T3h BiLL
Ya, It's A '68.
join:2003-11-18
Mountain Home, ID |  What are you guys doing?
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T3h BiLL
Ya, It's A '68.
join:2003-11-18
Mountain Home, ID | So what is it doing with my computer? i dont get it all i see is molecules. Im not really helping find a cure when its just running a program like that. i dont get it | |
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rusdi
American V
Premium,MVM
join:2001-04-28
Flippin, AR
clubs:
1 edit | Re: What are you guys doing? said by T3h BiLL  :
So what is it doing with my computer? i dont get it all i see is molecules. Im not really helping find a cure when its just running a program like that. i dont get it
"What does Folding@Home do? Folding@Home is a distributed computing project which studies protein folding, misfolding, aggregation, and related diseases. We use novel computational methods and large scale distributed computing, to simulate timescales thousands to millions of times longer than previously achieved. This has allowed us to simulate folding for the first time, and to now direct our approach to examine folding related disease."
The client will use spare CPU cycles,(when you are not using them for any other programs), (this happens automagically, it is VERY unobtrusive), to crunch work units & return them to Stanford University, to add to others.
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For my Mom
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| RayW
Premium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
clubs:
 ·XMission
| said by T3h BiLL :
So what is it doing with my computer? i dont get it all i see is molecules. Im not really helping find a cure when its just running a program like that. i dont get it
You have to understand what distributed computing is. In a nut shell, it is a bunch of processors running a tiny bit of code and data, that will eventually be combined with other tiny bits and pieces to give a meaningful result.
Imagine if you will 20 people doing a new driveway. Any one person does not look like he is doing any good, but when you look at them all, you see the driveway being built.
You are right, what you would be doing if you join us or another group is worthless when looked at out of context. It is a tiny fraction of a second of a partial protein action in a specific environment that might occur in real life. But you take all the processors and all the units we do and tie it together, you have a computer simulation of the complete reaction that cannot reasonably be done on any supercomputer without a large cost. We are using waste time that any PC that interfaces with a relatively slow organic organism (people) will have.
Since us organic organisms depend on (among other things) the correct response of proteins to avoid certain malfunctions, this is one way of exploring why those malfunctions take place in hopes of effecting a cure.
So if you expecting a huge rush like skiing a 5000 foot drop in 40 inches of fresh powder (or whatever you do for excitement), you will be disappointed, go elsewhere. If you just like to feel good knowing that you helped to either find a possible cure, extend knowledge, or even just eliminate a false hope, then this is something you can do.
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I am not lost, I find myself every time. | |
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DSLDUDE
Got The Folding Farm Itch
Premium
join:2002-01-07
Norcross, GA
clubs: | Re: What are you guys doing? Couldn't have said it better with someone else saying it for me! | |
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T3h BiLL
Ya, It's A '68.
join:2003-11-18
Mountain Home, ID
| Well guys by the time you wrote all these great responses i already downloaded fah and let it run for about 6 hours while i went out and partied with my friends. i dont see what the big deal is with just letting that little program in the back run while my computer is on, at least now when my mom complains at me "shut the thing off, its wasting power!" i can just tell her its not wasting power its finding the cure for cancer. that will get a good reaction out of her. i dont know how to do the team stuff and what not but i have no problem at all with letting this thing run. oh and by the way how come it took those 6 hours just to do 67/400 of the WU? I have a amd 2500 xp with 512 ddr ram. | |
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simplykristi
Cancer Sucks
Premium
join:2001-11-28
Metro KC | Believe it or not, by running the FAH, your pc will be helping to find cures  I have been doing DC projects since Feb. 2002.
Kristi | |
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PeteC2
Got Mouse?
Premium,MVM
join:2002-01-20
Bristol, CT
clubs:
·AT&T Yahoo
| T3h BiLL, many people here have different "reasons" for doing this, and I would gather that for most of us, it is an "internal" thing. Won't be any parades, or thanks, or obvious stuff. We may make an important contribution to a cure for a deadly disease...and never know it.
For me...well, I'm not a hot-shot reasearcher, or a doctor (though I've played one on the web  ). The thought that somehow I can contribute something meaningful, albeit small, is motivation enough for me.
The "team stuff" is more for the fun of it. Following your stats, points etc., is really just for "fun". Some get into it, some don't...I'm in the middle...Like to see how much I've contributed, but I would do this without that stuff anyway. The forum is just a nice place for team members to "socialize", discuss the FAH project, or more often, just to relax and enjoy each other's company...again, some post here often, but many members just quietly fold, and go their own way...
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PeteC2
Got Mouse?
Premium,MVM
join:2002-01-20
Bristol, CT
clubs: | Sorry T3h BiLL....forgot to mention......."Beware the Train, and the Clown!":o
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Re: What are you guys doing?
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