Folding@Home

[Clocker]

I JUST PULLED OUT ALL THE STOPS!

Fired up an old Packard Bell P133 with 24MB RAM running Win95 OSR2. The fresh install of Win95 seemed reasonably peppy. That deam 1.2GB Seagate is a dog though! THe 1MB onboard CIrrus Logic video RocKS!

I doubt it can finish a work unit before alloted the time limit for the unit is over (no scientific knowledge gained) but it will still get us some stats (we will still get points even if units are late).

Go Team SF!

Clocker

 

[Tannin]

I have nothing to say to you, Professor Wizzard.

 

[The JoJo]

LOL !

Rank 279, and 40 processors! Yihaa!

 

[The JoJo]

I just fired up the FAh3 BETA on my laptop at work, and it seems to be getting through the firewall!!!

So the team has now 1 more computer (Celeron 600, 256MB) crunching!

Thanks for the heads up Clocker!

 

[Prof.Wizard]

I JUST PULLED OUT ALL THE STOPS!

Go Team SF!

Guys, are you taking this.. err.. a little bit too personal? :erm:

(I believe if we can keep up with the current result-turning we can move up the ladder still a further bit...)

 

[Prof.Wizard]

I have nothing to say to you, Professor Wizzard.

Pesticides? :bibber:
Noooooooooooooooooooooooo...

 

[Prof.Wizard]

Wie ich immer sag', "Mit Arbeit versaut man sich den ganzen Tag!"

Genau!
:beer:

 

[NRG = mc²]

OK, I'm on the team now... I actually bothered to uninstall the G@H service and grab the F@H one... lets see now...

 

[Clocker]

Why the profile change NRG?

Welcome to the SF F@H TEAM!! It is about time, buddy!!!

C

 

[Tea]

I gather that it's possible to have more than one NIC in a system, indeed commonplace, though I've never done it before.

In my madness to make the top five and overtake Cougtek once and for all, I'm severely handicaped by my lack of a permanant internet connection - I'm not getting a great deal of output per machine. Well, where finesse is not an option. brute force will have to substitute. I plan to keep on adding machines until our Quebecois brother curls up into a little ball and cries uncle.

Bet you he runs out of bits to make protein crunchers before I do.

But I've maxed out my hub:

8 ports: the first three are required to run my business and can't crunch because they don't have an OS/2 client (the first two) and because DOS is not exactly a suitable operating system (#3)

1: Athlon XP 1700 ECS 1.01
2: K6-III 500 OS/2 4.5
3: Pentium 200, DOS 6.3

Now the dual-purpose machines:

4: K6-III 500 Win98SE
5: K6-III 500 NT 4.0

And the dedicated crunchers.

6: Athlon XP 1900, Win 95
7: Athlon XP 1800, Win 98SE
8: Spare slot - I could plug one more in here, and will later on.
9: Another Athlon XP, a 1700 I think. I'm starting to get htem all mixed up.

As I'm about to run out of both room in my hub and 10/100 network cards, the 7th machine has two NICS in it: one standard 10/100, and a Realtek 8029 10MB/sec thing which is there because I have plenty of old coax cables and enough old NICs to press them into service.

My idea is to have the hub full, and as many other machines as seems like a good idea at the time, with the extra machines daisy-chained. But I can't seem to get the dual NIC machine working properly. Is it possible to do what I'm trying to do? Or can't you mix a hub-based star topology with an old-style serial one?

I can get connectivity between #7 and the main part of the LAN (and thus to the internet) or I can get connectivity over the coax to #9, but both at once seems to be a no go.

Any hints?

PS: later on, when I've got everything up and running, I'll start converting the crunchers over to Linux. At least that's the idea.

 

[Bartender]

I thought that my crunching power was sustaining my position reasonably well. However, I see Jo_Jo approaching at a pretty quick pace. Unfortunately for me, there won't be anymore systems to hook, hopefully some to lose (money in my pocket, you know).

 

[Mercutio]

No idea why I'm reading this thread but, yes, Tea, you can have multiple NICs in a single machine. Several of my PCs have two already.

Anyway, you're going to have to set up routing on your dual-NIC machine to get the xBaseT to talk to the 10Base2 (coax) that everything else you're going to use. That's *NOT* a job for a 9x box.

Whether the second NIC works, well, you're just going to have to network in another machine to find out, or find a hub or switch with a 10base2 bridge port.

 

[Clocker]

Tea-

You could put two NICS in each machine, load Win98SE with ICS and daisy chain them all. In that config only one Hub port would be required but more NICS would be used...

C

 

[CougTek]

So basicly Tea, I'm up against three Athlon XP and two K6-III computers. It will be hard for me to resist, but I'll try anyway. For now, I have :

• Thunderbird 1.4GHz
  Athlon XP 1600+
  Athlon "classic" 500MHz

So I should lose soon. We'll see. I might have a few more tricks in my bag...

 

[CougTek]

Add a P2 333MHz to the list above.

 

[Tea]

OK, it sounds as if, from Mercutio's post, that I'm going to struggle to get the bridge machine to work. (As I said above, I've made it talk to the hub, and I've made it talk to another machine over coax, but not been able to make it talk to both at the same time.

So, if I'm going to have to set up routing, what's the easiest way to do it? These extra machines are like the Bartender's - spare machines waiting for a buyer, and there is no reason I can't run any OS I please on them. (OK, I prefer not to use W2K as I don't have a spare license for it, and I utterly refuse to consider XP - but aside from that.)

What about Linux? I have a recent Mandrake to hand. Or, for that matter, I could use an OS/2 box as the bridge machine - it won't crunch proteins, of course, but it would not be difficult to slip an extra NIC into one of the office machines, which run 24/7 anyway.

I'll do whatever is the easiest.

Perhaps the best place to start would be with some background reading: can you recommend a suitable on-line reference, Mercutio?

 

[Tea]

But Coug - what sort of web connection do you have? My multiplicity of machines spend most of their time waiting for a web connection.

 

[Tea]

Oh, and I forgot to mention the other two machines, which are here at home: an XP 1800 and a Thunderbird 1333. Essentially, they do one or two work units a day each: when I get home they are waiting for a connection, and when I get up in the morning, they are waiting for a connection again.

Honestly, Folding@Home's arrangements for dial-in users are terrible.

 

[The JoJo]

I just built a server for a small company. It's a Athlon XP1700, 512MB, A7v266-e, 4*80GB on the motherboard raid controller (which sucks, I can't get it to mirror the 4 drives (damm promise)), etc...


I just put F@H on it to check that it's stable. Had to unplug my girlfriends P2 333MHz, because I didn't have a cable to connect the machine to the adsl-router-hub.

 

[CougTek]

The Athlon XP and Athlon classic are both connected to a cable modem through a firewall cable/DSL router. The Thunderbird uses a DSL internet connection and the P2 333MHz is plugged on a LAN network ultimately connected to an OC-something internet connection.

I forget to mentionthat I also use a PIII-733MHz (running maybe 10-15hours a week) that is on cable modem too.

AFAIK, none of my machines are waiting for connection at any time.

 

[Buck]

Interesting setup, it seems that some are more complex then others.

Since I run a NT Domain, I've setup a Netopia Router which connects my LAN to the cable modem. The Netopia Router has a built in 8-port switch which branches off directly to my PDC (Primary Domain Controller), my workstation, and my print server. Then, I have a wireless access point hooked up to my router for a notebook system that roams around the house. Finally, I have a 8-port hub that connects to my router and supports all of the other systems that are in my shop.

I've tried to make my LAN as less complicated as possible. This way, I can plug in a new system, set the network settings to accept everything DHCP (including DNS) and I'm up in no time. Plus, when the system leaves my shop, it is easy to unconfigure it. I just need to delete the network settings and change the login from Domain to Workgroup and create some local Workgroup name for the customer.

Not only does this work well for new systems, but when customers bring systems in, I can easily configure their system to get on the internet and my Domain. This way, I can back data up, or download drivers/updates and whatever else. Most customers that have Cable and DSL already have their systems set to DHCP and Dynamic DNS, so all I need to do is record their host and domain name, and then change it to my domain temporarily (if necessary).

With the addition of my 8-port KVM switch (which has filled up quickly), I also don't need customers to bring in their keyboard, mouse, or monitor. Not to mention, I always have extra of those peripherals.

 

[Clocker]

My Father-in-Law's BX Celeron 950Mhz (384MB, WinXP) machine is connected to a cable modem (Comcast) and is on about 8 hours per day.

My dad's KT133 700Mhz Athlon Classic (128MB, Win98) machine is on about 8 hours per day. He's also on cable (Comcast)

My Tiger MPX Dual AthlonXP 1700 (512MB, WinXP) box as well as my P3 1GHZ (256MB) basement system are connected to my cable/dsl router which is connected to my cable modem. (WideOpenWest) Both run 24/7.

The pee-wee P133 with 24MB RAM & Win95 is using ICS from the P3 machine to get it's connection to the net (not that it has to access the net that often to upload results!! This bad boy also runs 24/7 (I think...I don't have a monitor attached).

Keep crunching team. Recruit your friends and family!

C

 

[NRG = mc²]

Why the profile change NRG?

Change of profile?

 

[Clocker]

Why the profile change NRG?

Change of profile?

Why did you change to Rocco Siffredi??

 

[NRG = mc²]

I just don't remember my original password any more and can't be bothered to change back. At some point I might push the button to get a password reminder sent off

 

[CougTek]

It's unfortunate that we don't see teams and users ranking past the 100th spot. I liked it, back in the early Genome@home days, to see us trampling some 30 teams a day. I miss that.

Fortunately, I won't miss that for very long, as we should enter the top 100 in less than three weeks, if not just two. Still...none of us will be among the top 100 users for quite a while.

P.S. I finally entered the top 10000 users. Only two other zeros to shave ;-)

 

[Prof.Wizard]

Anyone noticed that nrg joined in? 8)

 

[Mercutio]

Tea - setting up NAT (network address translation; ICS done right) on a Linux box is as easy as editing a couple of files. Setting up routing isn't hard, either. When you get around to playing with Linux on your gateway machine. Either way, there's tons of stuff on google about doing it.

 

[The JoJo]

Number 1...

 

[Tea]

Congratulations, JoJo!

I too have the urge to play with the big boys up at the top end of the table. Hence my little production line (excuse crappy photo, I'm tired):

From right to left:

The DOS box: a Pentium 200 at present
The Burner box: K6-III/500 running NT and crunching in its own sweet time
Athlon XP 1900
Athlon XP 1800
Athlon XP 1700
Athlon XP 1800 (more or less finished)
Athlon 1400 (crunching but yet to have its CD drive removed)

There is another machine under construction, just out of shot to the left, a Duron 600 (because I want to test the various second-hand bits it is made from and it should make the XPs look good)..

Alas, though I have the parts to make another couple of dozen machines (well, I would have if I scrounged some more network cards, which is easy enough) I'm running out of space.

The coloured dots are labels with the machine log-on name and TCP/IP address on them

I solved the network problem (not enough slots in my hub) by simply hot-plugging a very long network cable - they only need to be connected to download and send results, after all, and it's no use having them on the LAN if the LAN is not connected to the web.

Alas, though I daresay this should be the most powerful collection of crunchers on the team, they spend a hell of a lot of time just waiting for me to give them an internet connection, so I'm probably getting ~50 to ~60% utilisation out of them at best.

I'm hoping that by running two copies of the software on each machine I can improve the efficiency a little.

Well done JoJo!

 

[Clocker]

How do you run the proggy on a DOS box?

 

[Handruin]

I'm going to have to get my act together and buy my second machine. I have a ton of WU's, but my score is pathetic. :roll:

 

[Tea]

Easy: I don't.

I just mentioned that one because it was in the picture.

But there is another K6-III/500 in the back office that crunches (sitting alongside the XP 1700 main server that doesn't because it runs OS/2), and two more machines at home: XP 1800 and Thunderbird 1333.

Come to think of it, I have an oversupply of XP chips at the moment, I might as well take one home and juice up the 1333 a bit.

 

[The JoJo]

Thank you Tea!

You have a mighty arsenal yourself there crunching for us!

My systems at the moment:

Athlon XP 1800 1533@1633MHz
Athlon XP 1700
Celeron 500
Athlon 1400MHz
Celeron 600
Athlon 1200MHz
P3 733MHz
P3 666MHz
Athlon 1400Mhz
P2 333MHz
2-3 other computers running at my friends place


Way to go team Storageforum_net !!!

 

[Clocker]

Damn!!! Nice job you guys!!

Now I feel very inadequate and underpowered!!

 

[CougTek]

Damn!!! Nice job you guys!!

Now I feel very inadequate and underpowered!!

You too?

I thought I was pretty good with my four computers. Now I feel I'm gonna have to buy a whole rackmount full of 1U enclosures, each one of them hosting a dual-Athlon MP setup in order to simply remain competitive.

It's not for now, but I know where I'll spend the next 50K$ loose I'll have ;-)

 

[Prof.Wizard]

Would it be unlawful to install the client to ALL the computers of my university? :diablo:

The "La Sapienza" University of Rome is the largest university of Europe and the second in the world after that of Cairo...
Some 140000+ students last time I checked... Imagine how many PCs (even if most old Pentium II-class)...

I remember there was an issue 3-4 years ago with an American who did the same with encryption software and served some time... :roll:

 

[Pradeep]

Whats the worst that can happen? Exclusion from Uni / large fine? On the other hand the massive glory of being num 1 on SF.net team. Do it Prof, you know you wanna

 

[The JoJo]

On the other hand the massive glory of being num 1 on SF.net team.

I can feel the massive glory !!!

So this is what it feels like...Hmmm, how am I now supposed to act when people want to give me fast cars, and women throw themselves in my lap?

 

[Prof.Wizard]

Whats the worst that can happen? Exclusion from Uni / large fine?

Sure. Nothing to worry... :lol:

On the other hand the massive glory of being num 1 on SF.net team. Do it Prof, you know you wanna

We'll be n.1 us a team!
But... hey, wait a minute! Screw you: I'll start my own team. Wizard's Uni. :wink: