what is this?

l3ored

Senior member
May 25, 2003
569
0
0
what is seti@home, prime95, etc.? basically what is "distributed computing"?
 

l3ored

Senior member
May 25, 2003
569
0
0
uhh thats a bit too much to read, would you mind just summing up distributed computing to me?
 

JetBlack69

Diamond Member
Sep 16, 2001
4,580
1
0
Well, instead of having a very powerful computer crunching data, projects distribute the load to smaller computers, like desktops. For example, SETI@Home searches for ET (and maybe some other stuff). They scan the sky looking for signals (radio waves and stuff) and try to find patterns or signs of ET intelligence. That's HUGE amounts of data to scan through, so they chop the data into pieces and send it to the program you download from them. Then, the program you downloaded does all the work and sends the results back to the server.

For some programs, you have to be online all the time, like ChessBrain. Others you don't, like Distributed Folding.

BTW, I haven't done SETI in a while, so I'm not sure if that is accurate.
 

DanC

Diamond Member
Jun 2, 2000
5,553
0
0
It's booze, babes, and hot-tubs - and the best project is DPAD.

Chicks dig DC.