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Dcypher.net Linux Clients Available
Steve Porter writes "Dcypher.net has released MMX-only Linux clients for its CSC Contest. Full information is available at dcypher.net. Non-MMX Linux clients will be available shortly and will feature an improved non-MMX integer core. We would like to take this opportunity to welcome those who will join us, and would also like to apologize for the delay in releasing the Linux clients. FreeBsd clients and proxies will be out shortly."
The distributed.net network is currently crunching keys 8 times faster than dcypher.
/. advocating the use of a particular program even though it's demonstrably substandard, just because a majority of the ignorant masses are using it.
That's because the distributed.net network currently has over 15 times as many computers working on it than dcypher.net. (Compare here and here; I compared the number of clients which reported in the last day, since I figure that's the most relevent number to compare to current keyrate.) Furthmore, I'd guess that since dcypher.net is so new, distributed has an even higher proportion of the big-iron/large subnets working for it.
I waited, patiently, for over 6 months for distributed to come out with a new project--and when they release OGR, I'll probably come back. But after seeing my dismal keyrate running their CSC core, I decided to give dcypher.net a try.
On my machine (PII-350), the dcypher.net client is roughly 250% faster than distributed's CSC core. It's CSC keyrate is even about 10% faster than my rc-5 keyrate was with distributed.
Furthermore, their stats engine updates in real time, instead of distributed's absurd daily updates during which stats are completely down for an hour and a half. While both web sites are pretty poorly designed, distributed.net has been at times nearly unnavigable (this is getting a bit better).
But the important thing is, dcypher has accomplished all this and they've been around for a month! I can't imagine how you guys can complain about the fact that it took dcypher an extra 3 weeks to come out with a Linux client when it's taken distributed, a much larger organization with presumably much larger resources, months and months to build any clients at all for CSC or OGR (and the one they came up with is infernally slow).
At the time of this writing, d.net is the only network which seems to be able to solve this contest in time (remember that CSC is time-limited, any solution found after March 17, 2000 is void).
Obviously, that's just because 15 times as many people are going with the much more poorly coded, less efficient solution. It's more than a bit ironic to find people on
What's worse is that distributed takes the position that since they have so many loyal lemmings, they can release an unoptimized core and it won't matter because enough people will still run it. It's that arrogant attitude that turned me (and, I'd guess, many others) off of SETI@home.
Oh well; to each his own. Happy cracking!
(Note to Nugget: no one listens to AC's)
(Note to reader: Nugget is not a "coder". He's said this himself on several occasions.)
Dcyhper.net doesn't need to release their code to coopereate with anyone else. One only needs to know what section of the keyspace (i.e. what keys) each will be processing. CSC may not be as forthcoming as a linear search of the DES keyspace, but there are still keys to be checked.
There were two problems with DeepCrack (read the board minutes where BovineOne explained the options.) First, DCTI processes both the key and the compliment of the key (neato DES optimization) while EFF processes only the key. So, for every DCTI "block" assigned to DeepCrack, it would have to test the keys in that block twice -- the key and the compliment of the key. Second, DeepCrack eats much larger chunks of the keyspace. If DeepCrack were handled as a regular client, it would need it's own key proxy -- DC needs contigous blocks larger than the proxy network could handle.
In the end, the keyspace was broken down into 32 sections. DeepCrack started at one end of the sub-space and the DCTI proxy network from the other end. I'm not certain how the keymaster figured into all this. I wrote a perl script for dbaker to tally the key rate from the proxy network and DeepCrack.
The timelimit doesn't matter. Assuming you're crunching keys as fast as possible, you're going to go through roughly the same number at either project. If the prize is five times higher with one project, then go with the one with the most prize money.
But, you know, they really should cooperate. Share the keyspace to avoid duplication, that way at least someone will get the money. They could just say 'We get 0x0000... to 0x7f00... and you get the rest. When one of us runs out, we'll split up the remainer.'
Sort of prisoner's dilema-ish. Help your opponent a little bit, risk being cheated, to reap greater rewards if you both cooperate.
It's unfortunate that dcypher.net chooses to post to slashdot anonymously, making this type of confusion possible.
dcypher.net has never approached distributed.net to discuss cooperating in the CSC contest.
The truth is, that unless dcypher.net releases their code, cooperation is impossible. CSC, like DES, is a bitslicable algorithim. This means that performance improvements can be achieved by overlapping common work for multiple keys.
Since the dcypher.net cores are not available, there is no way for us (distributed.net) to know what real range of keys is represented in one of their blocks.
Even knowing the start block and size of the block, without knowing the details of their core, there's no way to be certain what work is contained in the block.
Even if we did know the full details of their code, if the two codebases take differing approaches to optimization (which is likely), coordination of the keyspace might still prove to be cumbersome and impractical. This is exactly the situation distributed.net faced when we joined forces with EFF's deep crack box during the most-recent DES challenge. Due to the nature of deep crack's bitslicing, we had very little flexibility in subdividing the keyspace. We had very few options for the division that did not involve duplicating work between the distributed.net network and the deep crack boxes.
...or so the guys in the strnage suits told me...
--
Xenu loves you!
We recommend you go and bench them for yourself. Please note that DCypher.Net blocks are 2^32 keys while distributed.net ones are 2^28. To calculate kkeys/s divide DCypher's kbps by 64.
We put up a short table at this location for some selected CPUs.
ProcessTree - Isn't it time your computers started paying for itsel
Discovering radio waves from a galaxy hundreds of light years away that were inadvertently beamed this way is not going to have that great an effect on our society or world. Yes, it will be a triumphant discovery. But what are they saying? When were they sent? What did those creatures look like? Without answering those questions, the average citizen just won't care.
If on the otherhand the aliens show up on our doorstep, yes, everyone on the world will stop and take notice, and yes, it could have profound effects on our lives. But simply identifying radio frequencies that appear to be non-naturally occuring in a galaxy so far away that we don't stand a chance of us or our kids or our kids kids see what originated it, well, that'll end up being something that really only scientists and "geeks/nerds/fill in the blank" will care about.
I got my first computer when P-II was out so I was never explained what MMX really does for you.. Can anyone explain?
Movie News - "Entertainment news, bitch!"
Distributed.net and dcypher both try to solve the CSC contest.
The distributed.net network is currently crunching keys 8 times faster than dcypher.
At the time of this writing, d.net is the only network which seems to be able to solve this contest in time (remember that CSC is time-limited, any solution found after March 17, 2000 is void)
D.net source code is available to anyone who wants to improve or just review it : http://www.distributed.net/source/
Right now, d.net have clients for
- Linux x86
- Linux Alpha
- Linux Sparc
- FreeBSD x86
- NetBSD Alpha
- DOS
- Netware
- Win16
- Win32 x86
- Win32 Alpha
- HPUX 10.20 (HP-PA 1.1)
- IRIX 5
- Solaris Sparc
DCypher.Net started first (November 8) DCypher.Net has faster clients (between 100% and 150% faster) DCypher.Net hands out the full prize money of 10,000 Euros ($10,500) to the finder of the key instead of just $2,000 at d.net DCypher.Net offers stats that are updated every hour or realtime instead of every 24 hours.
I really don't see the reasoning behind cracking these encryption routines. Surely we know that by throwing enough computing power at it, we'll get there eventually. So why bother with it? What does it actually achieve? This isn't flamebait. I'm generally interested in why people want to do something like this.
I'm a fan of SETI, since it's an attempt to discover something new. If you believe in the possibility of extra-terrestrial life or not, surely from a scientific standpoint, SETI is a far more worthwile use of computing power, isn't it?
And distributed.net had the first linux client when dcypher.net was still promising one. I am not going to reinstall clients after just having done that on several machines. I also don't really trust a new, closed source, binary only client.
While distributed.net isn't exactly open source, either, at least they play as fair as possible and give you nearly the full source with all of the key routines.
Regarding the money: distributed.net only claims 20%, but insists on donating 60% to a charity. Anybody can suggest one, but the one to get the 60% is decided by vote (everyone gets one vote per block done). Which is only fair. Why should one person get all the money tens of thousands of people have worked for? This isn't for the money, after all. And the odds of finding the key are slim.
So with distributed.net, you are working for a donation to a charity, which is certain. With dcypher.net, you are trying to get all the money, while most probably somebody else will get it, leaving you _and_ a worthy cause without money.
(The above leaves 20% for the participant, which gets split with his team if he joined one.)
Holger