Modern computers are powerful. Most have much more power than we ever need when we brows the net, send emails, write letters or even play games on multi-CPU-machines. So why don't we donate the unused capacity of our computers to a good cause, like developing new drugs, discovering cures for AIDS and cancer, compute climate models, solve technical and scientifical problems? How? Distributed computing allows your computer to work on very small chunks of a big project - using the resources of your computer you don't use anyway. You won't even notice that there's something in the background computing on protein models for example. Where to get it? Download the BOINC software here: http://boinc.berkeley.edu/ Install it, select the project(s) you want to participate in, put the program in the packground and let it do its thing. So... who's already running BOINC? Who wants to? :eatdrink047
Looks good. I'll put it on my desktop which sits idle all the time anyway since I use my laptop all the time!
I have been doing grid computing on my systems long before BOINC came onto the scene. I started off with the highly successful SETI project (setiathome) and moved over to the now defunct UD for cancer research a year later. Now I have BOINC up and running working on multiple projects, the most important of which (to me) are the medical related projects.
To me too! I don't care about the search for extraterrestrial life, but I do want to support the development of new drugs against many things. I also donate some of my capacity to climateprediction.net and to the Austrian SHA-1 collision-project.
My mind is blurry, but I'm remembering watching a speech by someone... someone in tech. He was talking about how a reporter was asking him what the next biggest thing is. He responded that how society... nah, how people in general have joined together to do these big projects. His example was Wikipedia. He and a math friend calculated that there was an amazing amount of people-hours put into this creation. He was talking about how the next huge successes/projects were going to be the ones that tapped into some of that huge potential (mostly wasted on TV.) Everyone helping a little bit. That adds up to a lot of help. This project makes me think of that. Lots of computers helping a little bit. Lots of help added for good causes.
I used to SETI then I installed BOINC and did one of the protein folding ones and then finally Folding@Home. It is a great idea!
