[davidflas]

I'd like to do my part for team macnn, which team should I join? I have a G4/466 with 896MB of ram to add to the effort. I'm a member of the seti team, and I have about 300 units there, but I stopped crunching when I switched to OSX. I did this because I couldn't figure out how to get the same crunch times as I did in classic. I used to get 10-12 hour times, but using the gui version minimized into the dock, I get 24 hour times, any suggestions? Switch to another team effort? I read the seti optimization suggestions and I guess I missed something. Any feedback about my situation would be appreciated. Thanks

David

[Tigerabbit]

Originally posted by davidflas:
<STRONG>I did this because I couldn't figure out how to get the same crunch times as I did in classic. I used to get 10-12 hour times, but using the gui version minimized into the dock, I get 24 hour times, any suggestions?
</STRONG>

Have you tried the CLI version for X? Destructions here, and optimizing here. Granted, it's not a nice pretty screensaver, but then you can set the Energy Saver control panel to turn off the screen after 10 or 15 minutes of inactivity instead to save some power.

If SETI is no longer your thing, RC5 is optimized for G4s. You could give it a whirl.

Of course, the folks in Folding@home , Distributed Folding and Übero folks would love to have you aboard; but I'll make them plead their own cases.

If you decide on another project, you can always donate the completed SETI units to the team by joining. Just go here to start the process.


Hope this helps, and welcome aboard.

[discstickers]

Here, here! RC5 is the way to go.

[gumby5647]

SETI does indeed run slower if minimized to the dock. Therefore...only run SETI when you are away from your computer.

Set up a hot corner for the screen saver and just move your mouse to that corner when you leave. And, as always, make sure screen goes blank after 1 min and your system does go to sleep (big slow down). And make sure no other programs are hogging the CPU when you leave.

My 433Mhz G4 gets'm done at a maximum of 16 hours. they are usually around 13-15 hours though.

[jbcool]

Originally posted by davidflas:
<STRONG>I'd like to do my part for team macnn, which team should I join? Any feedback about my situation would be appreciated. Thanks

David</STRONG>

Glad to have you aboard. Any team that you decide to going will appreciate your help. The nice thing about TeamMacNN is that they let you choose which project is best for you.

Here are my observations/opinnions.

Ubero - Currently a waste of time, all data has been crunched, not a great project for Mac machines.

Seti - Slim change of finding anything. Good project for Mac machine.

RC5 - An advertisement for a security company. Team can win money if one of it's team members finds the key. Good project for Mac.

Folding@home - Currently tying to fend off Team MacOSX. May be benifit to mankind in the future. Take a long time to return a result. Not a great project currently for Mac machines, will possibly change in the near future.

Distributed Folding - New team try to make a run for top #10 in next week,
having a race in the next week or two. You will see your results grow at a quick pace. Into second week of serious crunching and a small team of about 30. Possible benifits to mankind in the future. Good project for Mac machines.

These view are my own and do not reflect the views of Team MacNN or other members of Team MacNN. Blah, blah, blah........

Whatever you choose have fun and ask for help if you need it.
They are a great bunch here. Enjoy.

[rkadowns]

You ask, here is my opinion. Personally I believe all efforts are a waste of time for the exception of dFold and Folding@home, and to a lesser degree Ubero. Curretnly Ubero does not have any productive work to do, so if you want to do something that may have the most realistic impact on mankind, it would be the folding projects.

Gnome is another effort that can pay big dividends, but currently there is not a client for OSX as of yet.

Please, this is only my opinion, so all you RC5 and Seti people, forgive me.

Ultimately do what you fell you have the most fun with. I enjoy dFold.

RIP

[Bockie]

You can be like me and be a Special Forces Unit for Team MacNN. I scout for danger and move my resources (aka my DP800) to each project as the Team needs it.

Team MacNN projects in order of age (earliest to latest):
SETI@Home
RC5
Folding@Home
Ubero
Distributed Folding

Here's an overview of each (to the best of my knowledge):
SETI@Home - Looks for astronomical radio signals that could show signs of intelligent life
RC5 - Attempting to disprove security algorithms by trying all possible number combinations
Folding@Home - Disecting the DNA patterns for cancer research, et al
Ubero - Currently recrunching old projects; may be later used for Folding@Home-type purposes
Distributed Folding - ???

The only project that has a clear advantage for G4 Macs is RC5. The RC5 client is coded for Altivec and is dual-processor aware.

[davidflas]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I joined the Team MacNN seti effort to donate my units. I tired of that now, I'm still mulling over where I'd like to go, and where I can be the most helpful. Any other suggestions/opinons would be great.

[Tigerabbit]

Originally posted by rkadowns:
<STRONG>You ask, here is my opinion. Personally I believe all efforts are a waste of time for the exception of dFold and Folding@home, and to a lesser degree Ubero.

Please, this is only my opinion, so all you RC5 and Seti people, forgive me.

Ultimately do what you fell you have the most fun with. I enjoy dFold.</STRONG>

Don't worry, there's nothing to forgive.

SETI is a shot in the dark, at best, and I will readily admit that. Some of the most optimistic projections (based on extremely limited data) have technologically advanced civilizations space 50 or so light-years apart on average. Our own radio signals, from the early days of radio, have gone out only 75 light-years; a civilization 50 light-years away who even instantly understood and replied would have the return signal only half-way back here.

Rkadowns is right about doing what you feel is the most fun. Try them all for a couple of weeks. You might even like rotating projects, like Bockie.

[davidflas]

After all the advice that's been given, I'm going to give folding@home a try for a while. I'm already 22% into my first unit. I went this way because the result might help humanity.

[Shaktai]

Originally posted by davidflas:
<STRONG>After all the advice that's been given, I'm going to give folding@home a try for a while. I'm already 22% into my first unit. I went this way because the result might help humanity.</STRONG>

Great choice. Folding@home is a team that can use the help. If you get bored, try dFold (Distributed Folding) as well. You can't go wrong with either one, and if Ubero gets another project going, that will be a third choice that may benefit humanity more directly.

[wheeles]

Originally posted by Bockie:
<STRONG>
Here's an overview of each (to the best of my knowledge):
SETI@Home - Looks for astronomical radio signals that could show signs of intelligent life
RC5 - Attempting to disprove security algorithms by trying all possible number combinations
Folding@Home - Disecting the DNA patterns for cancer research, et al
Ubero - Currently recrunching old projects; may be later used for Folding@Home-type purposes
Distributed Folding - ???
</STRONG>

Distributed Folding is along the same lines as Folding@Home. Personally I prefer the Distributed Folding client as you can see work being done as you get lots of work units per hour rather than lots of hours per work unit. Also it advances medical science which is no bad thing. The downside is when they change proteins as you tend to lose work (I lost a day on both protein changes but it looks like we all did).

As to which project, go for the one where you feel you are going to get most enjoyment/satisfaction. If that means being a Special Forces Unit like Bockie then do that.

[xyber233]

Just joined Seti with my new cable modem . Great to be on the team!

[The_Equivocator]

Originally posted by xyber233:
<STRONG>Just joined Seti with my new cable modem . Great to be on the team!</STRONG>

Welcome!

[Grozni Majmun]

Originally posted by jbcool:
<STRONG>
Folding@home - Currently tying to fend off Team MacOSX. May be benifit to mankind in the future. Take a long time to return a result. Not a great project currently for Mac machines, will possibly change in the near future.
</STRONG>

What is this about with the future plans? Are they actually working on that? Do you have a link to more info?

[reader50]

http://folding.stanford.edu/news.html

The 4/12/02 post, the meeting with Apple. Almost certainly, they talked about client speed and Altivec. Hope so, anyway.

[Shaktai]

Folding@Home was a project that was really hoping to see a big Mac turnout, because they had seen how enthusiastically Mac users contributed to other projects. As it turned out, they finally agreed (in their forums, that they were getting a good turnout at 10-12% for a platform that has only 5% marketshare. The truth is they would like to see more.

We can only speculate that due to Apple's article and semi-endorsement of the project, and "another" meeting with Apple, that maybe Apple programmers might be helping to modify the client code to take better advantage of Altivec.

It never hurts to dream anyway.