A Limited offer to join.
Straight_Man
Geeky, in my own wayNaples, FL Icrontian
I have an oddball situation here, and the result is that I have the potential to put two boxes online but have been avoiding this team beacuse of its point production emphasis-- both for computing reasons and because I am more free contributor than a point competitor by a factor of three or so.
First off, I cannot afford to have a dedicated folding box online using Windows. The ancillary security software would be imposing a 10-20% system load most of the time if I put Windows online at this time. to put a second box online, which HAS to run 98SE as I need medium powerful software to very powerful software in several areas, would mean a dialup account for that box and the load of full security software unless I manually called out on such an account and used the acount for no other surfing. I can get locally such an account for $5.95 a month and can afford that, and have Norton Systemworks 2003 Pro for that box now adn would need Sygate Pro at about $60.00 a year for real good firewalling, The Barton box can handle the security load-- and might outproduce the P4 box for a while until that is upgraded toabout a 2.8 GHz CPU which motherboard can handle and which I have RAM for thnaks to private training.
However, here is the catch:
I cannot have folks asking me why the boxes are not producing like "Joe's" box, as his uses adn many of his perceived needs are not mine are not mine. I study multiple operating systems and each can do workunits but none run 24\7 on the online P4 box(Linux runs most often, and picks up email about 22\7 and is online about 22\7 as Comcast locally is working to secure their own Windows servers and get virus scanning implemented into brightmail and has been down only 6 hours out of the last 60 hours of my 24\7 access locally.). I will not run XP on the internet, but might run Longhorn when it comes out in 2006 if it is tons more secure.
I will be probably in Yellow point comparative zone for each box, and hardly ever red zone. If admins will live with this, I can give about 1-3K a week to the team with floats from week to week in that range. If not, will concentrate on producing WUs consonant with balnacing my needs and freely contribute in my own team-- which exists now.
I will not be intolerant of others competing, many are competition driven and this is a fact of life. However, I will be in some cases unable to justify low production and production swings publicly though I can justify in terms of meeting my needs to admins. Tghis will be mostly because I will be focusing some on end point security rsearch using BSD, Linux, and Windows as well as desktop usability research of a comparative nature. I also will be probably unable to do much manual controlling adn tweaking of folding for the month of November, and you can expect more steady production then than now as I will be having near vision problems from October 29 on for three-four weeks and will be using the computers seldom.
So, I need to decide when to open the second account and need to set up the Windows 98SE Barton box for security fairly soon to be a steady folder as I also need to fully image the box as part of this and will be imaging at least once a week if it is online as well and it thus will be offline at least 3-4 hours a week as I have about 60-80 gig of data I need intact at almost all times if I do this. What do admins and users here think, without sarcasm please???
John.
First off, I cannot afford to have a dedicated folding box online using Windows. The ancillary security software would be imposing a 10-20% system load most of the time if I put Windows online at this time. to put a second box online, which HAS to run 98SE as I need medium powerful software to very powerful software in several areas, would mean a dialup account for that box and the load of full security software unless I manually called out on such an account and used the acount for no other surfing. I can get locally such an account for $5.95 a month and can afford that, and have Norton Systemworks 2003 Pro for that box now adn would need Sygate Pro at about $60.00 a year for real good firewalling, The Barton box can handle the security load-- and might outproduce the P4 box for a while until that is upgraded toabout a 2.8 GHz CPU which motherboard can handle and which I have RAM for thnaks to private training.
However, here is the catch:
I cannot have folks asking me why the boxes are not producing like "Joe's" box, as his uses adn many of his perceived needs are not mine are not mine. I study multiple operating systems and each can do workunits but none run 24\7 on the online P4 box(Linux runs most often, and picks up email about 22\7 and is online about 22\7 as Comcast locally is working to secure their own Windows servers and get virus scanning implemented into brightmail and has been down only 6 hours out of the last 60 hours of my 24\7 access locally.). I will not run XP on the internet, but might run Longhorn when it comes out in 2006 if it is tons more secure.
I will be probably in Yellow point comparative zone for each box, and hardly ever red zone. If admins will live with this, I can give about 1-3K a week to the team with floats from week to week in that range. If not, will concentrate on producing WUs consonant with balnacing my needs and freely contribute in my own team-- which exists now.
I will not be intolerant of others competing, many are competition driven and this is a fact of life. However, I will be in some cases unable to justify low production and production swings publicly though I can justify in terms of meeting my needs to admins. Tghis will be mostly because I will be focusing some on end point security rsearch using BSD, Linux, and Windows as well as desktop usability research of a comparative nature. I also will be probably unable to do much manual controlling adn tweaking of folding for the month of November, and you can expect more steady production then than now as I will be having near vision problems from October 29 on for three-four weeks and will be using the computers seldom.
So, I need to decide when to open the second account and need to set up the Windows 98SE Barton box for security fairly soon to be a steady folder as I also need to fully image the box as part of this and will be imaging at least once a week if it is online as well and it thus will be offline at least 3-4 hours a week as I have about 60-80 gig of data I need intact at almost all times if I do this. What do admins and users here think, without sarcasm please???
John.
0
Comments
Nobody will ever ask you why your box is/is not producing a certain amount of points! The only time we ask is in the SMx project - because the point of the project is to give computers to people who will keep them folding. But your personal machines are your personal business.
You can do whatever you want with your machine, produce as many or as few points with is as you want, and fold for whatever team you want. If you choose to fold with Team 93, it would be appreciated for sure, but no one would ever dog you for folding with us, THAT I can guarantee
Side note... Is there a motive behind the complex writing style? I may not be a "real Genius" but I consider myself well educated. I have a very difficult to comprehend the dialogs you post. I have to re-read several times to understand. I am, in no way, "bashing" your style, just commenting on the readability. I see your post as a Grad. Student level compared to the High School level that most people post (except Wugg... his is Jr High level....)
Haven't poked fun at Wuggies in a while...
LOL
But anyway, yea. Hope you decide to join the team Ageek! Noone around here questions anyone else about how many points they are producing or why they aren't producing more than someone else. As prime said, the compeition is for fun, noone around here is going off on other people for not producing WUs. Produce as much or as little as you want, and have fun!
BTW, like prime said, the only machines required to fold are the SMx machines as these are machines built out of spare parts and monetary donations from Team members and are hosted by Team members. After all, we aren't just giving computers away for people to have; we are collectively pooling extra parts together to get more computational power running for the project and our Team. Since it is Team members that are providing the parts and money, it is only right that the production of WU's and points be credited to this team and nowhere else.
I admit that myself have been tough on you sometimes but i have had a reason for it. Please, whatever you do, do not base your thoughts on what other peeps (such as myself) have posted.
As for this team, i have been here long enough to ensure you that most of us isn´t "point-based" . We all do this for charity, it´s our way to try to help with whatever we can. Yes, we do CHEER! when we have passed X amounts of points etc or when we have added X amounts of gigahertz to the farm, but that is just to "brag" within ourselves. The stats and competition is just there to add some spice to the project, nothing more.
Please join us, but if not, i´m cool with it. 1 point/week or 100, i dont give a damn.
TD Isles,
Please edit your sig, the width of it makes the board look crooked as hell. It almost look like xtremesystems.org´s forums.
And, by all means, fold as you see fit and no one will get on your case; it just so happens that some people will talk up their own points, but nobody dogs individual folders for any level of production. The exception to this is the SMx rigs, which is more of a contract and a performance requirement...
I do not Fold for ShortMedia, team #93. I fold for another team. I have however been acquainted with them for some time. . . . . .
I can tell you they're a group of good people with the goal of the project primary, the competition well down the list. Were it not for me Folding with another team, I'd be glad to Fold with these folks. I'm still trying to weasle an SMx rig from them.
They're cool.
The competition part of it adds a little more interest is all...
The charity aspect brings satisfaction. The competition brings adrenalin (if only virtual) and fun!
csimon
The only time we ask and expect so many X anount of points is with SMx machines. I may ask if I know you have so and so machines and I notice a production drop like csimon had once with his lab. That was only when I knew he had a problem and production was cut in half from what it is now.
No one is going to ask you to get another net connection for a second machine because you feel is against the law. Around here its $45 for normal cable and an extra $5/month if you choose the 2 computer option. Thats cheaper than that extra dial-up, always on and faster. The choice is yours on how you get net access to your computers. Most here will say get a router for all your computers with as many switches behind it if needed.
There are numerous ways to protect a computer with hardware and SW. Routers, HW firewalls, SW firewalls, and of course updates OSs wheather it be Linux or a Windows OS. But how whichever way you go, if someone wants in bad enough, they will find a way.
Points are just a friendly way to get people interested in the project until they become hooked.;) Sure we all want gromacs for the points but gromacs do SOO much more work for stanford then the older tinkers did. Thus the higher point value.
The choices are up to you and we welcome you with what you can contribute. I hope to see a "Welcome Ageek" thread one of these days.:)
There is no pressure on anyone to meet a quota. If you do see a question about why someone's production has slipped it is invariably out of concern that they may be having problems - and a genuine willingness to help them out if you can.
Every WU for the project is valuable and appreciated!
QCH....sleep with one eye open mofo...
As to complex writting:
After many years I have seen how software and hardware and O\Ss can interact in great detail, and a lot of it is complete subsystem interactions for which the software and O\S modules are as important as the hardware. Hardware is a circuited implementation of what software would otherwise have to do, and in the past DID try to do many times. Software interacts with the GUI and the upper driver layers for device handling THROUGH (sometimes bypassing) the GUI. Yes, I might well write at a grad level-- I was picked on for being too long in posts when I tried simpler wording and had to write more words by a factor of three to get things across without loss of menaing of the concepts I was trying to present.
Let's take the idea A Computer-- to me it is tool that needs to be fitted to the user both and to needs and as to asperations. Computer has two BASIC components, though those are slightly blending as more and more goes into sub-BIOSs and "firmware" assembly code on SRAM or CMOS subcirucuits to guide more and more intelligent circuits. But, SYSTEM is only as good as it fits the user who has to make it work as a tool. So, my formal education includes Electronics,about a year of immersive circuitry study, Windows study from 95 through 2000, building experience which reinforced that learning, and the core lesson was that each machine HAS to be unique as it has a unique user and unique O\S at certain security patch level with software at varying service pack levels as well asaunique to itself hardware set. Thus, though I can try to talk through subsystems troubleshooting with enough info, I have a problem with minimal info saying this must be so because I have had experiences where it is absolutely not so.
Age: Yes, I am older than most here and that lends itself to talking as one who HAS doen one heck of a lot of building and configuring and troubleshooting and specing systems, but I hang out here becuase I KNOW no one person can possibly comes close to knwing it all and I KNOW I cannot read minds and I KNOW I cannot command a user to do what they do not want or think they need to do. So, I use reactions to see what is reasonable given the user's system issues and try to help the user if it is not a pure hardware or software issue I am aware of or have references for that has a very simple fix. In my case, vison is a limiter, BIG one. I have worked with mulihandicapped folk and have learned to communicate well with them (deaf, deaf-blind, epileptics, paraplegics, and folks who simply are emotionally down)and thus I respect what Star Trek embodies as IDIC in the analysis of system issues INCLUDING the user.
I tend to try to teach in outline form, but show that in a problem it often might not even be in the subsystem you think the problem is happening that the real problem is occuring. That is hyper true of power supply issues, which more folks try to fix with things like a modem replacement followed by RAM followed by a good non-Winmodem followed by a new PSU and spend 3-4X what they need to to fix the problem finally (fixing PSU early in many cases would have kept things from getting misvoltaged, dumping misvoltage as heat, and killing themselves with heat, or a RAM undervoltage causing Windows to be reloaded once amonth until the PSU was replaced and in some cases the "now apparently good again" old RAM was retested in use and no fault found).
So, I try to illustrate how interrelationships can lead so far astray that folks spin their wheels for days and weeks because a core misunderstanding of how works a computer exists.
Education:
I started into journalism study in High School, was feature editor there and chief proofreader for a while, took about a year and a half of pre-journ at college level. BUT, in high school I was also in AP math and Physics and Chem (ever seen a team taught Chem-Phys combined class in teh 60's???) and Biology. I wanted to be a Bio or Science journalist at that time, devoured all teh sicenece mags I could get, bought science books like crazy, did a canoeing guide for a scout council in spare time, and generally got a luckily rounded education. And liked electronics but it was in its infancy. This was in like 66-69.
From 70 through 86 I was in college more often than not and the reason that I did not at that time have a masters or better was simple-- I changed majors 5 times and was a loner. I was eclectic in knowledge gathering tastes, and variably eclectic.
I got out, did not fit into any corporate mold well at all, adn ended up in reatil, where I learned the TRUTH that the customer is right because in the end the choice of buying was the customer's and not eh sellers. That is true of concepts in computing, we want to learn only what we think we need to know as a very high priority urgent thing.
This is to illustrate why a computer information flow system has to take the user into great account and you cannot mold good smart folks tightly to computer sets of hardware and software that do not allow for IDIC(and thus the availablility of customizing to suit user's best and unique productivity habits) . They will simply rebel and you will lose persuasive power to purely human factors and with it productivity if you are a business owner, as a business owner has to be both disciplinarian AND leader AND teacher to succeed in the long term.
So, the financial impact of fixing a computer so the user can use it better at minmal cost to user is enormous. AS I build the companies I am working on, I expect to have younger folsk working with me and expect to take the best and end up half mentoring them.
Yes, I write at graduate level sometimes, but folks kept saying short and short is NOT simple, it leaves key points out 75-95% of the time because systems that include humans are NOT simple at all. I THINK at this level, about 90% of the time. when I reply, I do not write offline and edit three drafts, I write online and try to write so core thoughts get through at muliple levels for the whole thread worth of users. Capische??? (AKA, Italian for understand the derivative implications even???)
John.
This is good bunch of peps. For the most part we treat each other like old friends. That means that sometimes we give flipant or sarcastic responses. But it is well intended. Usually comments about points and production come when two poeple have been running close for a long time and one suddenly changes, up or down.
Fold with what boxes you feel comfortable with. Configure them to suit your situation. And be a part of the forum. You have experience that we want to draw on also.
And there are a lot more guys over 40 here than you might realize.
...and they are simply overflowing with wisdom, knowledge, perspective, wit, humor, charm...
and gals!
So, are you joining?
John.
But, the P4 is hooked to team 93 as of 5 min ago. I will set up a limited online account and feed from second machine that way, I can tell teh modem to wait for a dial tone before dialling out and it will pend outbounds when the house phone line is busy.
that way no two machines of my two will ever not be able to send for long. The dialup (Barton 2500+) machine will actually need more babysitting, but I need a 4 port KVM more than a baby router right now and have a good dialup fax\modem for the business machine. So it will be on dialup for now.
Right now the P4 box is a tib over 1\3 through a p678 Tinker WU, and this box stinks at tinkers-- it will stay active. So, 71 points in two more days about(should be about 50 hours more on this Tinker). Then I hope for more Gromacs units. THOSE the box ROCKS at. But am not dumping any, as the folding and not the points matter for me and for the core of folks talking in this thread. This week I will set up a dialup account on a local ISP called neandertech.com and will be feeding data on Qwest to and from Folding after that from that box.
John.
By now, you've probably seen it and heard it a bazillion times, but I'll repeat it anyway: You're much more likely to get Gromacs with the -advmethods flag enabled. And Don't forget to enable -forceasm also, at least on the Barton rig... the P4 should use the SSE without the flag...
Oh, have the -advmethod flag set, I got 6 Gromacs in a row before this tinker one each on both. Folding has many Tinkers suddenly, looks like ribosomal followups.
The backup internet connect is up, crazy company out in Arkansas has local connects many places, and has 5 networks they hook into for bandwidth. I paid them $18.75 for 3 months of connect. Here's a link for those who need or want a cheap backup or a dialup that is very reasonably priced:
http://www.neandertech.com/
(Note: US only, sorry.)
Note, on my backup, I have a 6 hour per day or 200 hour limit per month because the Qwest Dialin number was much more local to me than the Alltel (network al) alternative which is unlimited for the same price. I might switch, but down here have found the local connects go more on fiber if in Punta Gorda. The number I call is 56K, v.42, v.92 capable and that means since my modem is also I can suspend internet, talk on phone, and resume connect if needed. My Zoom defaulted noisy while connecting, almost full modem speaker volume, so I gave the driver an extra M0 (zero, not letter O) code and it shut right up. Now I use the network icon hoverover response to tell me my connect rate. Have dialled out 10 times today, average connect on the Zoom was 49333 bps. Not bad for a backup to the cable connect, and they ID authenticate so if I have a box that is new build that needs say a Norton Systemworks install I can temp configure it to my backup, update it, and folks are ready to go online with it preprepped for AV-- yes, there WERE a couple reasons for getting this NOW.
We will see how Folding gets along if I am on the phone when it wants to dail out, it is set to use an autodial to my DUN and modem is set NOT to dial until dial tone is sensed until I pick up a seperate line for my stuff only. If I see workunits piling up will force it to send\receive while off phone. I do not yet know the call out timeout for Folding if a modem is pending a call.
One thing, for those who do not have the screensaver and DO have the graphical client, which seems to have picked up on the -forceasm at install, if you click the cog icon in taskbar, you can toggle display to minimized or restore even in 98SE.
My Barton is faster, and I think this is due to DDR333 RAM versus DDR266 in the transitional P4 (which is the last of the OLD P4s at 1.8 GHz). soemday will figure out how to use the DOS console client for F@H in 98SE and that might be a tib faster yet as it will not be taking time out to update display.
Well, good to be aboard, thanks for the nice welcome, all of you.
Like the auction watch also-- will say more to Edcentric, but here is a doubling of thanks to him and all you helped with the acution and bid for things, got it tonight, and it indeed acts like the Red\Black bezel GMT-II Rolex's on the web instructions basicly-- used those instructions to set it up, and took two links out so it fit my wrist-- I do not need day\night Bezel, times for actual sunrise and sunset are weird down here in the subtropics in Florida.
John.
Glad you got it figured out so far.