Slashdot Mirror
PS3 Downtime To Fight Disease
Aerenel writes, "CNN reports that Sony has teamed up with Folding@home to use the PS3 to study how proteins are formed in the human body and how they sometimes form incorrectly. From the article: 'Donating [a gamer's] PS3's down time to researchers could help cure Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or mad cow disease.' PS3 users will be able to download a software package that tracks when the PS3 is not being used. While gamers are in school, at work, or asleep, their system's Cell processor can be used to perform simulations for research organizations. The PS3, due in November, has gotten serious negative press in the past few months, and this refreshing good news may win back the hearts of gamers still undecided about purchasing the system."
This definitely seems like a good thing. But I wonder, will gamers really let that influence their purchasing decisions? Honestly, I have my doubts.
Basilisk Digital
In other words, your PS3 uses network bandwidth and electricity you paid for with your money to calculate who knows what and send it God knows where when you're not using it and anyone who tries to stop their PS3 from doing this is a horrible person who supports cancer.
Well, I guess when all else fails, they can always go for the pity angle. "Oh!! Please help us ingrain Blu-Ray! We're fighting DISEASE!"
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
Do I have Alzheimer's, or did I read about this last month?
The PS3, due in November, has gotten serious negative press in the past few months, and this refreshing good news may win back the hearts of gamers still undecided about purchasing the system."
If I'm already ambivalent about spending that much money on a game system, the question "What will the game system, which I bought to play games, do when I'm not playing games on it?" is not likely to be a significant influence on my decision.
Well, this article is kind of a dupe but the CNN article has a lot of new information.
One of tidbits is that the researchers have to dumb down the PC distributed version so that it runs on even the slowest computer. In fact, they have to play to the lowest common denominator. With the PS3, it's standardized so they can inch out every bit of performance from the chipset. On top of that, they know there will only be on GPU so they can write the renderer for that and you'll see the protein folding on your screen. It will look all science-y and you can navigate around it. People might like this as a screen saver or conversation piece. The researchers are also hoping that it attracts people to also install it on their computers to aid in this endeavor.
My work here is dung.
So if we BUY a PS3, and we allow Sony to use the free cylces of my processor, does that mean that if there is a cure found for Alzheimers, other genetic diseases or stupidity, that we as a public will be able to access this new found cure for free? OR do we get our cut? For some reason I think not.
Please, be a Philanthropist. Let a large megacorporation or partnering pharmacuetical company benifit from this.
Or save the energy that would have been used for a much more worthwile cause. Powering a megahuge Cray system that could be designed to do it better and faster.
I don't know how much power a PS3 pull at full whack, but I reckon it's got to be along the lines of 500W. If they get 10 million people running this during the day, that's an addition 5GW of load on the electrical system. If you own one, and let it run 18 hours a day for the year, then at 20c per kW/h you're looking at $750 on your power bill.
PocketGamer.org - For the gamer on the go!
I'm going to pay $600 so I can run a second copy of something that's already spinning away on my PC right now?
No, you are going to pay $600 to play games and run Linux on a Cell processor. The F@H thing is just a perk that you can either use to double (or quadruple) what you are doing on your PC right now or not. If you pay $600 for a PS3 just to do F@H, you are an idiot.
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
...will be built using a cluster of PS3s.
This cluster will be able to help cure cancer AND allow Madden 2007 to play an entire season in three minutes.
I'm waiting for the project that will have me use all of the spare time for my incredibly overpowered home CPUs (and with it ample amounts of electricity) to 'fight global warming'!
It's only a matter of time until they reveal their new slogan: "PS3. Won't somebody think of the children?".
--- witty signature
Well, you're right and we shouldn't be feeding cows to other cows. However, I'm inclined to say that it might be nice if the unfortunate souls who have the disease, you know.... wouldn't die a horrible death. I know it's rare, and should become more rare if we start showing some sense in raising cattle, but, you know... if they could maybe cure it along the way to finding a cure for another disease, I wouldn't consider it a waste of time.
Have you read anything about Folding@home before you started criticizing it? It is run by a public university, not a privately-held organization. The university will not profit from the research. If you can't bother to learn about the project, at least read it's FAQ.
If so, buying a PS3 could pay for itself over time. Seriously, I would signup, have them e-mail me CPU usage statistics muliplied by an industry standard rate as a reciept. They're happy to have CPU cycles, I'm happy to have the tax deduction.
Now if that's the case, can something similar be done with other CPU cycle donations to other projects? I have a multi-core server that spends most of its time idle. Might as well put to some use, eh?
We're all hypocrites. We all have hidden parts, it's the contrast between them that make us more a hypocrite than others
Leland Stanford Junior University is a private university. Though not a junior university. I can assure you that my loans would all be paid off now if it were a public university.
Lasers Controlled Games!
anyone can do the same thing without spending $500+ on a gaming console
Exactly how would you get this level of performance/watts ratio without spending the few hundred dollars? You'd need to run your current PC much longer to perform the same calculations. From TFA the performance is roughly 100x current capability.
> Because privately held research would like to use my PS3 for free and then make money from it when
> they discover something - without any intention to charge less $$ for the treatment / cure in
> exchange for all this free computing?
Once a medical discovery is made it doesn't go away. Yes, it is a money tree for YEARS for the company with the patents. YES, a lot of the research was paid for by others. NO, they won't share. YES, they will charge an insane amount for it.
But a new treatment is A NEW TREATMENT. A cure is a CURE. Stop being so goddamned cynical and take one up the rear for the good of mankind once in a while.
And yes, I'm serious. Mod me down if you must though, I'll understand.
It's not novel. Any net-connected game system is just a new platform for any of the @home projects. They can build a client for download via xbox live or the wii as well.
;) ) is that sony's finally found an app that can effectively exploit the parallel nature of the cell processor. So if clients are released for the other systems, it will look like the ps3 has technological superiority.
The only really good reason for this (besides curing cancer
A better idea... Buy a Xbox 360 or a Wii. (Buy em used after a couple of months!) Save yourself anywhere from $200-$400 and donate the money to cancer research, or the F@H project if you really like that project. No, you don't get to have the PS3, but, your $200 will go a lot further for research than your cycles will over a couple of years. Also, take the $25-$100 you'll save on electricity (or whatever people in this discussion have been calculating) and donate that. With the $500 or so you'll give to research over the next 3 years, you'll be able to say for sure that you helped out. And, you get to cut out the middle men (Sony getting cash on the hardware and the Electric Co for providing the electricity).
Added benefit: Tax write-off! I want to see you try to write-off the additional ~$100 in electricity you're donating.
Disagreeing with me does not mean you get to mod me troll.
I'm sorry but my $600 would be better spent if i gave it directly as cash to cancer research groups. I'm not going to buy a PS3 now just because it now runs folding at home when im not using it. This is old news anyways that was discussed on here several weeks back. That didn't reverse my opinion, I've got 2 IBM systems journals sitting in my dorm that tell me what a cell can do and what its limits are. I don't need a smart ass like you to tell me anyting.
You mad
When I can run GCC on it without using rare, expensive add-on hardware that Sony quickly discontinues *cough*PS2 Linux*cough*, then it's a computer. Until then, it's a locked-in console.
OK. Let's try to cure Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. If Mad Cow disease is cured as a side benefit, great.
As for the comparison with AIDS. The behavior modifications required are of an entirely different nature. You see, the "culprits" now are individuals, the majority of who are impoverished and under educated with little communications equipment available to begin with. So even getting condoms and the message of responsible sex to them is tough.
As if that wasn't bad enough the victims are usually the same people and their own families. In other words. They get AIDS because they don't know better and have very limited options. (I have spoken to HIV victims in my own country)
Mad Cow disease on the other hand is produced exclusively on midsized to large cattle farms in industrialised middle income and wealthy countries. They continue to raise cattle on beef scraps because that's cheaper than using grain and grass. This gives them an additional competitive advantage over the smaller farmers that do not have the equipment necessary for reprocessing cattle scraps.
None of them stops on his own because that will let the others who continue get ahead in the marketplace. Keep in mind that the farmer I'm talking about here is more often than not university educated. He knows about all the government farm subsidies and makes sure to collect his share. In short, he is fully integrated in a well regulated society.
If regulations were put in place banning the sale of beef fed cattle or putting an additional tax on it to remove the price advantage the practise would disappear overnight.
Most importantly, This disease is hitting people who have no way of knowing that this risk exists in a particular slice of meat because gee, It's not even on the package.
In short.
Cause of Mad Cow Disease -: people with as much education and more wealth than the average slashdoter selling a defective product. Killing other people.
Cause of AIDS -: People with limited education and few options following a basic biological urge.
One can be stopped by a few of earths most stable governments (England, USA, Germany etc...) passing relatively simple legislation (and enforcing it).
The other cannot.
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
As a further clarification. The Wikipedia page on Mad cow disease lists the countries with infected cattle and/or infected people.
Interestingly the poorest country on the list is Thailand, with a GDP per capita of $8,300.00 (Middle income).
Strangely enough they only made the list for the human form of the disease, suggesting that it came from imported beef.
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
If you ask me this is a pretty weak marketing ploy. Consider a few things. First off any console with Internet access could do this. Distributed computing is more about numbers than about individual machines being more powerful. Secondly, basically you're donating power and possibly the lifespan of your system away. What Sony's done is give you a convenient way to donate. If you really cared about cancer research then donate some real money to a Cancer charity. I'm sure some folks will do it but it kind of defeats the purpose of what the PS3 was meant for, a gaming unit.
The Linux® kernel is free software, but the bootloader isn't. Likewise, I'm 99 percent sure that the BIOS in your PC is proprietary software.
The PlayStation 3 (Japanese: 3,, Pureisutshon Sur?, trademarked PLAYSTATION 3,[2] abbreviated PS3) is Sony's seventh generation era video game console, third in the PlayStation series. It is the successor to the PlayStation 2 and will compete against Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii. The PS3 is scheduled for release on November 11, 2006 in Japan, November 17, 2006 in North America (excluding Mexico, where the console will be released in Q1 2007), and March, 2007 in Europe and will ship in two initial configurations, the main difference being a 20 GB or a 60 GB hard disk being fitted. Sony officially unveiled the PS3 to the public on May 16, 2005 during an E3 conference. A functional version of the console was not at E3 2005 or the Tokyo Game Show in September 2005, although at both events, demonstrations were held on devkits (e.g. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots) and comparable PC hardware, and video footage based on the predicted PS3 specifications was produced (e.g. Mobile Suit Gundam).[3] It wasn't until E3 2006 that games were shown on actual PlayStation 3 systems. In preparation for launch, Sony has announced that there will be 27 playable PS3 titles on show at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2006 on final hardware.[4] On GameFly.com, PS3 games are available for rentals. Contents [hide] * 1 Overview o 1.1 System configuration o 1.2 Release data and pricing o 1.3 Game pricing * 2 Software o 2.1 Games o 2.2 Backward compatibility o 2.3 Software development o 2.4 Interface and operating system o 2.5 PlayStation Network Platform * 3 Hardware Summary o 3.1 Controller * 4 References * 5 External links Overview System configuration System Features Feature Basic Premium Upgradable hard drive Yes, 20 GB Yes, 60 GB Blu-ray drive Yes Yes Bluetooth controllers Yes Yes Flash card reader No Yes Wi-Fi adapter No Yes HDMI port No Yes Silver-colored logo and trim No Yes AV Cables Composite Composite Sony's initial retail strategy for the PlayStation 3 will involve two different configurations that are detailed in a Sony press release.[5] The "premium" version of the PlayStation 3 will come with an internal 60 GB Serial ATA 2.5" hard drive, Wi-Fi connectivity, and multiple flash memory card readers, and features a brighter cosmetic silver-colored logo and trim.[1] The second, alternate configuration of the console will have a 20 GB internal hard drive, but will not feature Wi-Fi, HDMI, or a memory card reader. The hard drive is upgradeable, and memory card and Wi-Fi support can be added through adaptors, but the HDMI support is not upgradeable.[6] The lack of HDMI output in the 20 GB model (as with any HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player lacking HDCP) could potentially cause problems with restricted output resolution on Blu-ray video. An ICT flag can be set by content producers, which forces non-HDCP video down to a pixel resolution of 960×540 (50% greater than DVD-Video at NTSC resolution, and 25% greater than PAL resolution). SCEA president Kaz Hirai stated that it is "too early to speculate at this point" whether movie producers will activate the ICT feature.[7] According to German publisher Spiegel, a behind-the-scenes agreement was made not to enforce the ICT flag on next-generation optical formats until at least 2010, or possibly even 2012.[8] Release data and pricing Release date and suggested retail price by region* Region Expected pricing at release Release date Basic Premium Japan Japan[5] JP¥59,800(US$512) Open price November 11, 2006 United States United States[9] US$499 US$599 November 17, 2006 Canada Canada[9] C$549(US$485) C$659(US$587) Mexico Mexico - - Q1 2007[10] Europe Eurozone[11] (excluding Finland) 499(US$639) 599(US$768) March 2007[12] United Kingdom United Kingdom[13] - GB£425(US$806) Switzerland Switzerland[14] CHF 749(US$608) CHF 899(US$729) Norway Norway[15] - 5000 NOK(US$875) Denmark Denmark[16] 4495 DKK(US$770) 5495 DKK(US$943) Swe