Folding@Home

Discuss various technical topics not related to Mozilla.
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johann_p
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Post by johann_p »

RAF wrote:Can I join the same team with the same name from different computers? I have set it up at home now to join vfwlkr's team. Can I do the same at work (or on all 50 computers at work)?


You can join any team you like just by entering the respective team number ... no matter from how many computers.
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.”
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johann_p
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Post by johann_p »

VRWCAgent wrote:Johann_p, have you run into any issues with your CPUs being maxed for months?


What kind of problems should that make? Most desktop computers consume practically the same power no matter if the CPU is idling or not. I have one of my computers running without interruption or reboot for over a year now, several month of which with the folding process and without any problem whatsoever.

VRWCAgent wrote:Btw, my first work unit has processed enough to give an estimate of when it will be completed. These buggers take a LONG time! And to think, all the stuff below assumes I'll not power off my system at all. I'm disappointed actually, but then again I have no idea what the norm is. Is this okay for an Athlon 1800XP (1.57GHz) and 512MB RAM?

Working on: p295_GROMACS core
Frames completed: 25/2500 2m:24s/frame
Next frame end: 11:57 Sun 3 Oct 04 (oops, just ended that frame!)
Work Unit End: 15:14 Thr 7 Oct 04 04d:03h:16m:48s


Well, you are folding proteins, that is a nontrivial and complex thing to do :)
However it also depends on which proteins, smaller and less complex ones are folded faster.

Anyways, you do not have to keep your PC running - the program calculates small junks (the frames) and store them ... and if you power down your PC the program will just resume with the latest frame the next time. Only if you use your PC very rarely this will not work as expected as each work package also has a deadline - if you do not finish it until then, it will be given to another user.
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VRWCAgent
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Post by VRWCAgent »

johann_p wrote:What kind of problems should that make? Most desktop computers consume practically the same power no matter if the CPU is idling or not. I have one of my computers running without interruption or reboot for over a year now, several month of which with the folding process and without any problem whatsoever.


Actually, I didn't really think it -would- be an issue. After WINfried DOWS (though I suppose I should have considered the source) concern over pegging the processor at 100% and recalling a similiar concern when the Mozilla Suite was having issues with javascript making processors max out, I figured it couldn't hurt to ask and be sure.

Anyhoo, thanks for the response. I'll just let this bad boy crank away now.
Bye. Love to all. :)
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johann_p
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Post by johann_p »

Just one more word on this: all modern OS, even Windows, are able to run several programs at the "same time" by quickly switching between running small chunks of each. The OS uses several heuristics how much CPU to allocate to each process, according to the process priorities. There is one special priority, the "idle priority" that will cause processes to run only if no other non-idle priority processes are scheduled to run (this will also happen if they all are waiting for some ressource, e.g. the harddisk). The folding task runs at that priority level and therefore, unlike an application that erronously is using up 100%, will not interfere with what you do or slow down your other processes.

And yes, "WINfried Dows" is an idiot AND a troll.
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Post by MeCasa »

Thank you, that was a concern.
Last edited by MeCasa on October 3rd, 2004, 12:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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RAF
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Post by RAF »

Thanks for the info, Johann.

@Agent: 'my' protein has about 2 days and 4 hours left to completion on a P4 2.6HT (HT turned off in BIOS of course). When I hover over the system tray icon, the tooltip reads "F@H: Working (575/2500)".

When viewed, it looks awfully complicated, but very beautiful.
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Post by johann_p »

MeCasa wrote:How is a small network affected ?

Not sure I understand your question - the program does not normally need the network. Only when a new WP or a new program/algorithm version is downloaded or a result is uploaded to the Folding servers the network is used at all. That happens every few days or so (depending on how fast your computer can finish a WP) and is a rather small amount of data (a few MB maximum).

Some qeustions might also be answered by the FAQ
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Post by Lazyhound »

RAF wrote:on a P4 2.6HT (HT turned off in BIOS of course).

Why would you turn off HT, out of curiosity?
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Post by RAF »

Lazyhound wrote:
RAF wrote:on a P4 2.6HT (HT turned off in BIOS of course).

Why would you turn off HT, out of curiosity?

Because my music player was having hickups, like when you play a bad CD in a normal player. That is unacceptable.
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Post by Nitin »

nonpareility wrote:Bad idea for laptops, IMO.

Agreed.. I had registered a couple of months ago, but my laptop couldnt handle the constant 100% load.. so I didnt complete any unit.

Now that I have a desktop, It just works fine.

For those wondering, you get listed on the team page once you've completed a work unit, which typically takes 1-3 days.

VRWCAgent wrote:Btw, my first work unit has processed enough to give an estimate of when it will be completed. These buggers take a LONG time! And to think, all the stuff below assumes I'll not power off my system at all. I'm disappointed actually, but then again I have no idea what the norm is. Is this okay for an Athlon 1800XP (1.57GHz) and 512MB RAM?
Your estimate is still preliminary.. it migt complete within two days. My work machine has the same specs.
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MeCasa
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Post by MeCasa »

Their FAQ's are not very informative. Perhaps my computer skills are lacking, but I do not want to keep on bothering you with questions. I built my own system but no matter how much I learn there is always more.

My gateway comes into a server set up in a RAID which includes all my apps etc. PC's are set up as workstations and my thought was to assign the protein to one workstation's cpu. My guess is you would treat it like any other application and open it to that PC. But since I don't understand completely I am hesitant.

I'm going to detach the station from the net, stick in a dial up modem, plug it into a phone line and d/l to that individual machine. That should give me some basic understanding and then I can proceed.

I realize I am being overly cautious but I'm just tired of tearing things up because I had another "brilliant idea".

Sometimes the More you Learn, the Less you Know.

Either way, thank you for your help, I got it covered :-)
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Post by remline »

nonpareility wrote:Bad idea for laptops, IMO.

I've run F@H on my IBM Thinkpad for 2 years and its still ticking along fine. Granted, its not exactly the fastest machine in the world for doing F@H, but I haven't had any problems with it.

Some schools of thinking actually say that running the processor 100% all the time is good for the components, as the heating/cooling cycles are what really is bad over time for computer pieces. I haven't seen any stats on whether this is true or not, but it makes for a nice theory! :)
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johann_p
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Post by johann_p »

I think whether you want to run this on a laptop is a matter of taste: since your laptop will save power when it is idling and F@H will prevent it from idling, you will use more power, generate more heat, and have the fan go on more often, more loudly. If all this is fine with you, why not. After all using a laptop shouldn't damage it ... :)
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Post by Nitin »

RAF_moz joined.. we're now at Rank 7835
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Post by RAF »

RAF_moz_work has 18 pc's running as we speak! It's convenient that I am admin at work, there seems to be no way to get through proxy servers, according to their forum. But an admin can bypass all that and make his network very vulnerable from the outside for a good cause..
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