Help me decide on a project for my herd

[Zuke]

I participated in the RC5-64 project a while back, but haven't been involved with any distributed computing projects since. I'm ready to get back in the game, but since I've been out of the loop I need a little bit of info.

I have 21 1.8ghz P4 machines at my disposal and they need a project. I have no interest in SETI, so that's right out.
Otherwise, my requirements are that the client can be run as a service on win2k, that the project have some real-world application and that it be fairly well-supported by Team Anandtech (ie, I don't want to put my herd into a project that me and two other people are the only ones working on).

Help me decide on a project!

 

[Baldy18]

Seventeen or Bust is a mathmatical project that could use some help. The team is currently out producing all other teams and is on pace to become #1 in the project in the next few months. With your help it could be even quicker than that. Also P4's preform very, very well in Seventeen or Bust. Check out the SoB stats threads for more info on the project.

 

[Freewolf]

well since seti is out I would say DF could use the help right now

 

[conjur]

Is there an issue with DF running as a service and updating the client?

If not, great, but thought I saw a thread the other day about that.

DF would be great as the TeAm is about to be targeted for passing by some other teams.

 

[Assimilator1]

How about helping to Design a Particle Accelerator for DPAD?

Here's a snippet from his site

Actually the machine that's being built (costing at least $1.9bn) has several scientific aims. The neutrinos are used for fundamental physics experiments, but the proton beam that is produced at the start (this hits the target rod at the beginning of the simulation you download) is also going to be used in experiments for neutralising radioactive waste by transmuting the radioactive elements into stable ones.

Danc will hopefully be here soon to give you some more info

 

[Lifemapper]

Zuke, check out this site. If you want to help AnandTech team out doing something useful, you surely can do just that.
For more info, here is support site.
Have fun.
Lm.

 

[ProviaFan]

For a medical and science oriented project, please consider Folding@Home. We're in 22nd position, and will be dropping some more if we don't increase our production. Note that F@H runs best with a broadband connection, but also works well on dialup as long as the connection can be automatically dialed on demand.

Edit: remember to enter 198 for your team number if you decide to run F@H.

 

[Zuke]

What project has the most mature and bug-free client? SETI?

I'm not in the position to be able to babysit the clients, so maybe I'll consider SETI if it means less fuss.

 

[dxkj]

I would recommend SeTi after having set it up myself on about 30 machines so far. I use the service install, dont even know its there unless you look at processes, and I havn't touched the machines since. Smokeball got me going and is great tech support if you need help with the details.

 

[brianp34]

I'm running Folding@Home as a service on a few machines, some running win2k and some XP. There's a service installer linked in the thread in my signature. With that little program, it takes about 2 minutes to configure the client (it will automatically download all the necessary files and everything.). I've never had to touch any of mine again; some have been running for months.

brian

 

[Yai]

I'm also running Fold@Home in my 6 machines. I believe that F@H project will help a lot of ppl in the near future if not now. I'm pround to be one of F@H members (Team # 198 of course). I'm also glad if you would join us. We need more ppl to at least maintain our position at rank #22.

Hope to see your name under F@H team soon.

BTW, did i tell you how much fun to watch our point production each day. if you don't believe me you can join us Team# 198 and ask everyone in the TeAm. You can also install a little freeware (EM III) to monitor all your rigs on only one of your system.

 

[draco8099]

I suggest Folding@Home, you would be a great help to the team. Just posting to let you know there are plenty of active members of F@H as you can tell by the replys you are getting.

 

[pcdeatherage]

Seventeen or Bust
We're 81 days within closing in on the TPR and you could make a serious dent in that...
(before I joined the cause, I believe we were down to about half of that when the big bully woke up and trashed us pretty good (actually that's why I joined up, don't like bullies))

Anywho, I have finally gotten around to playing with setting it up as a service and now wish I'd done it sooner...no fuss no muss...it plays nice with other stuff and with the ability to eyeball the status of pending tests, I can tell at a glance who turned off one of the borgs...the only "problems" are that it helps if you're connected 24-7 and you can't cache multiple tests (which really isn't a problem if you're connected 24-7)(and in reality, as long as you can connect ever couple of days it would work)...

 

[Slatzman]

Originally posted by: pcdeatherage
Seventeen or Bust
We're 81 days within closing in on the TPR and you could make a serious dent in that...
(before I joined the cause, I believe we were down to about half of that when the big bully woke up and trashed us pretty good (actually that's why I joined up, don't like bullies))

Anywho, I have finally gotten around to playing with setting it up as a service and now wish I'd done it sooner...no fuss no muss...it plays nice with other stuff and with the ability to eyeball the status of pending tests, I can tell at a glance who turned off one of the borgs...the only "problems" are that it helps if you're connected 24-7 and you can't cache multiple tests (which really isn't a problem if you're connected 24-7)(and in reality, as long as you can connect ever couple of days it would work)...

What pc said...another example, one of the SOB teams has set it up on whole computer labs at a college (ORU), they are consistently one of the top producers so there must not be much fuss to keep it running.

Whatever you choose, welcome back to the TeAm, and thanks for crunchin with us

Slatz

 

[OverVolt]

Dude u GOTTA join Folding@home. It's a set and forget client, for 1.8Ghz P4's u can prolly use the GUI client, all u do is install, and thats it.

Other ppl have link above. We really need some help since some other teams just passed us

 

[Yai]

Another idea thou, why don't you split all your systems to 2 or 3 projects. Let's say 10-15 for F@H and the rest for others. Then you can compare yourself which project you like the best.

 

[Overkiller]

All projects are worthy of a glance.
SOB is a mathematical project that is trying to solve/prove Serpinski's problem I believe.

The Client is the easiest one i have ever worked with. All you do is download it. Put ur username and *teamanandtech* and you are done. its a set and forget client that can be run as a service also.

While most DC projects give up resources when needed i have had issues w/ certain ones (lifemapper, UD Cancer research) giving up those spare cycles even when put on themost sensisitve priority. W/ SOB i do not notice a difference whether i'm burning a cd, intensively gaming, or what may you.

There are many good projects out there(F@H, DF, S@H, UD, DPAD, SOB, BIONIC, etc). Choose what fits you best.

all i can say is that if u want a mature client. get the latest SOB.

 

[Assimilator1]

Wow! ,I don't believe it! ,not even a hint of bashing a project!

Zuke
If you want some input about running SETI on multiple rigs I suggest you PM Robor ,he's been running SETI on many dozens of rigs for at least 3.5 yrs now!

 

[DanC]

As a former RC-5 freak, I found that (for me) DPAD appealed most to the "scientist" in me. I certainly attempted to become interested in the other projects, but (for me) all lacked a certain "coolness" factor that had been absent since the RC-5 days when McNugget killed it for all of us with his thinly-veiled attempt to bail out of some pretty stupid statements whilst allowing Dave to twist slowly in the wind.

The other projects have considerable participation, and will continue on - but with DPAD, we've been limping along with only a few active members fighting against behemoth teams like our old friends the DPC.

From my perspective, the nearly real-time stats are a big plus. The client is well-behaved, and doesn't require an install. You can drop it in a directory, and whack the directory if you need to - and it's all gone.

Ultimately, certainly the decision is yours. You'd be the #1 contributor in DPAD without a doubt. If you like them stats... that's not a bad place to be.

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: Zuke
What project has the most mature and bug-free client? SETI?

I'm not in the position to be able to babysit the clients, so maybe I'll consider SETI if it means less fuss.

The SETI client can be run as a service and is rock solid as far as stability. I participate in both SETI and DF (Distributed Folding) but the DF client has been terrible since the project changed not long ago so I'm back to SETI 100% again (except for a few straggler systems). My reasoning is just like you said... "I'm not in the position to babysit the clients".

SETI is very "set it and forget it". Install a SetiQ system, install the clients as a service, and leave it alone. It's that simple. If you need any help just ask and I'll do my best or I'm sure someone else here will be happy to help.

 

[CraigRT]

sucks that you won't do SETI.. it has the best third party support as far as i know.. i have no interest in actually finding aliens.. i just like it for how it works.. it's a nice client, easy to setup, and it has a good statistics setup....

 

[Soggysocks]

No Seti? Bummer :brokenheart:


But, concider....where else will you get a chance to talk to E.T.

 

[Assimilator1]

Hey guys ,you didn't read his latter posts

I'm not in the position to be able to babysit the clients, so maybe I'll consider SETI if it means less fuss.

There's hope yet

 

[DanC]

DPAD flushes automatically at 100K, no muss - no fuss - no hand-holding

SETI has a billion participants. You will enjoy being #451,523 for some time.

DPAD has far fewer participants, and you, with that herd - will be #1 on the team, and advance rapidly through the stats...

But - ultimately the decision is yours. I did SETI for a year to repay my debts to those who helped us out, but I never enjoyed it. Nothing personal - I just didn't care for it, but I still "did my time."

 

[GeorgeCredland]

How about LIfemapper?

The project went public around the end of April, and we're trying to
build the TeAm up. Since the project is still fairly new, there's plenty
of room for making a mark on the stats tables.

No doubt you'd be top of the team in a couple of weeks :brokenheart:
but it'd sure help close the gap on Rechenkraft...

(Client is nice and stable, and I've had it running as a service via
firedaemon )

George