Subj : Re: The BOINC Project
To   : Gamgee
From : boraxman
Date : Mon Jul 18 2022 10:22:42

 Ga> Hello all, just wondering if anybody does anything with "distributed 
 Ga> computing" projects.  Specifically the "BOINC" project.  It's designed 
 Ga> to let you contribute your computer's "wasted" CPU cycles for something 
 Ga> beneficial.  If you have any computers that are always on but not really 
 Ga> doing all that much, they might be a good candidate for something like 
 Ga> this.  I've been doing the projects known as "Einstein" and "Universe" 
 Ga> for a couple of years now, and maybe they've gotten some benefit from 
 Ga> it.  In my case I have an Raspberry Pi 4 running for some random tasks 
 Ga> like periodic dynamic DNS updates, idling in some IRC channels, sending 
 Ga> me some automated reminder emails from cron jobs, and working on the 
 Ga> BOINC projects.  Most of these tasks run in TMUX windows/panes, so I can 
 Ga> detach from them and they continue running until I re-attach and 
 Ga> check/use them again.  Very handy to just SSH back into the RPi and 
 Ga> resume where I left off.

I did run seti@home a while back, as well as I think protein folding.

IT's not quite true that it uses "wasted cycles" as it does max out your CPU and GPU, leaving your computer running warm and sucking juice.  Being backgrounded tasks they won't interfere, and for a raspberry pi it probably won't make much of a difference in terms of use.

I'm questioning how much a single board computer could really contribute, but I suppose it something.

 Ga> Anyway, if you have, or are, also participating with BOINC, I'd like to 
 Ga> hear about it.  It's one of those things that can make you feel like 
 Ga> maybe you've done a little bit of good in advancing some scientific 
 Ga> research.  Kind of satisfying stuff.
 Ga> 

It is good to contribute, but in the end I didn't like leaving my computer
on, especially in summer when BOINC would keep it running warm. (This was a desktop PC).

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