Lets get the welcome thread updated

[Spacehead]

I noticed not too long ago that all the links under the S@H section are FUBARed. Don't know when/how it happened, but they are.
Other teams, would you take a look to see if the links for your project are OK or if the write-up needs updating.

The ECC2 project is finished so it can be taken out.
If some one has info on any of the projects run under the BOINC platform, please add something.

Maybe lets leave out anything about what position each team is in as it gets out-of date quickly.
The mods said we could add a link to Wolfraider's site so we as a team can make any changes as soon as they're needed without having to bother the mods for every little change. Maybe they could put this line in the welcome thread somewhere:
For the most up-to-date version of this thread, click here

Let's get things fixed that need fixing so we can get the thread updated.





I shortened up & updated some info(& fixed the links) for the SETI write-up, here it is. If anybody wants to add or change anything go right ahead.

SETI - Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Are we alone? Help analyze radio signals from space in mankind's ultimate quest.

This project is the largest Distributed Computing Project in the world. Support the SETI TeAm and you can share in the fame and pride in ending the project among the very best. And because each SETI WU has a unique identifier, you could become famous all over the world for being the one to make First Contact and find ET.

We invite you to join us as we make one final big push before this first phase of the project comes to an end.

To get started please refer to these help sites:
SETI homepage
Smoke's excellent SETI help and setup page
Sukhoi's Help Index
Team AnandTech Seti@Home FAQs

The team also has a nice list of Queues that you can use to obtain workunits and to monitor individual stats.
SetiQueues for Team Anandtech
Poof's TeAm SETI queue thread:
Team Anandtech Public SETI Queues: Part V

TeAm stats sites:
Smoke's stats page
Soni's stats page

 

[Rattledagger]

Well, Genome@home ended in April, so this can atleast be removed from the page.


BOINC is a framework many projects can run under, with a "core client" controlling the connection to servers, local scheduling of work & multi-project-support there you yourself controls resource-share between projects, how many days to cache and more. But since individial projects can have deadline, you can't set an unlimited cache.
BOINC comes with built-in caching & multi-cpu-support. Also includes service-install for NT4/win2k/XP. It's your choise if wants to use the cli or gui, and if to use the screensaver.
If you're using the same email-address stats-sites can show your total score regardless of project.
If BOINC haven't a pre-compiled version for your platform, the source is available so you can compile yourself. But only projects that also supplies the source can be used if they're not supplying pre-compiled versions.

The core-client is project-independent, and must be manually upgraded. The project-applications on the other hand is auto-upgraded as needed, if you're not using a self-compiled version.

Currently only 2 active projects is available, but more will follow in the months to come:

1; Seti@home, will "soon" completely take over from "classic", and due to more intelligent work-distribution is over 100% more effective than "classic". Seti supplies the source, so everyone can compile a version if none is available beforehand. Currently the deadline is 14 days, but this shouldn't be a problem if you're not only crunching a hour/day.

In the months to come, seti@home will expand the search with a new receiver at Arecibo, and starting to use Parkes in Australia and by this getting a completely new part of the sky to look at.

2; Predictor@home, has similarities to folding@home & distributed-folding, is currently doing alpha-testing, so can be a little unstable at times. Deadlines is varying a lot, but since BOINC only downloads wu that your machine normally can crunch this isn't a problem.

Due to the current alpha-nature, most is currently running predictor as a 2nd-BOINC-project alongside seti in case of outages in seti. AFAIK the source is not available, so no self-compiling here.


As for announced future projects:
a; Astropulse, using data from seti@home to look for other things. Unknown time-frame, but probably release soon after seti "classic" is terminated.
b; Climatepredicton.net, predicting the weather in the future. Like seti@home CPDN is an old project in a new BOINC-packaging. Is currently doing alpha-testing, with more open beta-testing probably coming then v4 BOINC-core is released... CPDN is normally giving credit during beta-tests also. Aiming on release this fall.
c; Einstein@home, is aiming on beta-tests this fall & release 2005.




Well, probably needs some re-wording, so just taking a cut'n'paste isn't recommended.

 

[Smoke]

Way to go, Space! :thumbsup:

 

[Wolfsraider]

you might include this link as well http://projects.reddeyexpress.com as it explains a bit about dc and our goals although its still being updated etc... so its not finished.

And thank you as well, I will update anything thats necessary as well.

mike

 

[amdxborg]

WTG Mike! Your the man! :beer:

 

[Wolfsraider]

I am a TeAm member just trying to do my part. Like so many others who dedicate time and effort everyday,and whose examples I have been fortunate enough to follow.

One thing though, Are you guys going to include amdxborgs site as well? I mean no site is safe from downtime, and by having 2 sites available that would not be as big a factor. I love the layout and design as well as the info available.It would be a great addition as well.

mike

oops a link to his site and the projects pages -very nice layout

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: Rattledagger
--- begin major editing ---
BOINC, the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing is a framework many projects can run under, with a "core client" controlling the connection to servers, local scheduling of work, and multi-project support. BOINC comes with built-in SMP and SMT support, and also includes a service install for NT4, Win2000, and XP. Clients with command line, graphical, and screensaver interfaces are available.

BOINC supports many different platforms through its open-source nature. However, the individual projects must also supply source code for their computational cores to enable use on non-standard platforms.

The core client must be manually updated, but the project-specific code will be automatically updated, unless a manually compiled version is used.

You can control resource-sharing between projects, how many days of work to cache, and more. However, some projects have work unit deadlines, so not all can have practically infinite caches.

If you use the same email address for multiple projects, stats sites can show your total score across all projects.

--- begin minor editing ---

Currently only 2 active projects are available, but more will follow in the months to come:

1; Seti@home, will eventually take over from S@H Classic. Due to more intelligent work distribution, it is over 100% more effective than classic SETI. Berkeley supplies the source code, so everyone can compile a version if none is available beforehand. Currently the deadline is 14 days, but this shouldn't be a problem if you're crunching more than an hour per day.

In the months to come, Seti@home will expand the search with a new receiver at Arecibo. Parkes in Australia will also soon provide a completely new part of the sky to look at.

2; Predictor@home, similar in nature to Folding@home and Distributed Folding, is currently doing alpha-testing, so it can be a little unstable at times. Deadlines vary a lot, but since BOINC only downloads work units that your machine can normally handle in a reasonable amount of time, this isn't a problem.

Due to the current alpha-nature, most currently run Predictor as a second BOINC project along with SETT in case of outages. The source does not seem to be available, so Predictor will only run on platforms for which a project core is provided.

As for announced future projects:

1) Astropulse uses data from Seti@home to look for other things. The time frame for release is unknown, but it will probably be soon after the end of S@H Classic.
2) Climatepredicton.net, a project that attempts to predict weather in the future, is currently undergoing alpha-testing, with more open beta-testing probably coming when version 4 of the BOINC client is released. CPDN is giving credit during beta-tests, and is aiming for release this fall.
3) Einstein@home is aiming for beta-tests this fall and release in 2005.

I tried to clean up the first part a good bit, but the second part I just skimmed over quickly. I'm wondering what you think about keeping the individual project info with the individual projects, perhaps with only a list of projects using BOINC. This will keep the whole welcome thread organized better once more and more projects start to use BOINC (we hope, right?).

You may see a new F@H info section from me later on today if I have time to work on it. Otherwise, I'll try to have something available for your scrutinization tomorrow.

 

[Spacehead]

Originally posted by: Wolfsraider
I am a TeAm member just trying to do my part. Like so many others who dedicate time and effort everyday,and whose examples I have been fortunate enough to follow.

One thing though, Are you guys going to include amdxborgs site as well? I mean no site is safe from downtime, and by having 2 sites available that would not be as big a factor. I love the layout and design as well as the info available.It would be a great addition as well.

mike

oops a link to his site and the projects pages -very nice layout

I think that's a good idea Wolfsraider to include both sites. My opinion is thought, we should only have a link to either both of your index pages or to your projects pages. The mods might not like having too many added links in the new thread. I don't know, i've never had to deal with the mods so i don't know how much we can ask for.

 

[Smoke]

Let me throw out for consideration an idea I've had about the DC Forum's Welcome Message.

As many of you know, this message was something I came up with years ago. Keeping it updated is a real pain in the xxx. With my encouragement, Spacehead is making this valiant attempt to get it reorganized and updated once more. :thumbsup:

The idea I've been knocking around in my head for some time now is to eliminate all of the verbiage for each project. The message is uncomfortably long and growing in length as we diversify more and more. If we only had "one line" per project consisting of a link to (1) the project's main web page and (2) the TeAm's Project Specific Offsite web page (if we have one), we would have a neat, short, quick index to all of the TeAm's Projects.

The main web page for each project would provide the interested party a more complete description than any short paragraph or two that we could (or have) put up in our current Welcome Message.

The link to the TeAm's Offsite Web Page (again if there is one) would provide each newbie with all the necessary information and links to topics such as "How to Get Started", "TeAm Stats", "TeAm Project Forums (offsite), and the like. If the project doesn't currently have an offsite project specific web site, this would encourage those running the project to create one.

_________________________

Let me demonstrate an abbreviated example:

<Start off with the general welcome message similar to the current one>
<Then the following List of Projects that TeAm AnandTech participates>

Seti At Home - Seti TeAm Forum
Lifemapper
Folding At Home
and so on


After the projects are listed (one line each), we should have links to all inclusive TeAm Web Sites that encompass all of the various projects such as Wolfraider's and Amdxborg's

_________________________

That would be it ... short and sweet! We would avoid the "out of date" aspect of the current message format since there will be no team standings to report or number of members participating as mentioned earlier by Spacehead.

What do you all think of this?

 

[ProviaFan]

I'm all for it, Smoke.

How about a welcome paragraph or two, summarizing DC and the TeAm in general, and then a bulleted list with links as you suggest?

 

[Smoke]

Originally posted by: jliechty
I'm all for it, Smoke.

How about a welcome paragraph or two, summarizing DC and the TeAm in general, and then a bulleted list with links as you suggest?

Yep, that's exactly what I'm suggesting.

Let's hear from a few more interested parties. If that seems acceptable and there are no strenuous objections, I'll "make it so" <-- ala Capt. Picard. lol

 

[Wolfsraider]

Since no one else has chimed in lol I think that sounds great as well

 

[Spacehead]

I like it

 

[Rattledagger]

Sounds good. :beer:

 

[BlackMountainCow]

:thumbsup:

 

[amdxborg]

Great I like! You get my :thumbsup:!

 

[ProviaFan]

Smoke, YGPM.

 

[Smoke]

Originally posted by: jliechty
Smoke, YGPM.

Got it and it looks good. Why don't you post it here for everyone to read and make comments?

 

[ProviaFan]

Ok, since Smoke apparently wants me to post this myself...

What follows is a possible replacement for the welcome message in the DC forum. Since in the message I make various passing references to different kinds of projects in general, I really need feedback on the technical side as well as the grammar/spelling side, to make sure this is as accurate as possible.

As for the condensed project list, I'll need help with compiling that. If you're a project leader, please be considering what you want for a 5 to 10 word (or maybe a few more, just keep it short, sweet, and relatively simple) description for your project. Also, please, nothing about TeAm ranking in the project in your description. We all could use plenty of help, and that's what the link to the TeAm site will be for.

Edit #2: Also, please be considering on the more basic level, if you think I'm entirely leaving out something important, or if I'm spending too much time on something else. There's a reason I call this my "rough draft."

The project list part most likely won't be available for proofreading until tomorrow, but for now, here is what's done of my rough draft of the welcome message:

Welcome to the Team AnandTech Distributed Computing Forum! Here you will find plenty of great folks who would be glad to help you with the technical side of setting up and running distributed computing applications. You will find people who are more passionate about numbers than some mathematicians. You will find a great community who enjoy having [slightly] off topic discussions and helping each other immensely in real life.

So what is this ?distributed computing? thing anyway? Distributed computing describes a system in which client systems receive work involving calculation of some sort from a server, perform the computation, and then send the results back to the server. Thus, it is possible to employ thousands or millions of personal computers, surpassing the power of many supercomputers.

You might ask, why would I want to donate my spare CPU time and electricity to something like this? A quick overview of the variety of projects listed below may well convince you that the very small cost of electricity required to run a computer 24/7 (hint: turn off the monitor to save power) is well worth the difference you can make in your project?s area of scientific research.

Some projects look outward into space, to look for extraterrestrial life, pulsars, and other things. Others look around, to chart the development of life on the planet, or predict future weather patterns. Yet others look inward, to analyze the structure of atoms, molecules, or proteins. Each project can have a great impact on the development of science in its area, and you can help!

D2OL (team site): Designs and optimizes medicines for (various diseases?)
?
Folding@Home (team site): Analyzes protein folding to determine cause of misfolding (leading to Alzheimer?s, etc.)
?
SETI@Home (team site): Watches radio telescope signals for signs of intelligent life (and other stuff too?)

Note: the stuff in italics is an example of what I need help with in the project list, since I'm not intimately familiar with what some (most?) projects actually do.

Edit for clarity

 

[Smoke]

Well, it's been almost 24 hours since jliechty posted his draft of the Welcome Message. It appears there have been a lot of "lookers" but since no one has commented with either suggestions or complaints I believe it is time to move on to the final setup.

I'll take a shot at it.

I'll be back later with a draft containing links. We can then tweak that a little.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: Smoke
Well, it's been almost 24 hours since jliechty posted his draft of the Welcome Message. It appears there have been a lot of "lookers" but since no one has commented with either suggestions or complaints I believe it is time to move on to the final setup.

I'll take a shot at it.

I'll be back later with a draft containing links. We can then tweak that a little.

Looking forward on your final take on it.

Remember folks, if you don't speak up now, you loose all right to bitch after it goes live.

 

[Smoke]

Welcome to the Team AnandTech Distributed Computing Forum! Here you will find plenty of great folks who would be glad to help you with the technical side of setting up and running distributed computing applications. You will find people who are more passionate about numbers than some mathematicians. You will find a great community who enjoy having [slightly] off topic discussions and helping each other immensely in real life.

So what is this ?distributed computing? thing anyway? Distributed computing describes a system in which client systems receive work involving calculation of some sort from a server, perform the computation, and then send the results back to the server. Thus, it is possible to employ thousands or millions of personal computers, surpassing the power of many supercomputers.

You might ask, why would I want to donate my spare CPU time and electricity to something like this? A quick overview of the variety of projects listed below may well convince you that the very small cost of electricity required to run a computer 24/7 (hint: turn off the monitor to save power) is well worth the difference you can make in your project?s area of scientific research.

Some projects look outward into space, to look for extraterrestrial life, pulsars, and other things. Others look around, to chart the development of life on the planet, or predict future weather patterns. Yet others look inward, to analyze the structure of atoms, molecules, or proteins. Each project can have a great impact on the development of science in its area, and you can help!

The following is a quick, ready reference to each project's home page where you can read all about them.

• 
  Chess Brain
  Climate Prediction
  Community TSC
  Distributed Folding
  DPAD
  eOn
  Folding@Home
  Lifemapper Website
  OGR
  Predictor@Home
  RC5
  SB - Seventeen Or Bust
  Sengent D2OL
  Seti@Home
  Intel-United Devices Cancer Reasearch

If you would be interested in running one of our TeAm Projects, please visit our TeAm AnandTech Websites:

The Reddeye Xpress hosted by "Wolfsraider"
TeAm AnandTech DC Projects hosted by "amdxborg"

Look over the various projects. Most are very easy to set up and run, don't require 24 hour/day operation (but once addicted, you may just do that), and have almost no effect on your everyday PC(s) operations. If you have a question, please jump over to the Distributed Computing Forum and ask a question... or just say hello! You'll be glad you did, and we will, too!

 

[ProviaFan]

The link to Folding@Home is now http://folding.stanford.edu/ instead of the old one that is probably still listed in the welome thread.

Otherwise, looking good to me.

Edit: link was borked. fixed now

 

[Smoke]

Tried to fix the link and it didn't work?

Then I noticed you had a "d" in STANFORD.

lol

Edit for the late arrivals: One "d" ... not two "d"s lol

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: Smoke
Tried to fix the link and it didn't work?

Then I noticed you had a "d" in STANFORD.

lol

That's what I get for typing in a hurry. Sorry, Smoke.