DU Folding@Home - Thread #9 - Put your PC to work to fight disease!

[Roland99]

This is the next thread for the DU Folding@Home team. The FreeRepublic team is still pulling ahead of us. They have about 3 times the CPUs we have. Team DU needs YOUR help!

For those of you still wondering what this is all about, Folding@Home is one of many active Distributed Computing projects. DC projects utilize your PC's idle time to process work units for the project. The most famous DC project is probably the SETI@Home project (mentioned in the movie Contact). Folding@Home's purpose is to help scientists determine how proteins fold under various conditions in an effort to help cure diseases (cancer, alzheimer's, etc.) This is a very worthwhile project and one certainly worthy of leaving your PC on 24/7.

Some may be concerned about leaving a PC on 24/7 and the costs involved. A newer PC running a full load will use about the same amount of electricity as two lamps left on 24/7. That is to say, not a lot. Personally, I have a Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop that has been running SETI@Home (and now Folding@Home) 24/7 for over 4 years. I have an HTPC (Home Theater PC) running 24/7 and another (dual-CPU) I keep in my bedroom.

Security-wise, running a DC app (even a non-BOINC app) is very safe. I've not heard of any hacker gaining access to any PC via a corrupted DC app or work unit. Just be sure to download the apps from the site's main page and you should have nothing to worry about.

As for Team DU, we are falling further and further behind the Freepers (who have about 3 times the # of active CPUs running). While this project has much greater benefits of helping humankind, it would also be great to catch up to and pass the Freepers!

There are various clients available at the Folding@Home download page including CLI (Command Line Interface - DOS) and GUI (Graphical User Interface - pretty pictures) for Windows-based PCs, Linux console, and Mac OS X GUI, CLI, and Screensaver clients. Personally, I run the Windows-based CLI as it allows for faster crunching of work units (no graphics displays to slow it down).

All of the apps will only use a PC's idle processing time. I've been doing a boatload of video conversion of 16GB HDTV recordings down to 2GB AVI files (for copies of sports events for some friends) and have not seen any issues with performance with the F@H client running or not.

Below is a screenshot of what the CLI setup process looks like. It only requires input from you to specify your:





User name Enter whatever you want your name to be. This could be your DU screenname, for example. Mine is Conjur, for the name of a company I used to have (and my blog is named after)

Team Number <0> <---- VERY IMPORTANT Enter 48157. That is the DU F@H team number. Any work unit processed will be associated with Team DU. If you leave this blank, any work units will be assigned to a generic non-team.

You can press <Enter> to accept the defaults for the rest of the options but I make a couple of small changes:

Launch automatically at machine startup, installing this as a service (yes/no) <---- Type y and press <Enter>. NOTE: - ONLY select this if you are running Windows 2000, XP, or 2003. Windows 95/98/ME will not install an application as a service. You'll want to put a shortcut to the F@H client in your Startup folder manually.

Change advanced options (yes/no) <---- Type y and press <Enter>

Interval, in minutes, between checkpoints (3-30) <15> <---- Type 5 and press <Enter>
I just use 5 min. so it writes out checkpoints more often in case the PC locks up for some reason it won't have to redo so much work upon restart.

Machine ID (1-8) <---- Type 1 for the 1st instance of F@H on your PC. If you have a PC with multiple CPUs, install a copy of F@H into another folder (such as F@H2, F@H3, etc.) for each additional CPU in your PC. When prompted on those other installations of the F@H client, enter the appropriate Machine ID here.

So, that's it in a nutshell.

DU's current statistics are:

Date of last work unit 2006-02-24 19:18:55
Active CPUs within 50 days 316
Team Id 48157
Grand Score 607732 (certificate)
Work Unit Count 4219 (certificate)
Team Ranking (incl. aggregate) 526 of 42950
Home Page http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/
Fast Teampage URL http://fah-web.stanford.edu/teamstats/team48157.html

But the Freepers are WAY ahead of us

Join the fight against disease and have some (statistical) fun along the way!


Thread #7
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=299849&mesg_id=299849

Thread #8
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=396309

[liberaltrucker]

1. 3 WUs working on #4

:toast:

[mia]

2. Folding flash film

http://short-media.com/files/thraxfoldingflash/
It's an easy way to do a lot of good for mankind.

I'm on my second work unit(WU).

[corporate_mike]

49. Another good folding clip

http://www.hel-razor.com/FoldingForOurFuture.html

[populistdriven]

3. done! :)

[corporate_mike]

4. #524 (with 316 CPUs) - FREEPers #197 (with 923 CPUs) -Kos #1,049 (82 CPUs)

[Mabus]

5. Vote number 5 - how did you know?

I was just thinking it was about time to start a new thread. Thanks for Roland99! :hi:

[On the Road]

6. Finally Got Around to Signing Up

we'll catch up with those freepers yet.

[mia]

7. Yes we will!

:kick:

[corporate_mike]

10. We certainly will - this is a long term project

FREEPers will lose interest and give up within a few weeks/months.

We're here for many years to come.

Let's go DU!! More CPUs!!

[Roland99]

8. Great to see new members joining up! One other thing to remember...

If you plan on installing F@H on a PC at your place of employment, GET PERMISSION FIRST.

PLEASE!

[Mabus]

9. #522 and climbing!

Date of last work unit 2006-02-25 08:15:59
Active CPUs within 50 days 314
Team Id 48157
Grand Score 614932 (certificate)
Work Unit Count 4276 (certificate)
Team Ranking (incl. aggregate) 522 of 42956

[porkrind]

11. K & R !!!

[corporate_mike]

21. K&R

[Brundle_Fly]

12. 24 folded so far for me.

Glad to be on board, please if you haven't already, join up!

[corporate_mike]

13. #517 (with 314 CPUs) - FREEPers #195 (with 929 CPUs) -Kos #1,043 (82 CPUs)

We dropped 2 CPUs :(

[corporate_mike]

14. RedState.com also has a team (#1,593 with 33 CPUs)

http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=teampage&teamnum=48064

[gilpo]

15. I have my 5 cpus chugging away

[mia]

17. Go gilpo!

:kick:

[Roland99]

55. Awesome!!

[Mabus]

16. #514 (314 CPUs and 4,321 WUs)

Date of last work unit 2006-02-25 21:14:29
Active CPUs within 50 days 314
Team Id 48157
Grand Score 624761 (certificate)
Work Unit Count 4321 (certificate)
Team Ranking (incl. aggregate) 514 of 42964

[Cadfael]

18. Is there a way....

to switch over from the GUI to the CLI? I never look at the screen saver anyway..

[lakeguy]

27. i did that...

i just stoped the GUI and started the CLI after i downloaded it. you have to delete the GUI icon from your startup folder if you had that option when you installed it. otherwise just change the startup option while the GUI is running so it won't start up the next time you reboot. i went from 1 WU every 3 mins (when i'm not working on the PC) to 1 about every 2 minutes when i changed from the GUI interface to the plain old dos looking window. nice!

[Wrinkle_In_Time]

105. And run the CLI from the same working directory...

...if you want it to pick up an incomplete WU (or just configure the GUI to stop when the current WU is complete.

[corporate_mike]

19. #510 (with 314 CPUs) - FREEPers #194 (with 933 CPUs) -Kos #1,033 (83 CPUs)

[corporate_mike]

20. FREEPers move up 1 spot, we move up 7, Kos up by 10

[Mabus]

22. # 503 - Breaking into the Top 500!

in just a little over two months. Congratulations to everyone who is participating, those who have participated and those that will join us.

:party: :toast: :party:

Date of last work unit 2006-02-26 16:16:52
Active CPUs within 50 days 316
Team Id 48157
Grand Score 633819 (certificate)
Work Unit Count 4365 (certificate)
Team Ranking (incl. aggregate) 503 of 42981

:applause: :woohoo: :applause: :woohoo:

[corporate_mike]

23. We're #500

http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=teampage&teamnum=48157

[Mabus]

24. We've come along way

and yet, we have only just begun. I ran SETI for close to seven years. I intend to fold with every computer I buy until the day it is no longer needed.

Way to go DU!

:applause: :woohoo: :woohoo: :applause:

[corporate_mike]

34. This is a long-term battle. In the end, we will win!

Top 400 in 14 days

http://fahstats.com/tr.php?t=48157

[alfredo]

25. Kick

Keep on folding

[corporate_mike]

26. #498 (with 316 CPUs) - FREEPers #190 (with 939 CPUs) -Kos #1,032 (82 CPUs)

[Roxy66]

28. I have a 10,000 protein.....is this common?

[mia]

29. It sounds huge!

What is the ratio that shows when you check your work unit's progress?
Mine is 339/400, for example.

[Roxy66]

30. Ratio....

5300/10000. It does seem huge. I was wondering what the largest protein has been so far. Good morning, by the way. :)

[corporate_mike]

32. which project? see link to project summary

http://fah-web.stanford.edu/psummary.html

[Roxy66]

36. Project....... Pretty BIG!

# 2107 (p2107_lambda_5way_melt_4_10011)

1258 Atoms
404.00 Points

[Mabus]

33. My husband's machine is working on one of those

His WU is project 2107 which has 1,258 atoms and worth 404 points. He is busy cranking it out on an older machine running the Win 98SE platform. He's only been working on it since Saturday but is almost 70% done. I'm working on 1809 and am about 45% done.

There's four projects listed as having 126006 atoms (projects 1477,1478, 1479 and 1481).

And good morning to you! :hi:

[KAZ]

39. I finished up 2107 this morning.

I'm getting confused on how they are assigning these things.

[Roxy66]

40. Did you read the description....?

http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/allprojects#2107

[KAZ]

41. No I didn't. Thanks for reminding me ....

...why I'm doing this. Sincerely. I was just so upset that Moebius got so far ahead of me. :)

[Roxy66]

42. It's pretty cool......

We're actually accomplishing a lot

[Mabus]

45. I think they are randomly assigned

I've had WUs of all sizes. The only thing I do is check to see what I'm currently folding.

[KAZ]

38. That's all I've been getting lately.

I have 2 PCs running P2106 right now, and it's underrated I tell ya. Not sure why they sent the same protein twice.

[corporate_mike]

31. #494 (with 318 CPUs) - FREEPers #188 (with 940 CPUs) -Kos #1,024 (81 CPUs)

[wicket]

35. I'm all signed up, and in fact, finished a WU overnight

:kick:

[Roxy66]

37. Projects 2106/2107.......Huge!!!!

http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/allprojects#2107

Projects 2106-2107

Projects 2106 and 2107 are an extension of projects 2102 and 2103. The previous two were designed to use a flashy new kind of solvent model with power heretofore unknown to mere mortals assigning projects to Folding@home.

The current project (2106) is an attempt to discern just how much power is necessary. Both 2106/2107 and 2102/2103 attempt to simulate the presence of water molecules in the trajectory: if we don't have to solve Newton's second law for thousands of water molecules, we can save a lot of time and use that time to solve those equations for the protein atoms: more protein folding gets done. The solvent model used in 2106 is called a "distance-dependent dielectric" which is based on the physical fact that two charges with stuff between them (like water molecules) exert less force on one another than two charges with nothing between (like in vacuum). Thus, the forces between charges (say, between two atoms in the protein) are decreased more with distance than you would predict using the simple form of Coulomb's law found in most introductory physics textbooks.

Note that the time we save by replacing the explicit water molecules with an implicit model will eventually help us to study larger and larger proteins -- big proteins like HIV reverse transcriptase and viruses.

This project, together with 2102/2103, will help us to answer the questions: how much solvent detail do we need, and can we enjoy a simulation speed-up using implicit water while still obtaining physically meaningful results? If the answer to the latter is yes (and surely it is to some degree), then 2106 versus 2102/2103 will help us to answer the question of how much detail we can dispense with: do we need sophisticated implict solvent models, or will simpler ones suffice?

Points and deadlines:
p2106 points 202, days 57
p2107 points 404, days 114

This is so cool......This is why the book "Genius...The Life And Science Of RICHARD FEYNMAN" was assigned to me for a creative interpretation class.

I'm working on #2107.....(6400/10000)

[alfredo]

50. I've had two big WU in a row. I'm on an old machine so they took

a couple weeks each. I have 524 points with three WU's. the first WU was small, 40 points.

[ornotna]

43. I'm folding as fast as i can

30 WU and two active processors running.

[Roxy66]

46. I only have one computer in the house....but it's working hard

:):toast:

[alfredo]

44. I just switched over to the CLI

As much as I love the pretty pictures, I want speed.

BTW 322 CPU's Ranked 494

[Roxy66]

47. How did you switch?

[alfredo]

48. I downloaded the CLI client, installed it.

I shut down the graphical client then launched the CLI client. I took the graphical client off the launch items list, and added the CLI client so it will launch at boot up.

[Mabus]

61. Just did the same thing

As much I like the screensaver I'd rather forego if it optimizes my folding speed.

[alfredo]

63. Not sure how much difference it will make on a fast, powerful

machine, but I bet it will help on this old iron I am running.

[Mabus]

64. I won't know either

I don't have a fast or powerful machine. Mine's an older machine (Pentium III), so every little bit helps.

[alfredo]

65. You can adjust how much CPU it uses and adjust the maximum time

you can work on a unit.

I'm on a Mac so I don't know how they do it on a Windows machine (assuming you have a Windows machine)

[Mabus]

66. I just found some tweaking advise on an old thread

but it didn't apply to my XP Home edition. I set it up the way conjur suggested in the opening post.

[alfredo]

67. Good.

I'm pretty happy with the set up I have right now. Folding has been slow because I have been ripping some DVD's.

[Mabus]

51. #493 (322 CPUs and 4480 WUs completed)

Date of last work unit 2006-02-27 22:08:24
Active CPUs within 50 days 322
Team Id 48157
Grand Score 658989 (certificate)
Work Unit Count 4480 (certificate)
Team Ranking (incl. aggregate) 493 of 43022

[Roland99]

52. Kick, kick, kickity kick!

[corporate_mike]

73. k, k

[corporate_mike]

90. kick

[corporate_mike]

53. #488 (with 321 CPUs) - FREEPers #185 (with 940 CPUs) -Kos #1,010 (81 CPUs)

[Roland99]

54. We need more! More! MORE!!! Join the DU Folding Team!

:D

[mcscajun]

56. Kicking for our DU Team! 483 -- Well Done!

Looking forward as always, DUers!

More CPUs!!!

[corporate_mike]

57. #486 (with 321 CPUs) - FREEPers #185 (with 943 CPUs) -Kos #1,008 (81 CPUs)

Kos to enter the Top 1000 soon.

[Mabus]

58. Welcome back

We've missed you. :hi: Good to see you posting again.

[corporate_mike]

59. #482 (with 321 CPUs) - FREEPers #180 (with 950 CPUs) -Kos #1,006 (81 CPUs)

[lakeguy]

60. added two more cpus today...

4 total, but i'd only count one as a "current" processor. they all work fine though, even the older ones!

[Mabus]

62. Way to go lakeguy

Every CPU helps. Wish I had more to put to work.

[mcscajun]

68. Side note...and a question to anyone who has a clue on this...

I was looking back to prior Folding@Home threads, and on looking at Thread #7, I came across this oddity:

The thread Subject is blank, the original poster blank (0 posts) - (inactive user)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=299849&mesg_id=299849

Anyone have a thought on what happened here?

"inactive user" ??? that's a new one on me.

[corporate_mike]

69. Not sure -- could it be that NY_liberal went inactive?

I think she started the team and the first few folding threads.

[mcscajun]

70. Nope...not her, I checked the first thread. Not showing that sign.

Weird.

I'm not even so curious as to Who might have gone inactive (although that is curious as well) as that I've never seen this and the effect it has on the original post of a thread.

[Mabus]

75. It seems to be something that happened when they archived the thread

In fact, on several of the old folding threads, the first few posts are empty. I know that you started a couple of them and I know you aren't inactive. It must be related to the archiving? :shrug:

[mcscajun]

84. Must be...and you're right...Unless two weeks MIA counts as "Inactive"

and that'd be just dreadful.

[Mabus]

86. Okay, so maybe we overreacted when we put out that APB on you

while you were away. We won't do it again.

[mcscajun]

87. Ha!

:rofl:

[corporate_mike]

71. #477 (with 323 CPUs) - FREEPers #180 (with 953 CPUs) -Kos #994 (79 CPUs)

[alfredo]

72. Keep on folding.

I am pretty happy with running the CLI client.

[Mabus]

74. Now #469

Date of last work unit 2006-03-03 08:23:35
Active CPUs within 50 days 323
Team Id 48157
Grand Score 712029 (certificate)
Work Unit Count 4746 (certificate)
Team Ranking (incl. aggregate) 469 of 43078

[alfredo]

76. Thanks for the kick and

info on rank and CPU's

[Mabus]

77. I did it for you

and the team. We gotta get more CPUs and visibility helps.

[Roland99]

78. Oh, I'm feelin' the love now!

[Mabus]

79. Ahhhhh, shucks

:loveya: all of you :grouphug:


:blush:

[Roland99]

80. he he...but...Hey! Watch where you're putting that hand!

;)

[Mabus]

81. To make up for it, I'm recruiting Kansans

I'm asking them to fold for Judy, a Democratic representative from Winfield, Kansas who, dying of cancer, made a trip to a special legislative session with the intent to vote for more money for education. The GOP held up the vote for another day and Judy's body gave out before it arrived. I'm asking them to join the folding team for Judy.

[Roland99]

82. Bravo! Bravo!

[alfredo]

83. You know there is some turnover in people who post here.

We need to come back in a month or two and re-ignite a membership drive to enlist new DU members. At this point we may have gotten all we can get with this first push. Membership has slowed, but still growing at a slower pace.

We need to make sure people who take part, also have links in their sig line. We also must make sure they have their client set to start automatically. If they don't, soon they will forget to launch the client.

[corporate_mike]

85. #469 (with 324 CPUs) - FREEPers #180 (with 967 CPUs) -Kos #979 (79 CPUs)

[alfredo]

88. 463 Ranking with 325 CPU's If you haven't joined. Please do.

[corporate_mike]

89. #463 (with 325 CPUs) - FREEPers #177 (with 967 CPUs) -Kos #976 (78 CPUs)

[alfredo]

93. 327 CPU's and 460 ranking.

When will the number of CPU's pass the ranking?

[mcscajun]

91. Sunday morning stats: Rank: 461 - CPUS: 327

Date of last work unit:      2006-03-05 06:17:05
Active CPUs within 50 days:      327
Team ID:      48157
Grand Score:      740702
Work Unit Count:      4895
Team Ranking (incl. aggregate):      461 of 43098

[Suziq]

92. I Joined A Week Ago

Working on my 3rd WU. :hi:

[corporate_mike]

94. Excellent

[Mabus]

95. #458 (327 CPUs)

Date of last work unit 2006-03-05 14:16:04
Active CPUs within 50 days 327
Team Id 48157
Grand Score 745737 (certificate)
Work Unit Count 4933 (certificate)
Team Ranking (incl. aggregate) 458 of 43102

[corporate_mike]

96. we're moving up - - - slowly but surely

[mcscajun]

97. Some interesting information for y'all

Please pass it along.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=579120&mesg_id=579120

[Mabus]

98. I was the first to nominate it

Good thinking mcscajun. That's why we put out the aforementioned APB on you. :P

[Mabus]

99. #457 (328 CPUs)

Date of last work unit 2006-03-06 08:15:57
Active CPUs within 50 days 328
Team Id 48157
Grand Score 756461 (certificate)
Work Unit Count 4992 (certificate)
Team Ranking (incl. aggregate) 457 of 43115

Keep on folding!

[Vox_Reason]

100. 5000 points, 32 WU's.

I'm 2900 frames into 10,000-frame project 2107.

Fold on, DUers!

Date of last work unit: 2006-03-06 16:12:33
Active CPUs within 50 days: 327
Grand Score: 761076
Work Unit Count: 5016
Team Ranking: 455 of 43121

[alfredo]

101. You're going to get a lot of points for that one.

I'm half way through a 400 frame WU. Low points, but that's OK.

[Vox_Reason]

102. Yeah, but it's going to take me until late tomorrow to finish.

Would I possibly accumulate more points in the same period with smaller WUs? Possibly--but the results of my crunching are useful for science--and that's what it's all about.

GO DU FOLDERS!

[alfredo]

103. You have a much newer, more powerful machine than I.

Mine is 6 years old 450 dual processor Mac. I figure it is equal to an 800 single processor machine.

[mia]

104. 3361/20000 - 6 days

It will take about 6 more weeks at this rate. The numbers were climbing twice as fast on the first day.

[corporate_mike]

106. #449 (with 328 CPUs) - FREEPers #173 (with 973 CPUs) -Kos #955 (76 CPUs)

[alfredo]

107. Looks good.

keep on keeping on.

[Roland99]

108. Looks like we'll be needing a new thread soon.

Perhaps tomorrow evening I'll kick off the next one. :)

[Mabus]

109. Good deal

I'll keep an eye out for it.

[mcscajun]

110. Go for it, Roland!

:)

[corporate_mike]

114. this one is getting long now

[Mabus]

111. #444

Date of last work unit 2006-03-07 22:15:53
Active CPUs within 50 days 328
Team Id 48157
Grand Score 781278 (certificate)
Work Unit Count 5124 (certificate)
Team Ranking (incl. aggregate) 444 of 43144


:applause: :woohoo: :woohoo: :applause:

Keep it people, it is for a great cause.

[corporate_mike]

112. #436 (with 328 CPUs) - FREEPers #173 (with 977 CPUs) -Kos #947 (76 CPUs)

[Mabus]

113. Wow - that was a huge overnight jump

Way to go.

[alfredo]

115. 328 CPU's ranked at 431

Not bad at all.

[Mabus]

116. 429 (328 CPUs)

Date of last work unit 2006-03-09 18:16:30
Active CPUs within 50 days 328
Team Id 48157
Grand Score 810532 (certificate)
Work Unit Count 5268 (certificate)
Team Ranking (incl. aggregate) 429 of 43177

[alfredo]

117. tks for the kick and info.

[corporate_mike]

118. #425 (with 328 CPUs) - FREEPers #168 (with 987 CPUs) -Kos #932 (75 CPUs)

[alfredo]

119. We have 330 CPU's now. Ranked 423

I am pretty happy with running the command line client.

[Mabus]

120. #420 with 329 CPU's

Date of last work unit 2006-03-11 11:15:50
Active CPUs within 50 days 329
Team Id 48157
Grand Score 830711 (certificate)
Work Unit Count 5371 (certificate)
Team Ranking (incl. aggregate) 420 of 43199

[alfredo]

121. sooner or later we will need a new thread.

This one is getting big.

[mcscajun]

124. Go for it, alfredo!

Somebody's gotta. :)

[alfredo]

125. I just got in. I will start it in the morning if someone else hasn't.

[corporate_mike]

122. #418 (with 329 CPUs) - FREEPers #168 (with 988 CPUs) -Kos #927 (75 CPUs)

[mcscajun]

123. 417 with 330 CPUs have accomplished much: 5,397 WUs completed!!

Date of last work unit:      2006-03-11 18:14:49
Active CPUs within 50 days:      330
Team ID:      48157
Grand Score:      836777
Work Unit Count:      5397
Team Ranking (incl. aggregate):      417 of 43206

[corporate_mike]

126. Make that 5450 WUs

[alfredo]

127. 329 CPU's ranked 414

[alfredo]

128. Thread # 10 up and running

Please post to the new thread.

go here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x646990