the 14 node ClusterKnoppix I put together this afternoon. ::Digitac
Mac OS, BSD (all flavors), AIX etc ..
I am currently running Folding@Home. As soon as I finish with that research, I will move my 20Ghz to the next medical research project.
**They also have a Linux client.
http://www.kubuntu.org/
At the risk of sounding naive, is anybody aware of a group of amateurs running a grid on a smaller scale.
I'm not thinking of your typical "let's all save the world with cpu cycles" kind of project. Rather, somthing on a smaller scale that allows you to join the grid with the intent of using it for your own projects.
I did some work last year that made use of apple's grid software on some lab computers at school but it would have been nice to have access to 1000 or 2000 machines for a day or so.
I can imagine there are sharing issues that might make it impractical but I can also imagine that it might just work considering, at least for me, the sporadic nature of the need for such a grid.
Check it Out
Very clever -- a big grid of small computers working together. I think they got the idea from spam zombies.
I got it on my desktop. Kind of lame that it doesn't support HT out of the box, especialling from who created it. ./ is now #2, the lead is an IBM team. We could probably beat them in numbers, but I doubt we could in computing power.
I do wish I could put in a limit to what % of my CPU it can use, though. Yeah, it uses the "idle" processes, but sometimes I want to use that idle to quickly use an app.. I don't want to rely on the cruncher to notice some other app needs CPU 2 seconds ago.
@#$%^(*^%$#@%FDS^#$%^#$&#%$&#H^%B&HIJHBU$#H^UV%$#^ V#$%HU^#NB%$^#$U%^N#%$U^NU#$%^NU#$U%BN^U#$N%$^BU#$ U%^U$#%U^O$%&UBO^%U&^%O$NBU&B#NO
Done!
I just joined, and the Slashdot team has 428(#1) users. Now then, everyone just needs to stay active!
now slashdot is ranked number 1 in users with over 400, yay!
A toast to the new year and the upcoming Linux port.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I find it sad that team Idaho has a higher run time yesterday than the team France....
/. crowd?
Idaho 0:060:08:55:09
France 0:058:20:57:06
Hmmm... now I have to make a decision. Do I join team Idaho or stick with the
Might as well stick with the crowd and be a winner.
They're working on support for Microsoft Installer. Until then, have you tried installing it on a winbox and then copying it over, or is it anal about registry entries, or are you boycotting Windows entirely?
After all the horror stories of the slashdot effect ( google, wikepedia ), the slashdot has taken a turn around! I have never heard of a flash mob doing anything that is clearly good, but running some good projects like the Human Proteome Folding Project ( FAQs).
weve now got 508 members and are rank #1
awesome awesome
I set up the client on my machine, and checked out some of the profile settings.
Under storrage, it is only showing that I have less than a gig available! It is seeing my restore drive, and not my real one!
How can I get it to show my true drives settings?
Well, forty minutes after the post going live, Slashdot Users team member count has shot us into #1 position. Now we'll just need to see how long it's going to take to push Big Blue (x6), five members of the G8 and Norway below us in the point count. I'm guessing several weeks, but maybe this will get more bang for the buck than I had anticipated.
To clarify, since I've been poked several times in comments already - "Redmond's Finest" was intended to be dripping with sarcasm.... But most Slashdot users are likely wicked smart enough to have known that.... I did enjoy the quip about DOS 6.22... Bravo!
With respect to your options on teams, rather than Jews for Science, I would suggest considering girlsoflove.com, who's page states:
Web Cam girls and woman offering their machines when they are not online to help and give back to the world. If you put your machine to help this project and join our team, Send us and email and we will offer you Free time to come and chat with us. The Girls from GIRLSOFLOVE.COM We also provide web broadcasting web video chat conference applications We are from all over the world Montreal Quebec Toronto Vancouver Canada america usa france britain italia brazil mexico argentina asia
This could be fulfilling in, er, other ways, but obviously, being on the #1 team (in user count) and soon to be #1 in points, results, etc. is a lot cooler....
Thanks Slashdotters for taking things up another notch (or 20)!
I used QEMM for a while until I realized that it was screwing with floppy disk access in some of the programs I used. I switched back to MemMaker and rebooted using a different config.sys when I wanted to run a conventional memory hogging app. But then, a port of a grid computing app to PC DOS wouldn't hog conventional memory, as it'd probably be compiled either with DJGPP or with Open Watcom, both of which produce executables that run in 32-bit protected mode.
Am I the only person who read this and laughed out loud?
Slashdot effect has an entry on dictionary.com and it doesn't surprise me at all.
With 570 users, we're still #1. Also, it runs under wine I've heard.
Of course the reason for this is obvious right? windows dominated the planet not only in installed systems but in installed systems with cycles to spare. i.e. desktops. So dont cry your eyes out over it not being linux compatible. The excess linux bandwidth after you subtract our the servers is not going to be a lot. Console yourself that the TCO of linux is really a lot less when you figure that linux computers are already too busy to be bothered with Grid computing. :-)
Rosetta itself was written in fortran and only recently converted to C++. the C++ conversion was done using the incredibly well designed Objexx Library by stuart metzner and colleagues. This is a library that lets you write fortran code in C++. Before this people who tried to re-write this behemoth to C++ just died in the process. The objexx library let the whole thing be converted to C++ in one fell swoop. Now the program will slowly evolve from fortran style to C++ object orientation as it continues to grow. But in the meantime the code is productive. Nice Eh? The cool thing is that with a bit of optimization the code did not lose any appreciable speed in the conversion. So if you have legacy fortran you use for speed, consider converting it using Objexx. I was one of the people who argued for going to fortran95 not c++ because I feeared a speed loss; Iv'e become a convert
In any event the program is not like folding at home. That program tries to study in detail the picosecond evolution of single protien as it folds. Rosetta simply predicts the folded structure. Its actually quite fast at doing that. But it turns out it makes lots of different predictions. So you have to do it tens of thousands of times and then see which geometries of folded structures are favored statistically. Then you do the next protein. Eventually you work your way through the whole human genome.
also unlike folding at home the potential surface in rosetta is less physics based and more bayesian statistice. It has statistical potential for the probability of a peptide backbone structure occuring. And it has a probabilty for a sidechain amino acid sequence given a backbone structure. Multiply those together and bayes rule says the result is proportional to the probablity of a structrure given a sequence. You can read more about this here. Click on publications.
This statistical potential turns out to be so accurate that it can not only be used to predict the structure of proteins but it can be used in reverse to design a novel structured protein. Recently it was used to design a protein with a tolopology that had never previously existied in nature. This is rather an amazing results. Others had previously redesigned the sequences of existing topologies or perturbed those topologies or created some special case topologies. But Brian Kuklman in David Baker's lab actually started from a napkin sketch and designed a protein from scratch.
After you predict the structure of a protein, one thing you can do is ask if that structure is like another Protein you have seen before. You can compare the structure of a model to a real protein using a program known as MAMMOTH. While there are a variety of programs for comparing two proteins this one is particularly good for the case of comparing an inaccurate model to an experimentally known structure. If they match then you can assume the protiens may share a related function or evolutionary origin (or not!).
whihc brings us to what proteins are. Think of DNA as a disk drive that
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Added p4 1.7a for now, will be moving the 2.4c from folding to this project tomorrow. Rock on slashdot!! always nice to help a good cause in any way possible
Now the slashdot group is #1 in users and #10 in points returned.
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
One hour and ten minutes worth of crunching and we already have five years of runtime.
Total Run Time (y:d:h:m:s) (Rank) 5:315:03:11:34 (#14)
Not to mention 600 members.
wow!!
Since PCs running Microsoft's finest has about 30 spyware infections per system on the average, I wonder how much real CPU power they are getting. Spyware usually eats up any idle time available on the system leaving the Grid software to fight for cpu cycles. They may have actually gotten more over all raw cpu power by making the Grid software available to Linux users first.
I use the KISS formula...
And damn proud to be part of the Slashdot Users team. Now....where do I get the shirt and cap?
Gizmos Gagets For Ninjas
[www.worldcommunitygrid.org] ...inaccessible from China :(
If you had your own grid, what would you use it for? What could non-research companies use grids for? The only thing I could think of is compiling nightly builds.
(order of importance)
1. Project is either a true non-profit project or I get a piece of the action. Example of non-profit, Seti@home. I am willing to consider a university project like that non-profit. You may dismiss Seti@home because of the abusrbly low chances it has of finding something, but I choose to see it has having a tremendous value to computer science. Example of getting a piece of the action, Easynews will give me 1 gig of transfers for every 15 days I run the Grid.Org client. Thing about Grid.Org is that it doesn't meet my personal definition of non-profit. The smallpox study they are so famous for, think about it. A drug company is going to use that information. That is information that would have previously costed the drug companies 10's of millions of dollars is now being used for something close to free. You are spending money running your PC 24/7 and the drug company is going to make a profit. Hardly non-profit. I don't want much, that offer from Easynews is perfect for me.
2. The client must be well written and secure. I run a windows box, I spend too much time thinking about security as it is. There are a ton of competing DC clients out there. If yours doesn't pass the security test or (God forbid) it crashes my machine then it is bye-bye to you.
3. The client must be unobtrusive. Period. In a way this is more like a 2.5, but 3 is a popular number for lists like this, so 3 it is. I shouldn't have to worry about the client. It should come up when the PC is turned on, it should come down when it is turned off. There should be no prompting for network connections (unless I tell it I want prompting) and I should never wonder why framerates have gone bad and then realize the DC client is running.
When my adblocker was put on the slashdot front page I ran analog and saw something like 70% using windows. Possibly more. I wish I still had the logs. I also remember taco claiming that a huge number (60 or 80 percent) were Windows users.
Of course some were people at work using windows so give em 5 percent or so, but the problem here isnt the lack of a linux client its the lack of promotion on IBMs part. First I've heard of it.
Sorry, but this isnt the linux haven you think it is. Windows first, UNIX, and then Macs. Oh and I'm sure there are at least eight guys surfing from a commodore 64.
I'm on XP right now and shifting to OSX next year. All my UNIX work is done on the server side. The linux desktop revolution hasnt happened and may never happen. There needs to be a whole lot more commercialization of linux to even compete with MS and Apple's offerings.
>> If you are compiling a lot of code and have several Linux boxes around you could look into DistCC Nice to have around if you will install Gentoo on anything
>>
You aren't kidding. Just for fun, I tried Gentoo on my 'linux backup box' (Pentium 133, 256mb ram, 200Gb hardware raid-1). Got everything up in running in about an hour, thanks to my 2.8Ghz desktop and 3Ghz laptop running distcc. (Obviously, not compiling X.org, etc.)
A preposition is a terrible thing to end a sentence with.
I have a windows machine but for things like this I like to also use my linux machine. I hope they are watching this article because I know many others have the same hope of getting a linux client.
A similar shitfit was had when another company released a screensaver that did something similar, but they made all the profits by selling the data.
Is IBM selling this data and reaping all the profits? Or are they donating this data once we've donated the clock cycles?
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
I've been running this puppy for almost a month now, but never found a good team to join. This works.
--The universe will not be altered by forum threads, even those which are very wry. --Tycho Brahe (Penny Arcade)
Now that was a funny advertisement. 79 users? By the time it takes me to write this sentence, at least that many will have joined up.
Seriously, I'm already running Folding@home, and have been for a while now. Processing for cancer is cooler than cranking for IBM. Sorry guys.
From what it appears, IBM's newest creation seems to be a poorly created or prematurely released distributed project: only Windows apps, and only dual processor support included. As someone else mentioned, HT isn't enabled for those who have the hardware capable.
When they finish their project and have proper clients, then this will be news.
and I have signed up to the Slash doing my part to help the world. -- TW
TW
Television is dead. Long live That Weasel Television
Asking a group of Slashdot users to run a windows program is as absurd as asking a Linux user to run Bonzi Buddy.
This is a nice description of what the program does. I'd use a different metaphor (DNA is the recipe, Protein is the cake), but it makes the concept understandable. This comment is also written by the the author of the software in question, which makes for a very knowledgeable provenance, and also very interesting!
And since slashdot posted this article, more than 700+ slashdot members have joined (including me). Not surprising though, to say the least.
Go ahead and call me unreliable; reliable is just a synonym for predictable.
This one is cool...you will like the interface...and the forum.
The team is growing ata bout 3 members a minute right now, already up to 900+
"Never upset a goalie, getting hit with a blocker is an unpleasent experience - facemask or not." -Me
The 'Powered By IBM' img isn't a link. Pretty damn philanthropical.
I looked into it...CPUIdle was killing it. It's using "50%" now (hyperthreading on).
Apparently, the tool referenced in this Slashdot article is not recommended for use because it can corrupt the results.
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
So, um...are people donating computer time to IBM's grid to help out a pharma? Or is this being done to aid particular researchers?
Who am I making money for if I donate my time?
So if you are dying some person who is a fuckload nicer than you may save your worthless life.
Dude, bittorent is a program that makes flashmobs a good thing and it has been around for a while. sort of the same thing with other P2P programs.
I really like Folding@Home too.
Folding@Home is pretty to watch as the atoms get twisted about. I particularly like when you get some of the larger projects with 12,000+ atoms in total.
I used to crunch SETI packets, but that project lost me after when they upgraded to BOINC. BOINC managed to crash my otherwise unshakable Win2K machine, which is completely unacceptable.
So here's my question: How pretty is the eye candy on this new IBM client? Does anyone have screenshots?
yeah, if i had the money, otherwise i'm just sol.
I know of which i speak, as i have a disease, which is curable, but cannot get treatment because of being unemployed.Regardless of what you've been bull-shiated into believing, the government doesn't help. I cannot work because of this illness or believe me, i'd be working to be able to pay for the sxpensive medications and hospital treatments.
So there, ya blue-eyed inbred retard.
> When they get the Linux client, they'll get 79,000 /.ers.
Well, you don't have to wait.
If you want to contribute to a good project, why not join Slashdot's team over at Folding@Home?
Unlike the IBM project, Folding@Home has its very own Linux console version.
Lets get a Mac OS X version of the software together ASAP and I'll be happy to spare some big G5 cycles from my workstation(s).
I mean I've heard of these things before, but has any of these things ever solved anything, or caused any sort of breakthrough? I don't seem to recall ever reading anything about these things actually being productive...
Just installed and started running the program on my laptop and just realised my fan is running 24/7 now, I guess this will be a good cause to see if i can burn my laptop up before the warrenty is up so i can call dell and tell them, Dude... My laptop is busted! (Insert pun here)
Btw with the people only having the program seeing less than 1 gig HD you have to set your space the program takes up on your profile on the web page so basicly its not telling you how big of a hard drive you system has but how much room it has to use on your hard drive.
"There is a team of Slashdot users - currently ranked 13th in points with only 79 members"
Add an OS 9 client and 9 processors will be added. THAT'S the main reason for me to stay with SETI: they support OS 9.
Untill they go boinc. Then I might be forced to, you know, turn some off...
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
dual 1.8ghz G5 with 2gb ram sitting here all night eating electricity
and more or less all day as all I do is edit web pages.
It actually ranks my Athlon64 3400+ as equal to a Pentium 4 1.5... What in the hell...
I'm one of those "gifted" kids that can "change the world" if I'd get off my ass and stop reading slashdot.
Download the BOINC/SETI client now:
http://setiweb.ssl.berkeley.edu
It also currently works on mac osx, linux, solaris.. with graphic versions of each of these being tested as I type. And it's open source, of course.
We just got a bunch of new hardware to handle the load as we transition the 500,000 active SETI@home classic users to BOINC. This will happen very early in 2005.
- Matt - BOINC/SETI@home
Consider joining a BOINC project. Runs on Windows, Linux, Mac, or anything you can compile on. The Slashdot team on SETI@home for BOINC has 556 members.
This might sound like a stupid question, but I've had my World Community Grid client running since the first time /. covered the subject. But I'm not part of some /. group of WCG users as far as I know... I'm just another individual client app. How is this /. group identified and grouped by the WCG?
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
but i donate all my spare cpu cycles to easynews. they give me a gig work of usenet for every 15 days. i doubt slashdot could match that.
The best education consists in immunizing people against systematic attempts at education. - Paul Feyerabend
...but then I was so horrified by the high ranking of a certain team that I had to join this one to keep from screaming.
Go Atheists/Agnostics!
// It had been Fat's delusion for years that he could help people. --Philip K. Dick, Valis
So basically, this project will tell you how to design an extra virulent, biological weapon version of mad cow disease?
Take one down pass it around 80 slashdot trolls I mean astroturfs on the wall....
Got Code?
You cannot trust the operating system either. The client provides it. It can be anything. It's not guaranteed to be correct.
You'd probably get a more accurate list by asking people in an on-line poll.
Lies, damn lies, statistics, politicians...
I do not moderate.
I don't know, Windows has never been the best OS for anything but incubating viruses. I don't think it'd be the best idea to use it. So what is it Doc? Is it cancer? Lupus? HIV? I'm afraid its SoBig. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! /is so going to hell for that.
I just joined late in the evening...I am now number 1438...and team Slashdot is definitely in the lead.
Never get involved in a landware in Asia. Axim of physical combat.
Never challenge slashdotters and their computers. Axim of the internet.
Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey Him? Surely this computer must submit also!
Snaffled from the team info page:
Statistics Last Updated: 12/30/2004 23:59:59 (UTC) [8 hours(s) ago]
Totals:
Members (Rank) 1,500 (#1)
Current Members 1,485
Retired Members 15
Total Run Time (y:d:h:m:s) (Rank) 6:009:01:59:48 (#14)
Points Generated (Rank) 1,402,500 (#14)
Results Returned (Rank) 2,732 (#19)
Averages:
Avg. Run Time Per Calendar Day (y:d:h:m:s) 0:047:19:20:52
Avg. Run Time Per Result (y:d:h:m:s) 0:000:19:19:06
Avg. Points Per Hour of Run Time 26.57357
Avg. Points Per Calendar Day 30,489.13043
Avg. Points Per Result 513.36018
Avg. Results Per Calendar Day 59.39130
Compared to the problems they have running CSM on the x336 with Linux and RSAs, this seems to be getting of the ground really nice. but oh - its Windows-only and the press release was
about something that already works... not like last weeks press release on the reg...
sorry, pun intended - IBM ate my holidays...
Why not use a free/OSS client like BOINC instead?
Treehugger? Treehugger... Treehugger!
I don't understand
You either do not know the meaning of the word secret (which if you know about it, obivously is not such) or are airing your wishful thinking.
/.ers I know don't use Windows, which of course means nothing, but heck, I want the world let know my little "secret".
All the
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
There's a DOS client?
(tig)
Ignorance and prejudice and fear
Walk hand in hand
You're not from round these here parts are you?
Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
The Amiga users group is number 14, higher than all of slashdot!m mary.php?pr oject_id=8&team=200
http://stats.distributed.net/team/tmsu
IBM takes the easy way out by supporting Windows only clients for their "World Community Grid". Follow the links and we find the technolgy is supplied by United Devices inc, Austin TX. Their FAQ states the MP cluster is supported on any Linux with 2.4.9 or higher kernel, and glibc 2.3.x or higher.
What operating systems are supported on the client?
The MP Agent(TM) is supported on Windows 98, ME, 2K, NT and XP, RedHat Linux 7.2 and higher, UNIX operating systems such as Solaris 8 and 9, and AIX versions 4.2 and 5.1.
Their Solutions Overview page claims the 4.2 release also supports MacOS, but I see no other reference. A few links to Inetl's support. Maybe Mac doesn't have spare cycles...
No comment.
This is a very true statement.
I am currently in Ohio, and I am currently on the chronic.
The project FAQ on protein folding would like to persuade us that the major difference between Folding@Home and the IBM Grid version is 'predictive versus dynamic' folding. That's not my interpretation of the difference - that one is in academic hands, the other in commercial. I won't even think of contributing until I know that the results are not going to end up as private IP (but as usual Slashdotters obsess about operating systems as if they're the important issue...)
They claim that this is a community project and results will be available to the public - yet, the first result, the software, is closed source.
They develop a client for Windows - the least community aware users (sorry). I'm sure that if they had developed the client OpenSource the community would by now be tenfold larger - if not for the interest in the particular project, then for the extra geek-points.
From a security point of view, the client run with the privileges of the user, with access to all your files - there is no mention of the risk that a maliciuos project can use the grid to acquire personal information from you, maybe install software or introduce backdoors. I run seti - but as a separate non-privileged user.
I just joined, and we're now #1 for members with 1,820. But somehow we slipped to #14 in cycles! Oh well. :)
Jake
Dating: while( 1 ){ call_girl(); get_rejected(); drink_40(); } return 0;
I would rather not work on refining the genetic code and bringing Gattica into reality but try to avoid The Day After Tomorrow from arriving just that soon.
If I execute a folding genome step, that brings to bear revolutionary information, who owns it? Me or Archer-Daniels-Midland?
Who decides the priorities of the projects?
I think our genetic code will be just fine without our studying it, but I can't say the same for our planet.
Does IBM provide grid clients for their systems ?
I had to disable PeerGuardian to get the world community agent to work. Has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone know if IBM are helping out the Evil Empire, or whether this is a mistake in Meth Labs' anti-P2P blocklist?
For all the /.'ers who have done their part searching for extraterrestial life with SETI@HOME, and can't be on the windows communitygrid, there's a new project coming up:
Einstein@HOME. The project aims at searching for gravitational waves and needs your computer - checkout:
http://www.physics2005.org/events/einsteinathome/
The program will be available for Linux and windows.
I thought Redmond's finest was OS/2 1.3... this was due to the fact that back then they still had adult supervision...
It also runs on Crossover Office, although as in the case of Cedega I don't know if that means that it will run on regular Wine. The only problem I have seen so far is that I have a small black bar on the screen when I minimize the program. I just move it out of the way and ignore it.
I've searched the ud site in the past (and just searched it now), but I can't find the information about who gets to keep the results.
;) (if I'm not mistaken the results of the Anthrax research were given to the US army, I quit the project after that).
In comparison (this might seem like some shameless "astro-turfing", I apologise) I just searched the folding@home site for it and found it within two minutes: homepage -> faq -> 2nd faq. (which basically states the results will be freed under MIT-style lisence, if I don't mistake).
To be honest I'm quite hesitant to help out "some company" finding a cure with the posibility that I may have to pay big $$ for it later. And as a European the "All-American" grid.org site doesn't really relate to me
http://www.alliancefrancophone.org/getDC/
yeah, 6 lines of it
use your turn signal! you people act like it's divulging information to the enemy
mbbac
With any distributed computing project I'm always wary of what becomes of results once they're found - one of the things I like about folding@home is they're very clear about this. Having looked through the page for this project, as well as the software's EULA, all I can see is a statement to the effect that access will be provided to non-profit organisations, and that it won't always be in the hands of IBM. This doesn't seem very clear to me - can anyone clarify this further? Is there any risk of a large company (say.. IBM) claiming ownership of the results of this project and using it for profit?
Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.
50,000 machines, all running XP? Sounds more like the World Community Botnet to me...
I think when I looked at the Slashdot profile, it's now #1 for users... 2130+ since I checked it last. We rule!
Yeas, we are!
Aside from the fact that I am not so sure that I want to contribute to the corrupt medical establishment, or if I really want to hammer squares into the slot for cubes, Buckminister Fuller http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminister_Fuller says it rather niceley in the chapter about the paradox of computeres http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/s02/p000 0.html#204.00 in the first volume of his books Synergetics: "It is a paradox that the computer, in its very ability to process nonconceptual formulae and awkwardly irrational constants, has momentarily permitted the extended use of obsolescent mathematical tools while simultaneously frustrating man's instinctive drive to comprehend his direct experiences.". That aside , some of the results of his research may very well be involved in this actuall project, though there is still not any reason to underestimate mans inherit ability to intuitively generate instantanous knowledge about any subject in question.
Just joined, great thing this grid stuff :)
I also wish we will have a Linux version soon, I'm sure millions of new users will join then.
And maybe we could later ask the Grid: "How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively decreased?"
Alexis Bellido
I've been running the United Devices client for a year or so now. I just switched to the Rosetta project and joined the slashdot team there last night. What's the difference between the grid.org thing and this new version?
We now have 2,230 members ranking no1 in the groups, hopefully this will help us catch up in "points" generated.
I have one question about this type of project, what is to stop users from returning spurious results? Are there any safeguards in place to insure that the results returned are accurate?
After this story hit, the slashdot team's statistics are quite different:
Totals:
Members (Rank) 2,301 (#1)
Current Members 2,271
Retired Members 30
Total Run Time (Rank) 6:009:01:59:48 (#14)
Points Generated (Rank) 1,402,500 (#14)
Results Returned (Rank) 2,732 (#19)
Meaning we're the biggest team at the moment, but as most of use will only have recently joined, we're not the most effective group.
Skuse me if I sound cynical,
but a lot of these projects that say
they are doing 'good for humanity' seem
to lead to new patents for the project owners...
(all but SETI - I can't imagine the profit motive on aliens - except the book and movie rights.)
IBM could be more helpful by donating some hardware and software to research groups, whatever they have left over that they didn't sell to that Chinese company...
I thought IBM was "embracing" Linux? Come on folks let's get an opensource client written. Or lets create our own version of this software and use the CPU cycles to help technology.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= - The Celtic - =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Yes I usually browse from a winows machine. I run two linux servers (one redhat and one frenchfry type) and sometimes I browse from one of those. Since the wife and kids prefer winows and those are the mose accessable (linux is in basement) I spend more time sitting at the one in the study. I usually use Mozilla, I saw only 89% accounting in the browser talley, where does Mozilla stand? btw I am taking a close look at zandros on my test sys now. I hope to convert the wife to that, kids maybe... games, you know.
Would it be hard?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= - The Celtic - =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Alas, you also have to be running Redmond's finest."
So I need to run it on my Nintendo DS?
the story should be modified now. we have two thousand users and are # 1
This sig is o Unfunny o Funny
I don't know if this has been posted before, but: It works with wine I have the stock Gentoo version, from stable portage The only addition that I have to make is this: http://frankscorner.org/index.php?p=msi Then it works, but seems to crash when some buttons are pushed...
It seems to run OK on Crossover Office (4.01). :-)
Not a speed demon, though
This is a great and wonderful idea. Its really been a long time in coming with SETI@home having done something like this for so long.
But I'm very concerned about the ownership of the resulting research. There appears to be no mention anywhere on this site about who owns the data crunched by this grid. Theres a whole forum of posts on this site and not a single unambigous reference to who owns the resulting research and apparently no response from IBM or the grid operators. There are a few people who mentioned the ownership of the grid technology and application, someone quoting IBM's "Philanthropy is good" slogan, but no one ever mentions the research. I guess I still have a bad feeling from the IBM open-source license -- "You may freely distribute or modify this code, but any changes you make become the property of IBM"
I would gladly contribute lot of horse power to this project (4 CPU machines at work and 4 CPU from home), if I saw an explicit statement about the research results becoming public domain. But I until I see an explicit statement in this regards I'm not sure how I can justify contributing to patents be filed by IBM or some pharma company.
If I happened to be doing software development, reading emails or other work related stuff when I fired up the browser, I'm probably running Linux. If I happened to be playing games, I'm probably running Windows. Consequently, I would bet that /. tends to log me as a Windows/Firefox user while java.sun.com (for example) tends to see me as a Linux/Mozilla user.
I think this is what people have to get a grip on. If your main thing in life is documents, emails and browser based activities, it doesn't matter what OS you are using. The only exception is that ultraspecialized IE crap which, since I never run IE, is not a problem for me.
from the World Community Grid home page:
As part of our commitment to advancing human welfare, all results will be in the public domain and made public to the global research community.
also, from the World Community Grid:Projects Showcase:Projects Archives:
Accelerating the Discovery of a Smallpox Cure
The United Devices Smallpox Research Grid Project, sponsored by IBM in conjunction with Oxford University, employed computational chemistry on a massive distributed computing grid to analyze candidates for a medical therapy to fight the smallpox virus.
Combining computer-based screening with grid technology, the project allowed scientists to screen 35 million potential drug molecules against several smallpox proteins to identify good candidates for developing into smallpox treatments.
Small Pox Drug Discovery Timeline Reduced from Years to Weeks
One of the largest computational projects ever undertaken, the Smallpox Research Grid Project shaved years off the time required to perform screening of this scale.
In the first 72 hours, 100,000 results were returned. Overall, the project identified 44 strong treatment candidates, which were handed to the U.S. Department of Defense for further evaluation.
Based on the success of the Smallpox study, World Community Grid was created with the goal of creating a technical environment where other humanitarian research could be processed.
Of course, this was back then they were run by United Devices, but it sure seems to me to be an exceedingly far leap from giving smallpox research to the DoD to processing "other humanitarian research".
I think I'll wait to see how the initial discoveries by World Community Grid are handled before I get on the bandwagon.
I am a technical support representative for a major dsl provider... I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to get calls about people who can't figure out why they have slow browse speeds because thier kid downloaded this software and are now chopping chunks out of thier bandwith...
Wake up and smell the coffee, /.ers! The ONLY difference between using your hard-earned computing power for the profit of big business pahrma houses and for the profits of big business spamhouses is that you AGREED to let them put a Trojan on your box! IBM and their partners are no better than the SkyNet, IMHO- THEY BOTH SELL YOUR PROPERTY FOR THE PROFITS OF OTHERS!
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE? DO THEY PAY YOU FOR CPU USAGE? WILL THEY LET YOU HAVE A FREE DOSE OF AIDS VACCINE IF THE GRID DEVELOPS IT? I think not- you'll have to fork over cash, just like all the others who want the benefits arrived at from YOUR contribution.
Grid computing is based on a totally flawed economic premise- they think that CPU cycles are absolutely free! I put $thousands into my box- if a for-profit business wants to use my excess resources, then LET THEM PAY THE FREIGHT!
?
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I work at IBM in our Community Relations department. We made the donation of software that is driving the World Community Grid. We are knocked out by the response of the /.ers! You are the biggest team already and soon will have made the biggest donation of cycle time to a great cause. Fantastic! And it has spurred us to deliver that linux client as soon as we can in 2005. You prove that nerds have heart!
That's what I'm talking about! :-)
Even my 12 year old son is running the grid agent on his 200 MHz Pentium II. Of course, he's been running the first task for several days now and is only around 20% complete. Yikes!
g
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