Distributed Computing

There is a lot of unused power in the average home computer. When someone is using their PC to perform a simple task usually over 80% of the computing power of the machine is not being utilised. This is where distributed computing programs such as SETI or Folding come in. Through the use of a screensaver, or a non-invasive program which runs in the background at low priority, computers can carry on performing simple day to day functions without the slightest difference to their performance. Because the program only runs when either your comuter is displaying a screensaver (i.e. you are away or idle) or in the background with low priority, you will not see any impact to your normal computer use. I would urge anyone who can to contribute, it does not cost you anything, it does not effect the quality or speed of your day to day tasks and it helps science. Please refer to the FAQ for more information or check below for links to various projects.

Different projects currently being undertaken

SETI @ Home (Search for Extra Terrestrical Intelligence) Project Link

The radio telescopes dotted around the world record HUGE amounts of data every day. You can help by processing this data looking for anything which might be a signal from another part of space. I completed over 1000 classic workunits before going to folding at home. It is still a worth while project to participate in, particularly if you are interested in space or the work SETI undertake.

Folding @ Home  Project Link

This project attempts to understand protein folding and more importantly misfolding. This is important in our understanding of the mechanism of action of proteins and helps us build better drugs / treatments. Even more importantly, it allows us to look the triggering factors for various deseases including cancer. This project is also linked into the Cure for Cancer @ Home project. More information regarding the science behind the project here.

Out of all the project that are available online, I have put by far the most of my computing power towards this one. I am currently in the process of building a new rig which will be used for folding soon. At present I just completed a couple of months folding netting ~8,000 points. For now I have stopped but I will be back folding at home soon.

On a side note, the Playstation 3 was recently released and this platform has made quite a significant impact to the overall processing power at the disposal of the project teams. Infact, it would seem I greatly underestimated the overall contribution the PS3 client has made. At the time of writing, the combined power of a quarter of a million PS3s is generating over SIX (5.77x) times the power of ~200,000 desktop computers (x86 and PPC architectures across OS/X Windows and Linux flavors.) It appears that in the last few months the project broke a Petaflop(?) of total distributed processing power, having ~740 Teraflops in mid march as reported by Techreport. To see the current stats broken down by machine type and architecture go here.

Note: This is by no means a definitive list.

FAQ

How does distributed computing work?

Rather than have a farm of super powerful (and expensive) computers to process signal data or fold proteins, the computer breaks the work up into small sections called work units. Your computer periodically connects to the internet to download more work units as an when required. The client (program which actually does the work on your computer) has a built in algorithm which then works through the work unit. Any discoveries are communicated back to the central server when the work unit is finished and the process repeats itself. The thousands of computers that already perform this task give scientists a powerful tool to perform research into climate change, finding cures for cancer and even looking for extra terrestrials.

Will it really make a difference if I help or not?

Yes, the more people who help the better. It does not matter if your computer is not the newest or the fastest, I still run a computer which is 4 years old crunching work units.

What do I need to download?

That depends on what project you are helping, see the list of projects above.

Is there a Linux version?

Yes along with clients for other operating systems. There are even now SMP clients and GPU clients although these naturally are limited to compatible multicore systems for the former and compatible ATI clients (x1800/1900s) for the latter.

Where can I find more information?

You can try the wikipedia article, do a google search or contact me.