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Last post Author Topic: Prelude to request for help for distributed pc cycles help from dc community  (Read 24943 times)

mouser

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As some of you may know, I've been working on a little algorithm for this http://Netflix Prize programming contest, and it runs much too slowly for me to get all the data generated in time to submit.

To solve this, and to have a lot of fun, member Gothi[c] and I are (actually Gothi[c] is doing all the work on this) writing a client tool like http://folding@home and http://seti@home, which will allow anyone to download a little program and run it on their pc when they have time, and it will perform computations and submit them back to the server.

This is a wonderfully fun thing to do from an academic background, and i think it will be great fun to have some friends from here participate if you are willing.

I really need your help on this!

It will be about 5 days of panicked work where i would appreciate all of the pc time you could give me on your computers, your office or friends computers, etc.  Any pc you can find.  It's going to be so cool if we can get a lot of pcs running and churning through data simultaneously.. With your help, we can generate all the data in time.

So my plan is to work on the algorithm for another week while gothi[c] perfects the client, and then somewhere around sep 23 release the client and then we're on a rush to get as many pcs running it as possible.

More details will follow i just wanted to give people a heads up so they can plan ahead if need be.. any help is appreciated, from fastest pc to the slowest!

Thank you  :-*

Wordzilla

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I have 2 PCs and a VPS available here to run the client 24/7. :)

sri

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I can run it on 2 PCs at work
1 PC at home
2 different shared web hosts (if that's possibe?)
<a href="https://sridharkatakam.com">My blog</a>

tsaint

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When this is set up, can it allow for connecting via a school's proxy server? If so, you can use my laptop all day (all night if you're "up above")

jgpaiva

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Will this client be cross-platform?
I can't use my laptop (because it overheats when it is using too much processor), but i have another one laying around at home that i could keep always on. The problem is that it is running ubuntu 6.10.

mouser

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yes, it's cross platform client.

Darwin

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Cool, mouser, I'd love to help. I have four notebooks that will be at your service when the time comes.

urlwolf

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I have two laptops.
None are connected to the 'net 24/7. Does that matter?

mouser

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None are connected to the 'net 24/7. Does that matter?
no i don't think so -- the only tricky part will be figuring out how the client can request the right amount of information to work on while offline, i'm not sure how this is done yet.

scancode

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As i told you on IRC, you have my computer... but... nice news!
I just talked to two cybercafé owners, so you have 20 machines from Argentina :-] [21 with mine :D]

KenR

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I can pull an unused laptop out of the closet for you and set it up on mine as well.

Ken
Kenneth P. Reeder, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Jacksonville, North Carolina  28546

Lashiec

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You have my helping hand as well. It's a pity you are releasing the client so late, because next week I could have the computer on almost 24/7 (minus my sleeping time). But I think I can talk with my friends for helping, if they get into pyramidal scams so easily, I can trick them to do something valuable for a change, while they try to bring down intellectual properties organizations, and most of them have the computer(s) always on.

Didn't you consider GPU clients? I understand the the number crunching power of a graphic card is far greater than the one of a CPU. And if someone has a PlayStation 3, it would be even better. Also, another thing that you could do is trying to talk with some Folding team, like The Tech Report one, those guys have full offices running the client nonstop, so they could bring great time savings.

EDIT: D'oh! What a typo! :-[
« Last Edit: September 26, 2007, 01:39 PM by Lashiec »

nudone

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i'm having computer technical issues at the moment but if the computer is running when you are ready then count me in.

Laughing Man

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I should be able to run it on my desktop relatively full time (if I decide to switch between Ubuntu and XP) or I have to restart. Dunno if it'll go through Maryland's servers correctly though.

Deozaan

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I have at least 2 pcs that can help.

app103

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I have a 233mhz on dialup that can be used exclusively for this for as long as you need, and I have my 3.2 ghz main pc that is always running and online.

hollowlife1987

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I have 3 Possible PC's i can run it on (if my brother will do it also), and I'll see if my friends will help out too :)

bonez666

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I will help, i only have 1 pc .. and its online all the time ... unless it gets unplugged (which seems to be happening a lot when im sleeping lately) but it is usually on all the time.

app103

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it would be fantastic if TOOWILD could help out.   :D

freon

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I have access to 6 PC's in my house.... I'm sure we can manage something... all of them sit idle most of the time anyways.  Hope that will help out some :)

mediaguycouk

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I'm sure that I could throw whatever you have onto a few computer. If you can make the program invisible, I might be able to throw it on few rooms.
Learning C# - Graham Robinson

mahesh2k

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Is it cross platform application? I can help as i've access to linux computer.

Muadib

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I can garantee 2 computers in home and one in my work working 24/7 for you (or until my son decides to use one in home to watch cartoons...) :)

One in home and the one in my work are double processed, so if your software can make use of this (I'm not sure that windows manage that by default) it could be very nice for processing big amount of data.

Just tell us when the software is available.



tinjaw

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Have you thought about Amazon EC2? DC members can donate some $ to use some EC2 cycles. And I will get my 5 computers running as well.

cranioscopical

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I see that a lot of us like to run 24/7
As a side topic I wonder about the general feeling, within this community, regarding the broad issue of energy consumption/conservation (not  just for pc's).
If interested, see here: https://www.donation...?topic=10058.new#new