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Looking for Folder's Input for CS Project

cthulhuiscool

cthulhuiscool

2[H]4U
Joined
Mar 15, 2006
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Hey all, I'm doing a research project for my cs class about distributed computing computing calculations for protein folding. If you'd be willing, I have a few questions below you could answer just so I can collect some data for my presentation. Please mention if you'd like to be anonymized, and if you have anything else to add please let me know.

Questions:
1. How did you find out about Folding distributed computing projects, and what made you decide to start?

2. How long have you been doing it and why do you continue today (or if not say why you stopped)?

3. How many different pc's and devices have you used for folding and how often would you say you have at least one on?

4. How much do you personally understand about the calculations necessary to the process (ie what kind of calculations or being done on the protein)?

5. Have you ever upgraded hardware to improve Folding results?

6. Have power bill concerns ever affected your willingness to leave a device on to run calculations?

7. Have you turned on anyone else to folding?

8. How complicated is it to setup/maintain the folding program?
 
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1. There were a few articles on gaming sites about the PS3 client shortly before it came out. I didn't realize at the time that there were PC clients as well, but I figured my PS3 was off most of the time and it sounded like I could do something useful with it. It helped that I was still in high school and thus didn't pay the power bill.

2. I started the day the PS3 client came out, which was March 23, 2007. I continue because I feel it's an important project and is a way that I can help biomed/chemistry even though it's not my career (I'm a computer hardware engineer).

3. 12, I think. I've folded on my PS3, 2 personal laptops, one old laptop of my parents that no one was using, briefly on my mother's laptop before my dad had concerns about the heat it was throwing, 2 old desktops of my dad's that weren't really being used, my main-use desktop, a desktop I cycled old parts into as I upgraded my main-use desktop, my server, an Amazon Web Services VM, and a Windows Azure VM. I have always had something folding since I started, barring some brief downtime around the holidays when I was in college and flying to/from home.

4. I think I understand some, but certainly not all. My understanding is that the simulation starts with the unfolded protein at a certain temperature and with a certain velocity of all the atoms within that protein. The various Runs and Clones of a particular project have different starting conditions for both of those attributes. Depending on the simulation, the water surrounding the protein in question is either modeled as a continuous medium or as discrete molecules. The simulations calculate forward in time, modeling how all the atoms interact. Most of the time the protein will end up folded, but sometimes it ends up misfolded. I'm rather clueless about the nitty-gritty details of the calculations themselves.

5. Many times. The two old desktops I mentioned had rather high-end video cards added. My main use desktop has been upgraded several times; at this point the only thing left from the original build is the DVD drive. The spare-parts PC was upgraded a couple of times as stuff from the main-use one was changed out.

6. Yes. When I graduated college and moved into my own place, I finally stopped folding on my PS3 since I didn't feel the points it got were worth the energy it used. I also stopped using my spare-parts desktop for a while due to the cost, and while I did get it up and running again, it was retired for good once I built my server.

7. A few people, though none long-term. A few of my college friends folded for about a year, but most of them stopped once they went on to grad school and had to start paying their own electric bills (we all lived on-campus for all of undergrad).

8. I find the current PC client to be pretty easy to set up and virtually painless to maintain, but I sometimes feel I'm in the minority on that, or at least part of a slim majority. This was not always the case, as some of the early clients were rather random about installing properly and would crash more frequently than anyone would like. When it was in use, the PS3 client was pretty simple all around, but that's been retired for over a year now.
 
1. How did you find out about Folding distributed computing projects, and what made you decide to start?
Always wanted to start with SETI in the past; never really did though. I also heard/read from time to time about Folding@Home. Back in May this year in my main forum I run into a guy asking what F@H stands for. I pointed him to the project page and went myself, too. "Accidentally" installed out of pure interest the Linux client in a virtual machine to play around. Stuck since then.

2. How long have you been doing it any why do you continue today (or if not say why you stopped)?
See before; started in May 2013; being a junior in this respect. ... what keeps me going is simple: let the PC do something meaningful. Basic research on cures is more helping us compared to searching for aliens (or digging coins). It also fits well to what I'm doing in daytime: IT related work in healthcare industry.

3. How many different pc's and devices have you used for folding and how often would you say you have at least on?
Right now one virtual instance on an ESXi server and a dedicated rig with three GPUs. both folding 24/7.

4. How much do you personally understand about the calculations necessary to the process (ie what kind of calculations or being done on the protein)?
Not much, to be very honest. I did some reading and watching YouTubes since I fold and learned lots. But I'm far away from saying: I understand.

5. Have you ever upgraded hardware to improve Folding results?
Oh yes, still planning the next coup ...

6. Have power bill concerns ever effected your willingness to leave a device one to run calculations?
Of course. For example I consolidated my 3 GPU from originally two system into one; increase utilisation of the system; and also reduce the involvement of the 3rd GPU to mainly weekend. The two big GPU produce already enough heat equal using enough energy.

7. Have you turned on anyone else to folding?
I talked with some people over it but try to not push too hard; they should develop their own interest due to the effort they have to spend (hardware, energy).
And in my home forum of course we also try to convince people to join and stay. Lots cheering. Worked well recently due the fact that we reached some nice milestone. Gained lots attention we could build on.

8. How complicated is it to setup/maintain the folding program?
Very easy for the beginner; interesting for the advanced users. It depend on your level of involvement and the amount of tweaks you want to apply. Specially if you start monitoring multiple clients and want to optimise down to OS level it gets funny.
 
1. you fiHow didnd out about Folding distributed computing projects, and what made you decide to start?
I found out through Over Clocking people talked about how good of a stability test it was. What made me start folding was I read about what folding was on the Stanford site when I went to download it for OC testing purposes. MY immediate family has encountered many of the diseases that folding deals with so I figured it would be a good way to help fight these diseases and hopefully make a better life for future generations.

2. How long have you been doing it any why do you continue today (or if not say why you stopped)?
I honestly can not remember how long I have been folding, I think I was OCing a Palomino chip when I was first introduced to it. I continue for Humanity and the comradely of my folding friends.

3. How many different pc's and devices have you used for folding and how often would you say you have at least on?
Somewhere around 40 or so and I have been folding 24/7 since I started

4. How much do you personally understand about the calculations necessary to the process (ie what kind of calculations or being done on the protein)?
Just about 0 :D

5. Have you ever upgraded hardware to improve Folding results?
All the time :p

6. Have power bill concerns ever effected your willingness to leave a device one to run calculations?
Yes but I get over it in a short amount of time. I get occasional (Sticker Shock) :rolleyes:

7. Have you turned on anyone else to folding?
Yes several

8. How complicated is it to setup/maintain the folding program?
There are several [H] folding members that are always working on making setting up folding as simple as possible and developing tools to make it run better. With the work they have done, they have taken all the hassle out of setting up folding ;)
 
So I'm nearing the final stages, although I only directly used Zagen30's responses, all of you definitely helped
the powerpoint can be seen here https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6rAhCaDYCXdRlNoNWVDSjIxaGM/edit?usp=sharing

check it out and let me know what you guys think/if you think i represent the cause well

FYI google docs displays colors of the pictures and formatting poorly, it'll look better if you actually download it
 
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Some thoughts on the Impact and Effectiveness slide:

F@h may date back to 2000, but distributed computing in general goes back a few years earlier. Look at the Wikipedia page "List of distributed computing projects", sort by Launched, and you'll see that GIMPS goes back to the start of 1996.

The F@h PS3 client is no longer in use. Your statement "you can even use your PS3 or smartphone" suggests both types of hardware are current options. If there's another DC project that still uses the PS3, then the present tense is acceptable. Smartphones don't have an F@h client, but I know at least one other DC project has an Android client.

F@h doesn't give points based on number of people recruited or number of devices in use, though they do keep track of your number of active machines. I'm not sure if other DC projects reward you for those things. To say the points from F@h are based on time spent is not entirely correct; it's based on how much work you get done, and how fast you get it done. A very old machine may spend all its time processing something slowly, but it will be easily out-earned by a new machine that only contributes a few hours per day.
 
1. How did you find out about Folding distributed computing projects, and what made you decide to start?

Was wandering around forums about 8 months ago and decided to see what "DC" was. Came in here and asked a few questions. Next thing I know Im buying my first 4p. Been downhill since then...

2. How long have you been doing it and why do you continue today (or if not say why you stopped)?

About 8 months now. I do it because I honestly think we are doing good for society. I also honestly believe one day we will be the ones who helped cure cancer.

3. How many different pc's and devices have you used for folding and how often would you say you have at least one on?

3. Up until recently had 2 machines completely dedicated to folding 24/7.


4. How much do you personally understand about the calculations necessary to the process (ie what kind of calculations or being done on the protein)?


I try to stay informed but its way above my level of knowledge. I do understand what we are doing but certainly not the specifics.

5. Have you ever upgraded hardware to improve Folding results?

Pssh. Cant be a serious question. Hell yea, thats what we live for!

6. Have power bill concerns ever affected your willingness to leave a device on to run calculations?

Yes and no. They were pretty outrageous for a while. Had I not run into financial troubles, I'd still be stringing along a $500/month power bill.

7. Have you turned on anyone else to folding?

Id like to think so. I do consider bob_dole my protege. Ive also talked a few people into letting me borg there computers.

8. How complicated is it to setup/maintain the folding program?

Thanks to the great minds on this team, it's so simple even WFeather can do it.

In all seriousness, some of the work the great minds have done make it virtually effortless to get started and keep going. (See F@H Utility)



EDIT: Shit! Missed the post that says you were done. Ill leave responses just in case...
 
@ Zagen30
Thanks for the input, I've gone ahead and made some changes to better clarify things/ make things more accurate.

To everyone else, since I hope to encourage several other students to head this way, feel free to continue to post responses so they can hopefully get a better understanding of the project.
 
Questions:
1. How did you find out about Folding distributed computing projects, and what made you decide to start?
I used to run the distributed.net client when it was the *only* DC project. When folding came along, I saw it as a more interesting project and switched to it.

2. How long have you been doing it and why do you continue today (or if not say why you stopped)?
I started within a few months of the project starting in Oct 2000. I fold because I am looking for cures to the diseases that ravage humanity.

3. How many different pc's and devices have you used for folding and how often would you say you have at least one on?
Dozens. I have always had at least one on since the beginning.

4. How much do you personally understand about the calculations necessary to the process (ie what kind of calculations or being done on the protein)?
I've read some of Stanford's papers on how FAH itself works, as well as the research derived from the project, so I'd say better than average understanding.

5. Have you ever upgraded hardware to improve Folding results?
The correct question would be how many times have I upgraded. I currently have three full-time dedicated devices folding that include a GTX570, a pair of 7970s and a 48-core 4P Opteron.

6. Have power bill concerns ever affected your willingness to leave a device on to run calculations?
Concerns, yes. Willingness, no.

7. Have you turned on anyone else to folding?
Yes, a few.

8. How complicated is it to setup/maintain the folding program?
Not hugely complicated to setup, but there is a art to getting the maximum output by tweaking. Maintaining isn't that difficult.
 
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