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How does this look (request to Borg school's computer lab)

S

Schmave

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 2, 2001
Messages
1,720
Hey guys, I am a computer engineering student at UCSB and I am going to try to get the admins at one of the computer labs I use to let me borg the lab. I have composed an email and wanted to ask you guys to look it over for me and give me any feedback on it, etc. If I can get this lab, it could be a lot of GHz (a bunch of P4 3.0 GHz, some P4 1.8's, some Athlon 1.2 GHz's, etc.). So here's the email:

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Dear ECI Administrators,

I am sorry this is a fairly long email but I encourage you to read the whole thing.

I am a senior Computer Engineering major this year and have been using the ECI lab a lot recently and have noticed that for the majority of the time, most of the computers in the ECI lab sit idle (especially at night). As such, I was wondering if you would be willing to run Folding@Home (FAH) on these computers to make use of their spare computing cycles.

If you don’t know what FAH is, it is a distributed computing (DC) project run by Stanford University that seeks to understand how proteins fold and how this affects disease, treatment, etc. The DC client simulates the folding of various proteins at an atomic scale. Here is a link to the FAH website for more information: http://folding.stanford.edu/

If you wish to participate, I would recommend setting up the folding client on one or two computers to test it before you install it on all of the computers. Ideally, you would install the client so that it runs when nobody is logged in, or even when someone is logged in. FAH runs at an idle process priority and does not have any noticeable effect on the usability of a computer system (in my opinion). I run it on my home computer all the time, even when playing games, doing intense video encoding, etc., and I do not notice any reduction in performance in these applications. The client also does use some network bandwidth when sending and receiving work units, but the data involved is typically less than 1MB once every 16 hours to a day or two, depending on the speed of the computer doing the folding.

To download the FAH client software, go to http://folding.stanford.edu/download.html. There are Windows and Linux clients available (I recommend running the console version). I would also recommend trying this on the Linux computers (like the new ones with P4 3.0 GHz processors) instead of the Windows machines because the Windows machines seem to be used more than the Linux machines. The FAH client you download is not an installer; it is the executable file you run for the project. It should be placed in its own directory (like /FAH/) and run from there. I also recommend running it with the “-advmethods” and “-forceasm” flags for maximum speed.

In addition, the client will ask for user and team names the first time it is run. If you have read this far and are still considering running FAH, I would like it if you used “Schmave” for the username and Team Number “33” so my team ([H]ardOCP) and I can be credited for the stats. If you care about stats, you could always use your own username, but I would really encourage you to fold for team 33. There is also an extensive FAQ at the hardocp.com forums about FAH: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=759399.

I think this is a really worthwhile project for our university to be involved in and I hope you consider it. Hopefully in the future the results from this project will be used to find treatments for various diseases including genetic mutations and cancer. Thank you for your consideration, and fold on!

Schmave (I used my real name though)
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Comments, suggestions? I really want to get this lab borged for the team and for the project. If I can get this one borged, there is another lab that has a bunch of new P4's that I could try for also. Thanks.
 
Long, and just saying HardOCP means nothing. Even sounds little offensive.
 
Yeah, I guess you're right about the HardOCP thing. Do you think I should just give him a few details about the project and then tell him if he's interested I could give him specifics on how to install, etc. later?
 
I think your idea was great, and that they should do it, as it is important. keep us posted on what happens!
 
Does this sound any better? I realize it is still a little long but I'm not sure what else I can cut out:

------------------------------------------
Dear ECI Administrators,

I am a senior Computer Engineering major this year and have been using the ECI lab a lot recently and have noticed that for the majority of the time, most of the computers in the ECI lab sit idle (especially at night). As such, I was wondering if you would be willing to run Folding@Home (FAH) on these computers to make use of their spare computing cycles.

If you don’t know what FAH is, it is a distributed computing (DC) project run by Stanford University that seeks to understand how proteins fold and how this affects disease, treatment, etc. The DC client simulates the folding of various proteins at an atomic scale. Here is a link to the FAH website for more information: http://folding.stanford.edu/

If you wish to participate, I would recommend setting up the folding client on one or two computers to test it before you install it on all of the computers. Ideally, you would install the client so that it runs when nobody is logged in, or even when someone is logged in. FAH runs at an idle process priority and does not have any noticeable effect on the usability of a computer system (in my opinion). I run it on my home computer all the time, even when playing games, doing intense video encoding, etc., and I do not notice any reduction in performance in these applications. The client also does use some network bandwidth when sending and receiving work units, but the data involved is typically less than 1MB once every day or so, depending on the speed of the computer doing the folding. The client software can be downloaded at http://folding.stanford.edu/download.html and I recommend using the console versions.

FAH also keeps track of user statistics. I fold under the username “Schmave” and am also on team HardOCP (Team # 33). I fold for this team because www.hardocp.com is a great resource for everything involving computers, and the people at the forums are a great bunch. I would be honored if you would also like to fold for team 33, and maybe even under my username. Of course, you could always use your own username. There is also an extensive FAQ at the hardocp.com forums about FAH: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=759399.

I think this is a really worthwhile project for our university to be involved in and I hope you consider it. Hopefully in the future the results from this project will be used to find treatments for various diseases including genetic mutations and cancer. If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will get back to you ASAP. Thank you for your consideration, and fold on!

Sincerely,

Schmave
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Just don't even mention [H]. I mean when it comes time to install tell them the username and team 33 is your allotted team or something. If you do the "its for a good cause" thing and the "make sure you do it for my team" part, it seems to neutralize your "lets do it for humanity" argument and they might not want to do it simply because it seems like you are wanting them to do something personal with business machines. I'd get them onboard solely with "look at whats its already found so far and people can really benefit from this" and "wasting cycles when they could be improving humanity is like ignoring an injured person on the sidewalk" etc. Then when it comes time to configure just say plug schmave and 33 in so you can track the labs progress.
 
I agree with OldPueblo, lose the paragraph about user statistics. At the most, mention that part of the setup would prompt for a username and mention that you in particular fold under the name "..." for team "33" if they would like to see how units are credited after finishing. Then provide them with a link to Stanford's site for the stats. But I like even better just leaving that out, but mentioning that you would be willing to answer any questions about "setup" AFTER they have decided whether or not to do it.

I would also agree that you should GAIN a paragraph where you link to a few of the discovery and news articles that have been linked to show that it is a worthwhile cause and that you are not suggesting something that is a) commercial or b) fly-by-night.

My $0.02

<----- thanks xENo! :D
 
Ok, thanks for the input guys. I won't mention anything about stats until I get permission (if I get permission). Localan, I think that is a good idea mentioning stuff about results and how it is not a commercial thing.
 
Yeah, I also like the idea of not even mentioning stats or teams or anything that makes it look like you have a motive other than helping humanity. We know why we do it, but anyone evaluating whether or not to allow something like this would probably think twice before allowing you to do it if they had any thought you were participating because it was some kind of a game or competition. If they're the least bit hesitant about using your chosen name, you might still be able to suggest they use the school's or lab's name and team 33. I like the approach you're taking - they were both nicely written proposals. Good luck in your attempts to get them to give up a little bit of control of "their" computers!
 
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