folding@hom - help find a cure for cancer

Submitted: Friday, Apr 29, 2005 at 17:02
ThreadID: 22484 Views:2096 Replies:2 FollowUps:2
This Thread has been Archived
The Folding@Home project is a worldwide distributed computing effort to further cancer research by studying how proteins fold, or misfold. Tens of thousands of people participate simply by downloading a client which crunches data using spare CPU cycles, no harm to the PC or useability.

A detailed explanation is below, but rest assured this is for a really good cause :)
http://www.overclockers.com.au/folding/aboutfah.htm

I fold for a team called overclockers australia and we are currently having a battle against an american team that has just pushed us back into second place :(
We are trying to get new recruits and ultimately it is beneficial to science the more any team gets.

If you would like to join the search for curing cancer and/or want to fight for the aussies then follow the instructions below...

1. Download the graphical client from here - http://folding.stanford.edu/download.html
2. Once downloaded double click the installer
3. Follow the steps through. It is similar to the installation of any other program so I won’t walk you through it.
The only question that is different is that it asks you for a username, which I think should be 4x4-folding
I am asking outerlimits and any other 4x4 guys to all fold under the name 4x4-folding so that we can see all of our statistics.
4. Once installed the configuration window should open up, you should see this:
5. Enter the username 4x4-folding and the team number. Your team number for overclockers australia is 24.
6. That’s it!! Click ok, and you are off and folding! You should see a red cog in the taskbar, that is the F@H taskbar icon.
If you double click that a window should open that displays the protein you are working on, the time to finish folding that protein etc.

If you have a faster pentium 4 machine with at least 512mb of ram you can do something to receive big work units,
which means more points. You need to use the –advmethods switch and enable receipt of big work units in the client.

1. Open the F@H configuration, click on the connections tab:
2. Check the line that says “Allow receipt of work assignments and return of results greater than 5 MB in size”, so that there is a tick next to it. Click ok.
3.Close the F@H client.
4. Find the shortcut that opens F@H client for you. If you have performed a default install this will be in your Startup folder (Start->Programs->Startup).
Right click the shortcut and open the properties, you’ll see something like this:
5. In the target line change “C:\Program Files\Folding@Home\WinF@H” to “C:\Program Files\Folding@Home\WinF@H” –advmethods
6. Click apply, then OK
7. Open the F@H client again, using the shortcut that you just added –advmethods to. You are now ready to receive big work units!!!

Any questions at all just let me know.
You can check our statistics and how many work units we have all completed at:
http://vspx27.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=userpage&username=4x4-folding
There are no stats at the moment as we have just started :D

More stats here:
http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/team_list.php?s=

Thanks

z
Back Expand Un-Read 0 Moderator

Reply By: Lone Wolf - Friday, Apr 29, 2005 at 18:11

Friday, Apr 29, 2005 at 18:11
Isn't this a little like the SETI program running?

Still seems odd to me, that with the price of computers steadily falling, that the use of spare online units for number crunching is still in vogue.

I wish you the best of luck.

I did do the SETI thing for a while, but they didn't find any life elsewhere, so I pulled out.... :) Oh my god, I have just reread what I have written...... pulling out...... no new life.......

Wolfie
AnswerID: 108822

Follow Up By: ausjeep - Friday, Apr 29, 2005 at 18:21

Friday, Apr 29, 2005 at 18:21
Yes it is very similar to the SETI project in the sense that it uses your computer when you are not, to perform data analysis.

It is helping science directly and not looking for little green men though :)

The use of spare online units as you put it is massive.
The folding@project is run by a university in the states called stanford.
I don't know the exact number of pc's involved with folding at the moment but it would probably be a six figure sum at least.

Imagine standford having to buy 100,000 computers @ $600 = $60,000,000
Then finding the space and power etc. for all of them.

I personally think the use of everyones otherwise wasted computer power whilst they just sit there idle is fantastic :)

sometimes its better to pull out :D
0
FollowupID: 365574

Reply By: Member - Craig M (NSW) - Friday, Apr 29, 2005 at 21:51

Friday, Apr 29, 2005 at 21:51
Hi,
I think it is a great idea putting idle computers to use. Imagine if all the office comps were singed up to something like this imagine how much progress could be made.
I am on a dial up con for the next few days but when I get back to the broadband con I usually use I will download it and give it a whirl.

Cheers

PS. Come on all you 4x4 drivers get those comps doing something useful!!!!!
AnswerID: 108866

Follow Up By: Lone Wolf - Friday, Apr 29, 2005 at 21:54

Friday, Apr 29, 2005 at 21:54
"a great idea putting idle computers to use."

Perhaps they should connect up to the customer service ones at Telstra....... they're not being used......

Wolfie
0
FollowupID: 365611

Sponsored Links