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Capacity Calibration (Paying Distributed Project)

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Is anyone participating in this program? There is very little detail on their web site and I was wondering if they are legit. $.30 an hour for 1 week = $50.40 a week. Certainly more than enough to pay for a high speed connection.
 
It sounds like a setup for a DDOS network. Not saying it is but I am leary when they give scant information and offer to pay. I gotta say, their description of what they do could fit a DDOS system.

"How much bandwidth is required to participate?

The more the better, but at least a DSL connection with 640 Kbps download bandwidth. Bandwidth is the limiting factor, so as usage of the network grows, you will make more money with a faster Internet connection"

I would like to have more info, like you said this could pay for my internet connection - just dedicate that K62 box and unplug the monitor, keyboard and mouse!
 
If it doesn't do any client side processing it sounds like you could run this with a cablemodem and still run a SETI fleet with no impact (other than during the u/l & d/l of WU's. Yes?

One question, would this violate the TOS for a provider? Roadrunner for example?

Rob
 
Sounds a bit scary.

Does the program process anything on my machine or does it only use my Internet bandwidth?

The Agent does not do any processing on your machine. What it does is send small packets through your internet connection to our main controller program announcing its availability. When the controller is ready to make use of your Agent, it will send packets of information to your Agent that contain data as well as instructions as to when to resend the data. The Agent then sends out packets based upon the timing orders given to it by the controller. In short, the Agent acts only to send/receive data.
 
From a tool I have access to for the www dns record. 🙂


06/12/01 18:32:34 whois www.capcal.com
.com is a domain of USA & International Commercial
Searches for .com can be run at http://www.crsnic.net/

whois -h whois.crsnic.net capcal.com ...
Redirecting to NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC.

whois -h whois.networksolutions.com capcal.com ...

Registrant:
CAPACITY CALIBRATION (CAPCAL-DOM)
3605 Steck Ave. 1016
Austin, TX 78759
US

Domain Name: CAPCAL.COM

Administrative Contact:
Purnell, Gregory (GP8938) gpurnell@capcal.com
Distributed Computing
3605 Steck Ave. #1016
Austin, TX 78759
US
5127950599 123 123 1234
Technical Contact:
Purnell, Gregory (GP8926) gpurnell@capcal.com
Capacity Calibration
3605 Steck Ave. 1016
Austin, TX 78759
US
512 795 0599 123 123 1234
Billing Contact:
CAPACITY CALIBRATION (CC9434-ORG) no.valid.email@worldnic.net
CAPACITY CALIBRATION
3605 Steck Ave. 1016
Austin, TX 78759
US
512 795 0599 fax: 123 123 1234

Record last updated on 21-May-2001.
Record expires on 19-May-2003.
Record created on 19-May-2000.
Database last updated on 12-Jun-2001 10:33:00 EDT.

Domain servers in listed order:

AUTH1.NS.ENI.NET 205.214.45.6
AUTH2.NS.ENI.NET 155.229.2.181


SD

EDIT:

I just looked over their site, and they seem to be legitimate. I guess if you are really interested, give them a call. 🙂
 
If you look at their site, it explains the service they are offering to thier clients via your machine. From someone who deals alot with this kind of shi.. I mean cra... err.. I mean stuff.. it looks like they have done their homework, so to speak. 😉

I too thought it looked like a sub7server trojan or perhaps an open invitation to DDOS zombie clients, but after a bit of reading on their WWW site, it looks like they are on the up and up. 🙂

I am going to give him(Mr. Purnell) a call tomorrow to see what he has to say. I will post my findings tomorrow(evening for all you mainlanders) in this thread(if it is still around). 🙂

SD
 
hey they're here in austin i wonder if these were the people that were advertising a while ago about testing server capacity?
 
Well upon further reflection I have formulated the following:

Client to capcal: I want to know how much traffic my server can handle, can you test this for me?

capcal to Client: Sure, we have a real time bandwidth and server test that will tell you in real world terms how much capacity for users you have!

capcal activates 'network bandwidth tester' (civilized 'sub7' type program named 'agent') which is directed at clients network in a 'controlled' manner with benchmarking included.

capcal sends Client a report and a bill.

capcal sends 'agent' members a cut from the bill.


Brilliant use of the technology!!! Absolutely Brilliant!!!
(unless capcal decides to also take business that directs agents against Clients competition - then phrases like Restraint of Trade, Interstate Commerce and stuff like that springs to mind, but they wouldn't do that under their legit business moniker anyway - would they?)

I've been forced to think in devious ways because of some induhviduals I am involved with right now who don't do business the way I feel is fair and ethical. Please forgive my cynical attitude. I will try to believe, I will try to have faith in my fellow man... 😉
I may even sign up and see if anything makes it into my paypal acct.
Anybody think of a way to get several accounts (oops... there I go again).
 
It seems like the perfect project for me to finance new hardware. 🙂

Does anyone have any experience with a PayPal-account they would use to pay me?
 
MrAtheist, I have had a PayPal acct for quite some time. Mine is a business acct as I see it as a good alternative to more traditional CC clearing methods for online sales. The fees are lower than the discount places I have checked. Even better for personal accts I believe.
I have no trouble with them at all, but you must read their terms thoroughly to make sure you know what to expect. Biggest downside: takes a few days to get your money.

I signed up for this scheme, will see what effect it has while running other projects too.
Hope I don't get burned - but I didn't put it on a machine I would mind NUKING if need be.
 
Wow, if that's the case it sounds pretty cool. I just don't want to find out that this thing tracks users or winds up getting you spammed. If it's a legit service I'd sign up. My PC's are already running 24/7 anyway so this could be a way to offset the extra power used. 😉

I'm gonna check it out when I get a chance...

Rob
 
the pay per hour scheme hasn't started yet...
it said on there site...

theres also another company
www.porivo.com that i read about in the toronto star that does the same thing, and pays also...
i guess we have to wait and see whos going to pay more?
 
it foobar'd one of my computers.. checking another now..

seems to install a "WAN Miniport driver".. I had to re-install TCP/IP to get the connection to work again, and now I can't access any of the shares.. its quite odd. Can't uninstall 2 WAN miniport drivers that arent working properly as "they may be required for the machine to boot"...

I uninstalled the client, rebooted, and now I can access its shares, but still cannot uninstall the WAN miniport drivers.

The machine with the problems was a Dual Celeron 366@500 (BP6) running Win2k SP1 with 384 MBs...

I just installed it on my Duron 700@1088 (KT7a) running Win2k SP2, and it installed fine..

odd..
 
ottawanker: Are you saying that your system would not work on a LAN (assuming you had one) after they made their change? Keep us posted on what is happening to your system.

In CapCal's FAQ they say:
Question: How big can the load tests be?
Response: Up to a 100,000 virtual users simultaneously.

If they were paying 100k users $50 per day they would go broke in a hurry! I suspect they may only be paying for time used. Or, they can have each machine submit many simultaneous requests.

Anyway, it will be interesting to have more info.
 
I just went and read their payment info a little more carefully and it does seem they only intend to pay for time used.
There is a minimum $10 / month payment for just being available (on stand by) 10/7 and then they pay .30 per hour for time used, "whichever is greater".
 
This might be a scam.

I installed the client and left it running for 12 hours. It never recieved any work load. I did set the agent to "Always allow to test"

So I guess they will randomly pickup a small percentage of users at any given moment to do their hourly test while every one is required to stay online at least 10 hours per day for their pickup.

Or the whole thing is yet another conspiracy to DoS whitehouse homepage. 🙂
 
I too had troubles. I can't say for sure they were caused by this program, but it's the only thing different that I have done in quite some time on that machine.
I installed it last night, after about 10 hours it said it had used 1 second of cpu time.
My internet connection is through that machine, and I have Tiny firewall on it.
This morning there was a message on the screen that something wanted to connect from that comp to the outside, my wife was on it and she just clicked allow I believe. The machine just instantly restarted! Boom, black screen, Bios, Boot up, "Wow, what was that"!!

Then Things star t e d .. g e t t i n g .. . . r e a l l y .. . . . . s . l . o . w . . . . . . .

I . . . m .. e .. a .. n .. . . R . E . A . L . . . S . . L . . O . . W . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tested bandwidth with Cnet: 33K
tested again: 34K
tested again: 33K
(ok, this is bad for a cable modem)

So I started restarting and power cycling the modem etc.. No joy,
So I started turning things off, Mcafee, no better, Tiny, no better, everything else, nope.
Uninstalled CapCal. Restarted machine. Tested bandwidth with Cnet (I have a cable modem) -
first test: 56K
tested again: 111K
tested again: 290K
tested again: 1170K
tested again: 2010K
tested again: 2760K
Final Test: 2170K

WEIRD!!!

Now all is well again, I hope that thing didn't leave any hidden surprises for me lurking in the bowels of the system.

Just my experience, I'm not saying for sure there is anything wrong with these guys but I will be very interested to hear what some of you have to say after you call them.
 
Thanks for the information, Wiz. I'll certainly keep an eye out on that project. It sounds too good to be true really, but who knows... 🙂
 
Here's some info they sent me in an E-mail:

>>I also want to clarify a couple of things based on questions we have been receiving:

The $0.30 per hour payment is based on actual usage of your computer for running tests, not on the number of hours your computer is turned on and available for testing. We do require that your computer be available, on average, at least 10 hours a day, 7 days a week in order to qualify for the $10 per month minimum, but the $0.30 per hour is based on actual usage hours for running tests, not availability hours. Here are some examples of how much you could make based on usage hours:
* 40 hours/mo (80 minutes/day) = $ 12
* 60 hours/mo (2 hours/day) = $ 18
* 120 hours/mo (4 hours/day) = $ 36
* 240 hours/mo (8 hours/day) = $ 72
* 360 hours/mo (12 hours/day) = $108 <<

I've been running their agent for a couple of weeks along with SETI and the client for MyNetWatchman...no problems so far on a Win98SE box w/ADSL.

They just deposited $17.90 in my PayPal account.<smile>

Aloha,

 
SatelliteMike: Okay, that's one positive experience. Hopefully we'll start hearing some others. I'll probably give it a try on one of my machines (not my primary of course) this weekend or during the week. My PC's run 24/7 anyway and who am I to turn down $17.90 or even the minimum $10/month! 🙂 Thanks guy!

Rob
 
erg.... i just signed up with paypal (yes i dont normaly buy online)
and signed up at there website...

i will test for you guys... i dont mind, coz i need cash badly anyways...
so...

hopefully this will be a gd thing for all our members!
 
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