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Borgasm

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satandole666

Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2004
Location
Charlotte, NC
Maybe the title isn't a clever as I thought.

Since I joined up a little over a week ago I've been thinking of computers that I have access to. I tapped out my resources (Opty 165 and a 3000+) within a few hours so I started "borging" as you guys call it.

I mentioned in my other thread that I've claimed 3 P4s at work so far, with about 5-7 more to come. I thought that was all I had until...

I went to school today (Ohio State). As I entered the computer lab for class my eyes lit up. 76 computers in one room. All 2.8ghz HT P4s, 512mb ram. I can easily install it on all of them before the end of that class. Then I remember all of the public access labs, which have between a dozen and 50 or so computers in each lab. All with comparable stats. Total for the campus is well over 1000 (guesstimate) computers that I have access to, all running 24/7. They also have a few dozen of the new quad core Mac Pros. :drool:

Before I decide to embark on this journey I have a couple questions. I tried to install F@H on the comp I sat at today. It installed, config'd, and ran fine. I set it to service and restarted. It didn't start with Windows. I'm assuming installing startup services it is blocked by the administrator. Is there an easy way around this? Also, is it possible to set flags (-forceasm most importantly) to services? I use shortcuts for my comps and it isn't installed as a service.

So, should I do it? That's a TON of PPD for team 32 (and myself, but that's just a bonus). If I do it I'd like to copy the files to a pen drive, burn a CD, or something along those lines to streamline the installation process. A sort of cookie-cutter install.
 
Yah, might want to get that first....Stanford is liable, and so are you....so if they don't want it....not a good story.
So, yah....get permission (may be a struggle) then go from there
 
Not even "might", you should definatly get permission. If you do, it could be great, and they would not be wiped out within a few days.
 
dropadrop said:
Not even "might", you should definatly get permission. If you do, it could be great, and they would not be wiped out within a few days.
yah...thats what I ment :p
plus, when you have permission, you can use the network installer, which is way easier than running around with 'stick in hand'.
 
So how do I go about persuading the OSU IT department that F@H is a good thing for their network?

It doesn't provide them with any benefit that I can think of. If anything it might increase their electric bills. If I can find a good "pitch" I'll push forward with seeking permission. Maybe I can get the medical department to give it their seal of approval or something...

Just out of curiousity...what kind of ballpark PPD could we expect from 500 2.8ghz P4s?
 
The advantage really wouldnt be to them...it would be to the scientific community.
it would take a lot of work...many people here (including me) have gotten excited thinking about borging a large campus and such...but I just never followed through....told myself they would say no before I asked....so yeah.
Good luck if you go through with it!
 
Got to have permission first. I know it's a hard sell because I've tried it, but if you don't have permisssion you risk long term damage to the project not just the team. There have already been reports of FAH coming up on virus scans because people have taken it upon themselves to borg without permisssion.

Best bet would be to start small for two reasons. First, it's easier to convince someone who is over a small set of computers. Tell him/her it is for scientific research run by Stanford and how it doesn't take away resources, etc. Second, when you ask someone else to use their computers you can point to the computers already running and say "These are folding and no one has complained yet." That will be a big help on top of the usual sales pitch.

If they ask about the cons, be honest with them. Yes your computers will use more electricity (not to much more if they are already on), and yes it will use more bandwidth. Those are usually the main concerns. The other big one I think of is the security threat. Stanford uses digitally signed workunits and encryption to prevent the client from running arbitrary code. I cannot recall an instance where this has happened either.

So with that said, good luck!
 
Start by thinking what department could use the "advertisement", and try to get permission to fold under the departments name.
Personally I would not let anyone fold under their name, as the request would directly come through as being very questionable. Alot of IT people have played around with seti or fah on their own, and would not dare to start borging the computers (even though they could be tempted).

So... If you have a medical department (or similar), present the idea in a well thought out way to the head of the department. Fold for team 32 (ofcourse), but under the universitys and departments name. We'll still treat you like a rock star here if you pull it off. :D
 
Well I did apply for a minor in Biomedical Engineering a while back. I haven't had a chance to start it yet.

I'll try to build a contact list and see what I can dig up. 56000 PPD is VERY tempting.

How many PPD are the top folders in team 32 pulling?
 
marty9876 said:
Scary, you are actually right.
believe it or not ChasR knows quite a bit about folding...
20million+ points per year...I think that would be quite nice...
 
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