Anyone Fancy Doing Some Number Crunching

[jaxx]

Anyone fancy it? A few gold members, well 17 of us, have been running a grid program recently for a medical research program that utilises spare CPU power from your PC.

Basically you sign up, then download a small program to your PC, or in fact, PC's (you can have more than 1 on your profile) when there is spare CPU power your PC will then help crunch medical data and return the results. You are then awarded points.

We’ve been doing this for a couple of months now and have so far managed to get TOC up into the low 1,000 ranks, but no were entering tougher territory to move further up the ladder and ideally need more members to help push us along. It’s not as if well really ever make the number one spot as some of the big boys are returning literally millions of points per day! But as high as we possibly can is the best achievement.

It doesn’t cost anything and is a non profit organisation.

It’s mainly a bit of fun, a bit of competition, but most of all for damn good causes!

If you’re interested, it’s easy to get started…

First of all you can check out the home page for me info if you want

Click Here!

Download the ‘agent’ software, and sign up with a new user name on first install Here! for Linux and Windows and just let it do its thing. There is no Mac version yet but its supposed to be coming out soon.

And then once you have it installed, follow this link to be part of the TOC team! TOC Crunch Team! Where all out points are collaborated together! (You must follow this link to be part of the team once you have got the download and registered!)

Ill keep you all up to date on stats etc :) any questions just ask!

A few FAQs

Is this Spyware etc..? - No it won’t load any harmful crap onto your PC and its only a few megs big

Does my PC need to be on ALL the time? - No, but it helps! If it does stay on a lot then it’ll have more time to crunch more stuff, simple as that.

Do I need a massive spec PC? - No but the better the spec, the more points you will get, for example, the faster your processor, the more RAM, the more HD space you can provide, the more points you are awarded when the results are returned

Installing? – Simply download the required version for your operating system and install to your machine. If it’s the first install you are doing then you will have to setup up a user name and password etc… in future if you add to another PC all you need do is select that you are already a member and input your appropriate details.

Can i use more than one PC? - Yes you can load the program onto as many PCs as you want under your name. They will all work in your favour to give you more points.

How do i do that? - Easy just download the program onto any PC and just set it up to log in to your name when it’s working. Do it on your Home PC, Work PC, anything. The more the better, and the more you have on your side, the more points you make!

Will it bog down my PC? - No that i can recall, I’ve left it on during full on gaming sessions. It only uses what CPU power is free. So if your busy it slows down, if you leave the PC to idle it will make use of the redundant computing power. Some members have noted on the odd occasion that PC power can be hindered, if you suffer problems at times when you need the PC to its full potential you can always be switched off by right clicking and simple closing it on the system tray, it will then restart from where it left off when you reboot the computer or select it from the programs list on your PC. It’s also possible to put it into snooze mode for an allotted time or run it as ‘screen saver only’. This means it only runs when your screen saver comes on, as soon as you’re active on the computer it stops running.

Free CPU power, does that mean my PC runs full load? In most cases, yes, as the software is making use of the CPU power that you are not using, with your CPU under the extra load you can expect it to run a little warmer than usual, but as long as the PC is ample at keeping itself cool and not in a hot room it’ll be fine! Bear in mind most motherboards if under threat from overheating will ‘throttle-back’ the CPU power to allow it to cool and thus protect itself. It is also possible that this may be why you notice performance decrease if running the software and anything else that may have a heavy load. If you have poor cooling properties on your PC then the CPU will be throttled back and therefore hinder its performance.

What are the minimum PC specs? – Absolute minimum you should be aiming for are, 1.5 GHz P4 (or AMD equiv) 350mb of RAM, and a good LAN/Broadband connection, and as much HD space as you can possibly spare, the more your PC supersedes these specs the better your point return. Low spec PCs will just take longer to return results often.

What operating system is required? – The software will work with Windows and Linux ONLY there is a separate download for each version from the provided link. Up until now though there is no software for Mac’s but it is in circulation that a version will be released soon.

Hardrive Space? - You can select up to 10gig, but don’t worry it doesn’t fill up with 10gig of crap! It’s more like a RAM thing that gets erased when the current session is over. However the more you allow, the more points you get. Regardless if it uses it or not, and as far as I've seen as well from checking the folder of the software it has so far not managed to get over 60Mb of space! So I can never really understand it needing the full 10 GB (?) Just helps you get more points!

How to maximise your hardrive allowance and setup issues

- Log in to your profile

- On the left click Device Manager

- Click Device Profiles

- On Profile Name click Default

- You can alter when the program is in use, and make new profiles for different PCs but here change Hard drive space to allocate? Up to 10gb or as much as possible

- Click save, job done

Also select Participate in All Projects to make sure your PC always has something to go at.

When will we get stats? - These are updated every 24 hours at midnight. I’ll provide them when possible. New users normally have to hang on for 24 hours from the next midnight before stats start to register.

How many points do i get? - It depends; sometimes a calculation set can take an hour, other times it can take 8-10 hours. The longer the time, generally the bigger the calculation, BUT... you’ll get more points. I’ve received allsorts between 60 to 500 points a time just from one PC. Points are actually based of calculation time as well. So if you have a high spec PC that can do 10 calculations in 10 hours, you'll only get the same points as a machine that can do 1 result in 10 hours. Sometimes there is also a bit of lag with the updates; you may show 2,000 points on your computer but maybe only report 500 on the team stats. But rest assured you will find the points on the next statistic update.

and these were our latest statistics

total team points = 379,401

team points rank = 1,276 up another 26

[Demonic Angel]

Don't be shy, give it a try!

[dicey2k]

Ohh sounds good, i might install it on the server and let it do its thang!

That is, providing it works on Windows 2003!!

[JAHill]

Don't be shy, give it a try!

How about non-goldies?

Edit: Didn't realise I'd joined already! Duh. Strange, I didn't get any confirm button or suchlike... Ah well. If I'm too much of a plebboid you'll have to unjoin me. :) Sorry.

[sotal]

JAHill - This is for everyone know - we need more people doing it. Up to now it has only been Gold Members but now we need everyone else

[Chyownster]

yeah we are trying to break some records :)

[jaxx]

Don't be shy, give it a try!

How about non-goldies?

Edit: Didn't realise I'd joined already! Duh. Strange, I didn't get any confirm button or suchlike... Ah well. If I'm too much of a plebboid you'll have to unjoin me. :) Sorry.

yup open to everyone now! so install it on every PC you see

someones gotta try for Morts crown ;)

Ohh sounds good, i might install it on the server and let it do its thang!

That is, providing it works on Windows 2003!!

Windows xxxx and Linux matey

[dicey2k]

Good stuff, i'll bang it on the server when i get home, then it has all day to crunch away!! Put those dual pentiums to good use!

[jaxx]

mega

curtesy of sotal, who worked out our current standing and our potential targets with the team we have now...

At this rate we will be in 3 figure ranks in 2 weeks which isn't bad on a global scale.

Then after another 2 weeks we should be at rank 750

Then it will slow down and should take nearly 5 weeks to reach rank 500

Then 15 weeks to get to rank 250

Then about 2 years to get up to rank 50, after that it's hopeless

So I think we can easily reach rank 500, but then it will really slow down

so with more members we could possibly smash these targets quicker and hopefully plough up the ranks with a bit more ease

Don't be shy, give it a try!

How about non-goldies?

Edit: Didn't realise I'd joined already! Duh. Strange, I didn't get any confirm button or suchlike... Ah well. If I'm too much of a plebboid you'll have to unjoin me. :) Sorry.

well theres an 18th member now (asuming thats you), may take a day or so for you to register fully (its normal)

[JAHill]

well theres an 18th member now (asuming thats you), may take a day or so for you to register fully (its normal)

'smee!

[DaveSR]

Yep come on Guys n Gals get it installed !

You don't even need a powerfull PC - as the program running fine on my three year old laptop.

Come on and give it a go !

[jaxx]

total team points = 394,488

points rank = 1,274 up another 29 places

weve had one of our better days returning over 15k points, one of my work machines actually made 1,500 for one calculation as it was running for 52 hours

join up people! we needs your help!

[Al J]

Yes, come on now peeps. If it will work on my laptop it will work on just about anything.

Nice to know my computer is aiding medical research as well as letting me write to my "invisible friends" as my girlfriend calls them.

Doesn't even slow down me building my eBay empire.

[dicey2k]

Jaxxy baby,

I've installed and signed up - Think i've done it right, let me know if i've not tho! I'll let my dual processors kick some ubik! B)

[jaxx]

if youve JUST done it... your not on the list yet... make take an hour or so?

otherwise make sure youve followed this link

http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/team/vie...amId=RX66GMLXP1

(its the same as the one above)

[selfbuild]

Just joined the list

Installed it on our spare PC in our spare room so can be left on day and night ;)

[dicey2k]

Well i added it a 2nd time and it seems a lot happier now! I'm on the list at least!

[jaxx]

thanks lads got you both on the team (scores wont show until first return and stroke of midnight tonight in the team stats ;) )

well we've hit +400k! so good going there!

bit of a less than average day though, we still need more peeps! if we had a 100 working on this wed be screaming up the ranks! :D

anyway

total points 405,497

points rank 1,223 up 24 edging closer and closer to that sub 1k!

and member stats...

B)

[Kerby]

mine didnt budge for a day. and i dont know why. altho they swiched off the pc at work

[jaxx]

total team points = 417,676

team points rank = 1,201 up 22

:)

[jaxx]

total team points = 428,958

team points rank = 1169 up 32

[jaxx]

A better day today, well over average :)

total points = 443,131

points rank = 1,143 up 26

if your reading this JOIN!

[jaxx]

total points = 455,085

rank = 1,128 up 15

[jaxx]

total points = 501.335

points rank = 1052 up 15 places

[Demonic Angel]

Come on people who havent yet joined!

Join up!!

Stick it on your home pc, laptop or works pc - lets get crackin'

The only work you have to do is register and install the programme - then just sit back and let your pooter do the rest - easy peasy lemon squeezy! ;)