Distributed computing
Many daily activities - web surfing, typing and reading texts, chatting through instant messengers - rarely load the processor by more than a dozen percent. Background torrent clients and antiviruses also use only a small amount of machine resources.
One of the ways to increase the "efficiency" of a computer is to participate in distributed computing.
Distributed computing (distributed computing) - a way to solve time-consuming computational problems using two or more computers, networked.
With the development of the World Wide Web, the number of distributed computing projects has begun to grow, to which everyone can join. Thus, many personal computers connected via the Internet have a total computing power comparable to modern supercomputers.
The site Distributed.ru - "Russian site about distributed computing" - provides information about well-known projects, their organizers and goals.
I decided to join the Folding @ home project conducted by scientists at Stanford University. Their goal is to obtain a more accurate picture of the diseases caused by defective proteins. A certain role in my choice was also played by the fact that the project has already brought some results, which, by the way, anyone can learn. The latter, coupled with the reputation of the organizers, gives a "guarantee" that participants do not consider any " bomb ".
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Joining the project is simple - just download and configure one of the clients.
Consider the installation on the example of a graphical client under Windows.
Finally, I will tell you how I learned about distributed computing.
A few years ago, I heard that there was some kind of idea that involved breaking into a particularly complex cipher and required for this the computational power of many hundreds of computers. Say, any person can take part, and if it is on his computer that the key is selected, this participant will receive a cash prize. Although in those years I did not take part in the project (and did not even recognize the general name of the concept), the idea itself was remembered to me. As it turned out now, it was a competition from RSA Labs.
Habr helped me to meet again with distributed computing: not so long ago Greenmob was mentioned in our community. Studying it, I came across a topic that interested me a few years ago.
By the way, the past discussion of distributed computing was quite interesting.
One of the ways to increase the "efficiency" of a computer is to participate in distributed computing.
What it is?
Distributed computing (distributed computing) - a way to solve time-consuming computational problems using two or more computers, networked.
With the development of the World Wide Web, the number of distributed computing projects has begun to grow, to which everyone can join. Thus, many personal computers connected via the Internet have a total computing power comparable to modern supercomputers.
What projects exist and how to join them?
The site Distributed.ru - "Russian site about distributed computing" - provides information about well-known projects, their organizers and goals.
I decided to join the Folding @ home project conducted by scientists at Stanford University. Their goal is to obtain a more accurate picture of the diseases caused by defective proteins. A certain role in my choice was also played by the fact that the project has already brought some results, which, by the way, anyone can learn. The latter, coupled with the reputation of the organizers, gives a "guarantee" that participants do not consider any " bomb ".
')
Joining the project is simple - just download and configure one of the clients.
Consider the installation on the example of a graphical client under Windows.
- Downloading and installing - everything is standard, as can be seen by looking at the manual with screenshots.
- Customization. If you wish, you can enter a name (on the download page you can check if it is not busy) and enter into any command. I joined the Russia team (id 279).
You can also change network connection settings and options that directly affect CPU usage; A description of the settings is in the manual fromthe 1st item. - Job. For more detailed information on the course of calculations, click on the icon in the tray with the right button and select the item of interest in the “Status”. It should be mentioned that in the latest version of the client there are problems with the graphic part (Viewer) - it often simply does not work and in any case creates an additional (and useless) load on the processor. Therefore, it is better not to use the “Display” option, especially since you can find out any necessary information through “Status”.
The client does not require a permanent Internet connection - access to the network is needed only at the time of sending the results of calculations and downloading new units.
Instead of conclusion
Finally, I will tell you how I learned about distributed computing.
A few years ago, I heard that there was some kind of idea that involved breaking into a particularly complex cipher and required for this the computational power of many hundreds of computers. Say, any person can take part, and if it is on his computer that the key is selected, this participant will receive a cash prize. Although in those years I did not take part in the project (and did not even recognize the general name of the concept), the idea itself was remembered to me. As it turned out now, it was a competition from RSA Labs.
Habr helped me to meet again with distributed computing: not so long ago Greenmob was mentioned in our community. Studying it, I came across a topic that interested me a few years ago.
By the way, the past discussion of distributed computing was quite interesting.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/67663/
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