[Shaktai]

One of the big shortcomings of the Folding@Home project, has long been the Yahoo forums. Well, a third party has setup an alternate forum for Folding@home at http://forum.folding-community.org/index.php and it really looks good. Much easier to navigate and a lot more useful information. The Folding@home folks have said that if there is enough interest, that this will become the "official" Folding@Home forums.

So stop on by, and check them out. Better yet post and let the Stanford folks know that we like these alternate forums better.

I have also posted for Team MacNN in the Teams forum. (Couldn't let MacAddict be the only Mac team posted there.)

Also, folks are starting to notice that the Mac Teams are heating up the competition a bit with 5 Mac teams in the top 100 now and 3, soon 4 with MacNN, in the top 50.

In other Folding@Home news, the Stanford folks also have announced a new scientific data core, that should improve the crunching speeds for everyone. -- It sounds as though we are only a few weeks away from having a combined Folding@Home and Genome@Home client that will run on Macs also, further allowing us to participate in the Genome project.

[Shaktai]

Okay, the unofficial F@H forums have been extremely active, and a fun and informative place to visit. It looks very good that these may become the "official" F@H forums, replacing the Yahoo forums. It is also possible that they may expand to cover Genome as well. (Still no word on a Mac Client for genome, but apparently it is under development and will be combined with the F@H client)

If you are crunching for Folding@Home, go on over, and make yourself known. (take your team sig with your) The atmosphere is friendly and helpful, and folks from all the teams chip in to help out. Members of the Stanford team are often there to help answer questions as well.

I have posted for MacNN in the team threads, but lets get some other folks over there to post as well (Thanks Grozni) to keep our team thread active. And remember to keep the competition friendly. This is good exposure for Team MacNN. We don't want Team MacAddict to be the only Mac team that gets noticed.

[Shaktai]

Also, for anyone visiting the new Folding@Home forums, you may want to post with the team signature. Below is what I use, it includes the Team MacNN F@H small banner plus my personal text line. Feel free to us it as is, or modify the text line to suit yourself. It is common practice over there to post with your Team #. An acceptable way to recruit, without actually recruiting. Also note that the forum moderators have noticed that some sig graphics are starting to get out of hand. This sig size will likely meet any standards that may be established.

The graphic itself is a hotlink.

Team #16 - Crunching the Macintosh way


[ 04-28-2002: Message edited by: Shaktai ]

[Shaktai]

The following was posted by Vijay Pande in the "new" Folding@Home forums. A lot of people, have been screaming for an altivec enabled client, so now is your chance to do something about it if you are a programmer. Keep in mind these guys are scientists, not programmers, and they are doing a pretty good job, considering that the research is their main purpose.

Finally, if there are some "techies" who are interested in client development, we would be happy to have some help here. In the past, many have offered to help, but have done nothing in the end. People quickly realize that often things aren't quite as simple as they thought.

Anyway, if you're interested, let me know.

Vijay

The original thread is http://forum.folding-community.org/v...sc&start=0

EDIT: Keep in mind that any progress made in F@H may also aid in developing a Mac Client for Genome as well. The two projects are both ran by the Pande group and are closely collaborative.

[ 04-29-2002: Message edited by: Shaktai ]

[The_Equivocator]

Originally posted by Shaktai:
<STRONG>The following was posted by Vijay Pande in the "new" Folding@Home forums. A lot of people, have been screaming for an altivec enabled client, so now is your chance to do something about it if you are a programmer. Keep in mind these guys are scientists, not programmers, and they are doing a pretty good job, considering that the research is their main purpose.</STRONG>

Hmmm... anyone know how hard it is to take code and make it altivec compliant? I consider myself a pretty strong C/C++ programmer, but have absolutely no experience with Altivec.

[Michael A. Peters]

I would LOVE an altivec enabled client.
I don't know how much faster it would make it- but every little bit helps.

I use a 433G4 upgraded iMac and a 333 Beige G3 but I'm seriously considering buying a 500G4 ZIF for that machine (they are about $300 now- affordable)

[Shaktai]

Originally posted by Michael A. Peters:
<STRONG>I would LOVE an altivec enabled client.
I don't know how much faster it would make it- but every little bit helps.

I use a 433G4 upgraded iMac and a 333 Beige G3 but I'm seriously considering buying a 500G4 ZIF for that machine (they are about $300 now- affordable)</STRONG>

I think all G4 mac users would like to see an Altivec enabled client, but as always, there is a serious shortage of qualified or interested programmers, and the project folks aren't convinced there is enough benefit to make it worth their effort. (Keep in mind the science is their prime goal, they are not professional programmers)

The only way it will get done is if some qualified and knowledgeable Altivec programmer(s) will step up and do it on a volunteer basis. Now would be a good reason for any programmer to learn. I however, am not a programmer.

[ 04-30-2002: Message edited by: Shaktai ]

[Shaktai]

Hey, where are all the Folding@Home folks? If you want to help build the team, get on over to the new Folding@Home forums and help make the team visible.
http://forum.folding-community.org/index.php

Be sure to take your team sig with you. They are permitted. Active recruiting is not permissable, although a thread may be setup for that, but there is a "Team's Section" and we have a team thread. Just look for Team #16 - Team MacNN. Post something, anything, even if it is just to say hi. This will keep our team visible. Better yet go to some of the other threads and answer questions, and help out. Your team sig will be all the advertising we need. Team MacAddict is all over the place, let's not let them have all the glory (and possible new members).

Besides, the members of the Pande Group are becoming quite active in these forums and answering a lot of questions and addressing concerns. If you are having client or server problems, this is the place to go to get help and get your questions answered for anything to do with Folding@Home. It is a huge improvement over the Yahoo forums.

Come on folks, get over there and be part of it. I am starting to feel like a "one man band". Help make Team MacNN one of the best noticed and most desirable teams. That means be positive, avoid putting down others, be helpful and just have fun. There is a lot to learn about what is happening with the project as well.

I will be back crunching on folding@home some myself, as soon as the dFold competition ends. If you want more members, just get over there and be nice to folks. That is the best advertising we can get.

[ 04-30-2002: Message edited by: Shaktai ]