Computer Donation to those willing to run F@H

I have a new idea here.
It seems that a lot of F@H contributors have a lot of computers laying around in their home doing just F@A work.
Occurs to me that, those computer can be better utilized, such as donating to someone who needs a computer to do basic internet and write papers.

It would be beneficial, if those of us that have the computers, are willing to donate to those in need. In return, those individuals who need the computer, must do their best to keep the computer on 24/7 to crunch for Distributed Computing, and preferably using the username of the donor. The idea is somewhat similar to "Adopt a rig", only that I am talking about computers based on recent technology, such as the Core 2 Duo/Quads.

At this moment, I have several computers doing just F@H or BOINC. I am willing to give out these computers to those that have a use for it, but must run the Distributed Computing program under my username.

I know that electricity would add up, but it doesn't really matter to those that would leave their computer on all the time. In addition, I am talking about the new Core 2 Duo CPUs, which is a whole lot more efficient than the Pentium 4 era.

This program would be especially suitable for those going to college or going to live in dorms where electricity is covered.

Some of the Rule's I've come up with are:
1. The donor or receiver decides who pays for shipping to the receiver. Preferably the receiver should pay.
2. The receiver must do his/her best to keep the machine on 24/7, running the distributed computing program as specified by the donor. The donor can ask the receiver to run the Distributed computing client under the donor's name.
3. The computer can be used for internet, basic word processing, etc. If the receiver is going to run "CPU intensive" tasks, it must be limited to only few hours a day, as these computers are suppose to run for Distributed computing projects.
4. Poor college students should receive priority, as well as non-profit organizations who are helping out for other causes.

Please give me any feedbacks, suggestions, and what to add to the rules.

To the moderators: If this is a good idea, please add it as a STICKY. If not, delete what's not appropriate, but please let me know why.

I think that almost fits the AAR Program pretty close.

I understand what you are trying to do. Very admirable.

If a person needs a computer that bad, they either use the Libraries or go use a friends.

We also have the BAR Program, they take donations of all denominations.

You might take a look at the BAR program a little closer.

I think it fits the Teams Bill.

LisaS said:

"It's hard to think outside the box when you work in a cubical"

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Also alot of our folding rig or rigs runs or home servers or are our back=up just in case our primary fails.

In my case primary, back-up, and daughters pc.


I agree with WarriorII

You know I was thinking about this the other day.
But I was thinking more like mi laddo at http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/
he asked for small donations for a server and got considerably more than expected.

My idea was to set up a machine on behalf of all donators. I could put a quad core folder for £300 on linux.
If a few of us chipped together we could do this. We could create a new user profile to see how much donated machines are folding.

Dont want to hijack your thread but its another option.

Actually I've been doing something similar too.
Where people can give me donation, and I will run under their username.
I got mixed results from various forums, some support, some forum banned me completely. Saying I am advertising.
Here is my temporary page:
http://www.wysiwygecafe.com/sponsored_computing/index.cfm?fuseaction=intro
To the mods: if this is not appropriate, please remove the link and not just banning me for no good reason.
Donation is donation, and if you think I can make substantial money on that, you need to tell me how its possible.

In my case, I currently own several quad core machine, and if someone donates some money, I would run it under their username. If not, they just run under my name in F@H or BOINC programs.

benscoobert said:

You know I was thinking about this the other day.
But I was thinking more like mi laddo at http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/
he asked for small donations for a server and got considerably more than expected.

My idea was to set up a machine on behalf of all donators. I could put a quad core folder for £300 on linux.
If a few of us chipped together we could do this. We could create a new user profile to see how much donated machines are folding.

Dont want to hijack your thread but its another option.

Click to expand...

I have never wanted anything in return for folding so to me asking for $ to fold is kinda weird. However I did fold for someone for a week for a NIB mx518 once.

for the team though, not for personal gain
could split the machines between trusted members

The reason why "for the team" barely works is people are mostly looking for "what's in it for me".
If a computer is donated, I don't think its too much to ask to be running under the donator's name.
I do agree that machines should be donated to "trusted members".

benscoobert said:

for the team though, not for personal gain
could split the machines between trusted members

Click to expand...

Thing is, folding costs money!
If someone wanted more points, they can donate and get it done quick.
This also helps to get more work done, because certain people live in states with lower electricity costs, or are able to get parts for lower than street price. In the end, everyone benefits.
Also, that's why the donation is just a "suggested amount", you do specify what you would like to donate.

jonspd said:

I have never wanted anything in return for folding so to me asking for $ to fold is kinda weird. However I did fold for someone for a week for a NIB mx518 once.

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chungenhung said:

Thing is, folding costs money!
If someone wanted more points, they can donate and get it done quick.
This also helps to get more work done, because certain people live in states with lower electricity costs, or are able to get parts for lower than street price. In the end, everyone benefits.
Also, that's why the donation is just a "suggested amount", you do specify what you would like to donate.

Click to expand...

That isn't the point of folding. It is to donate. When you start taking money on a regular basis, you are no longer folding for the cause but instead for the money.

over the years I cant tell you how many people have helped me fold for more points on team 32 and never asked for a think including one of the ones that has already posted.

You are missing the point.
If money is donated to where it can be BEST used, more work will be done. Just like how everythign is made in China these days. B/c they can do it cheaper.
Imaging how much trouble and more PPD would be generated if we have a room full of thousands of computers. It would be way more cost efficient.

thideras said:

That isn't the point of folding. It is to donate. When you start taking money on a regular basis, you are no longer folding for the cause but instead for the money.

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chungenhung said:

You are missing the point.
If money is donated to where it can be BEST used, more work will be done. Just like how everythign is made in China these days. B/c they can do it cheaper.
Imaging how much trouble and more PPD would be generated if we have a room full of thousands of computers. It would be way more cost efficient.

Click to expand...

I didn't miss your point, I completely understand. MY point is that most people (or at least me) don't fold for the PPD or points, they fold to find a cure, or at least something. I refuse to pay someone else to fold under my name, that is completely against why I donate my CPU cycles in the first place.

Folding is a donation.
If I run across somebody that's in need of a basic machine I do what I can to hook them up. The only stipulation is I get first refusal if they get a new machine (for the old one)

A friend hooked my wife and I with an old Pentium Pro, (D.E.C desktop to be exact) that machine is running today. It's been "donated" to 3 or 4 people already.

My crunching rigs are just that. If a friend (or friend of a friends grandmother) needs something I'll help. I won't take the chance of someone "swapping" one of my "crunchers" for a six-pack and a pack of smokes.

chungenhung,

Please Read up on any BAR Thread you can possibly get your hands on. (Search BAR)

THEN

PM cw823. (or Shelnutt2)
He is, the driving force behind the BAR Program.

If you'd like to donate a Rig to the Program, we will welcome your contribution.
If you care to make any other kind of donation, that will be welcome too.

Shelnutt2 is also a Major BAR Moderator (Per-`si).
He has authority to make decisions when it comes to that Program.

We have a process we use now.
I am not saying stop what you are doing, but we already have something.

I don't like this, and let me tell you why.

1) You don't care about the projects, which is obvious with a quick google search of your "pimping" of your services for DC projects as well as ebay.

2) You only care about the money, which I do have a problem with. I'm not going to nuke your link, as this is going to be one of the last places you'll find an interest for your services.

If you want, I can spend another 10 minutes and come up with more reasons, but I doubt that serves anything positive for either of us.

That is my opinion.

I started out with a Pentium 4 machine. Thanks to all those that donated, I have 5 quad cores, 4 dual cores, and 2 PS3s. You and I know how much it costs! Donations I receive did not even cover the 2 PS3s alone.
If there weren't any donations, I wouldn't have purchased that much PC/PS3.

The donation is just like a small supplement, as I am no rich person. I do what I can afford. I've done far more DC computing in the past 8 months than I have the past 4 yrs.

So, please do spend another 10 min to tell me more reasons.
And please tell me how I can really make money doing this. We all know CPUs aren't cheap! and does electricity and all the time it takes.
And, if I am all in for money, why would I even give out computers??? If you want one, I can give it to you, seeing that you participated this much on the forums. I found your stats, and it shows 6600PPD, or about 2 quad cores. I just checked my stats, and its about to cross 3 million points. That is not counting the BOINC programs that I run more than half of the time, as I find BOINC lot more easier to manage.
I am getting tired managing all my machines, that's why I want to give them out.

cw823 said:

I don't like this, and let me tell you why.

1) You don't care about the projects, which is obvious with a quick google search of your "pimping" of your services for DC projects as well as ebay.

2) You only care about the money, which I do have a problem with. I'm not going to nuke your link, as this is going to be one of the last places you'll find an interest for your services.

If you want, I can spend another 10 minutes and come up with more reasons, but I doubt that serves anything positive for either of us.

That is my opinion.

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chungenhung said:

I started out with a Pentium 4 machine. Thanks to all those that donated, I have 5 quad cores, 4 dual cores, and 2 PS3s. You and I know how much it costs! Donations I receive did not even cover the 2 PS3s alone.
If there weren't any donations, I wouldn't have purchased that much PC/PS3.

The donation is just like a small supplement, as I am no rich person. I do what I can afford. I've done far more DC computing in the past 8 months than I have the past 4 yrs.

So, please do spend another 10 min to tell me more reasons.
And please tell me how I can really make money doing this.

Click to expand...

There's where we have problems. You want to make money with this, but this IS a VOLUNTEER project.

Making money from a volunteer project is just a bad idea, and won't work.
Doesn't matter how hard you try, it's a poor business plan. You can not make money with this. If you want to make money, you need to see what you can do to set up a data service (like Limestone, etc.), has. There, you work with companies who NEED backup and recovery storage of critical data. Not with folding @ home, which needs nothing like that, and is run on a shoestring budget, with volunteers.

Do you see the big difference?

We all know CPUs aren't cheap! and does electricity and all the time it takes.
And, if I am all in for money, why would I even give out computers??? If you want one, I can give it to you, seeing that you participated this much on the forums. I found your stats, and it shows 6600PPD, or about 2 quad cores. I just checked my stats, and its about to cross 3 million points. That is not counting the BOINC programs that I run more than half of the time, as I find BOINC lot more easier to manage.
I am getting tired managing all my machines, that's why I want to give them out.

Click to expand...

If you want to sell your rigs, then do it. If you want to keep them, then do that. Trying to mix folding with payments, with someone else possessing, managing, and paying for power for a rig folding under someone else's name, etc., are all idea's that can lead to lots of problems.

A good idea that started here, but get way out of control.
You totally shot yourself in the foot in your own argument. You pointed out that this is a poor business plan and won't work. That is why I said I am not in for the money. If I wanted to make money, I can easily invest in some stocks or bonds in say China or India, and just sit back and see my earnings grow.

Just so you know, Folding @ Home do NEED backup and storage of critical data. Imagine how many people would be ****ed if Stanford announces that they's lost ALL folding results.

If all you want is to flame me, I might as well forget about this team and move all my machines to BOINC projects. If I really care about the money, why would I have crunched for 3 million points???!? That sure if a lot of money if I invest it.

One thing this community lacks is failure to understand the key term, "Economies of scale".

Adak said:

There's where we have problems. You want to make money with this, but this IS a VOLUNTEER project.

Making money from a volunteer project is just a bad idea, and won't work.
Doesn't matter how hard you try, it's a poor business plan. You can not make money with this. If you want to make money, you need to see what you can do to set up a data service (like Limestone, etc.), has. There, you work with companies who NEED backup and recovery storage of critical data. Not with folding @ home, which needs nothing like that, and is run on a shoestring budget, with volunteers.

Do you see the big difference?



If you want to sell your rigs, then do it. If you want to keep them, then do that. Trying to mix folding with payments, with someone else possessing, managing, and paying for power for a rig folding under someone else's name, etc., are all idea's that can lead to lots of problems.

Click to expand...

chungenhung said:

Just so you know, Folding @ Home do NEED backup and storage of critical data. Imagine how many people would be ****ed if Stanford announces that they's lost ALL folding results.

Click to expand...

Having worked for a major university, I'm pretty damn sure nothing would be lost even if the building burned down at stanford. Backups by tape or other static media, offsite, and under lock and key is the way this usually works. That is not a concern for any of us here.