SETI@Home

[old.Nitro]

I have just started using the SETI@Home screen saver. I have set up a Barrysworld team on the website http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
So if anyone uses a screen saver use SETI@Home and join the Barrysworld team here http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/cgi?cmd=team_lookup&name=Barrysworld

 

[old.Fish]

Don't go for seti@home, go for distributed.net (www.distributed.net)... Equally pointless task, just as good stats, and their client is a helluvalot more stable and better designed... and there's even a barrysworld team... (http://stats.distributed.net/rc5-64/tmsummary.php3?team=14095)

so

 

[xane]

Its about time someone started promoting the BW RC5 Team, which rose rapidly in the statistics, now in the top 1,000 overall and regularly appear in the top 200 daily. This is despite having no increase in membership for about three months.

Get cracking - join BW RC5.

 

[lynchet]

Not knowing what distributed.net does I wouldnt comment on that - but I would say that SETI at home is absolutley NOT pointless - it is a perfectly valid experiment. if you believe in aliens it can help find them and if you don't or you believe we can't contact any that there are then the continued silence even after so much work will help back up your argument - either way it helps push forward science.

 

[old.Fish]

Exactly. Just a pointless as finding optimal goulomb rulers or proving that RC5 encryption can be broken in under five years...

And the client runs as an idle process so as to get all your spare clock cycles...

 

[lynchet]

hmmm , fascinated to know what you reckon would be useful then ??

 

[old.Mincer]

err, a Cure for cancer? world peace? a way to eliminate ping times in quake 2?

hell of a lot more useful than looking for a bunch of interstellar static

 

[lynchet]

Assuming you are not being serious about getting better pings for that explosion in a sewage factory looking game, the other things are indeed useful but a.) Theres no screensaver I know of to help with them, b.) Without these the scientists working on the projects are from different disciplines, one couldnt work on the other anyway and c.)personally, along with vast numbers of others I think SETI is extremely useful - for the reasons Ive already stated

[This message has been edited by Lynchet (edited 26 August 1999).]

 

[old.Fish]

I dunno... distributed.net has gone some way to relaxing american encryption laws... It's pretty disturbing to think that 56-bit DES encryption can be opened up in uder 24 hours... And OGRs do actually have some uses, in designing cat-scanners and radio telescopes, IIRC... but basically, because distibuted.net's client is totally transparent, and seti@home's certainly isn't, guess which one gets my vote...

But yes, I consider them both pretty pointless endevours, if you consider that your computer is eating up 200 watts doing nothing...

 

[old.Nitro]

I think that I am gonna buy a second computer, 1 to run SETI@Home and the other for distributed.net...

 

[lynchet]

lol Nitro

Fair point Fish (although when you start talking about transparent clients etc I was rather just watching it go over my head

)

Spose it takes all sorts. Personally I'd find helping science worth 200 watts but then if you dont think that it is helping then I can see that youd feel it a waste of dosh

All very serious replies though - i thought my anti quake claim would get some seriosly upset peeps on