A general question

[xerox]

Hi everyone,

I have a general question in regards to all of these distributed computing themes. It's great that we can make our PC's work for such good causes. But a question that I have and may be many others have already asked, I am sure, is has anyone broken down the programs to see what info is being sent back to these institutions?

[Kov-Ice]

Although I don't have a solid answer, my guess is yes. For example, Folding@Home is pretty widely used. MaximumPC Magazine has endorsed the program by running a big article on how to tweak the program and by starting their own Folding team. I'm sure their experts piece-by-pieced the program before doing either. HERE is a link with tons of reputable write-ups.

[james8547]

I also don't have a definitive response. But I am almost certain that the info being sent back are just the folding results (no more, no less) for a couple of reasons.

Well 1st off, the university sponsoring the program is Stanford. It's a well-respected institution.

Secondly, the Pande group (Stanford's Chemsitry Dept. that heads the program) seems to be a group of valid individuals. If you google their names, you get some of their bio info and papers that they wrote.

[xerox]

No doubt about it that all of them are backed by reputable institutions, which makes us all at ease... Think me got to join F@Home

[Kov-Ice]

We'd be glad to have ya!

[Spooky Man G]

what exactly does the thing "fold" and what kind of data is the result of this "folding" process? obviously not laundry

[Kov-Ice]

Scientists are basically simulating the process proteins go through in order to find what causes some to misfold, which can then lead to several different types of diseases. Your computer would be sending back data on how your particular protein 'folded' so that they can study that and then search for a possible cause. Look in the 'Info to Know' thread for the Folding@Home website. You can get tons of details once you get there!

[xerox]

Ok this a bit of the topic, is there anyway that the screensavers can damage a TFT if it is on all day?

[Force Flow]

It's no different than somone using the monitor all day. It won't wear it out any more or less.

[bigandy]

Originally posted by xerox Ok this a bit of the topic, is there anyway that the screensavers can damage a TFT if it is on all day?

Does the screensaver fold as long as the PC is on, or just when the screensaver is on?

[Force Flow]

Yes, it folds while the screensaver is on. Only thing is that since some processing power needs to be used on the screensaver, that much less can be used for folding

[DarkHorse]

The current incarnation of these Distributed Computing proggies has them running continuously in the background, rather than implementing a 'screensaver' program that only ran when you were away from you computer long enough to start the screensaver.

This is why some people disable screensavers altogether when using F@H, preferring to let the monitor go into Sleep mode and save the processing power for the program.

[Kov-Ice]

Right. I believe the screensaver is more cosmetic than anything with F@H. It just shows different pictures of the proteins you are folding.

[james8547]

I think that the screensaver are just random and not the pictures of the proteins. I've used it before I started using the text console. The text console folds faster in my experience.