I have been running FightAIDS@Home for a while now. I had just e-mailed the director of the project asking if they've considered running their project with BOINC.

I received a quick reply from him stating that they are indeed in the process of developing a version to use with BOINC.

I'm excited about that as I think they will get a lot more participants through BOINC. I am excited that I will be able to have it run through BOINC as I can just add it to all the other computers I have BOINC on.

He said to look for press releases/news of the release of the version for BOINC soon.

Torrey Lauer
Rainbow Sky Travel
www RainbowSkyTravel com

I think they've gotten several such mails - I sent one a while ago ;) I guess they see the userbase potential ;)

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I finally got fed up with the problems with BOINC and SETI and recently started with FightAIDS@Home. But their email addresses seem to be dead, some links on their site are dead, and the membership login has been disabled. I've been wondering if they were still alive! I'm glad to see this news about the project, but with the persistent problems BOINC has had lately and the poor communication they have had with their volunteers, I wonder if there will be the same problems for FA@H. Would FA@H be run on the BOINC computer, and therefore be subject to these power outages and problems?


Starhugger

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I think this is a real good project for the human cause at all!
I'm gladly seeing ahead for crunching units for them in BOINC, absolutely!!

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Aloha, Uli

> I finally got fed up with the problems with BOINC and SETI and recently
> started with FightAIDS@Home. But their email addresses seem to be dead, some
> links on their site are dead, and the membership login has been disabled. I've
> been wondering if they were still alive! I'm glad to see this news about the
> project, but with the persistent problems BOINC has had lately and the poor
> communication they have had with their volunteers, I wonder if there will be
> the same problems for FA@H. Would FA@H be run on the BOINC computer, and
> therefore be subject to these power outages and problems?

The power outages has not affected BOINC - they affected SETI@home the project ;) The BOINC backend (server side that is) is not at one central location. Each project run their own servers and BOINC backend, and they are already localized in different ends of the world ;)

The BOINC backends doesn't even "talk" to each other with any risk of one projects outage taking the others with it.

So, to that extent there's absolutely no risk at all for the FA@h to go the BOINC way ;)

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> I finally got fed up with the problems with BOINC and SETI and recently
> started with FightAIDS@Home. But their email addresses seem to be dead, some
> links on their site are dead, and the membership login has been disabled. I've
> been wondering if they were still alive! I'm glad to see this news about the
> project, but with the persistent problems BOINC has had lately and the poor
> communication they have had with their volunteers, I wonder if there will be
> the same problems for FA@H. Would FA@H be run on the BOINC computer, and
> therefore be subject to these power outages and problems?

The recent problems here have been with SETI@Home, which is run on the BOINC core. Each project (SETI, Einstein, Protein, etc...) has their own computers, databases, and so on. The recent problems haven't been with BOINC, or even really with SETI@Home. The network connection was (as I understand) outside the lab, and the electrical was the entire building that the lab resides in. OK, the UPS or lack thereof is more directly related...

Since FA@H runs out of Scripps Research, and S@H is at UC Berkeley, I don't think they'll have the same technical difficulties. I'd wonder if they'll have any common tech side with ProteinPredictor, which is also at Scripps.

---

> The BOINC backends doesn't even "talk" to each other with any risk of one
> projects outage taking the others with it.
>
> So, to that extent there's absolutely no risk at all for the FA@h to go the
> BOINC way ;)


Oh good, I'm glad to hear that. It was fun to feel part of the SETI project, but helping AIDS research seems more urgent. I think I would rather focus my resources on that. Thanks for letting me know. :-)


Starhugger

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> > The BOINC backends doesn't even "talk" to each other with any risk of
> one
> > projects outage taking the others with it.
> >
> > So, to that extent there's absolutely no risk at all for the FA@h to go
> the
> > BOINC way ;)
>
>
> Oh good, I'm glad to hear that. It was fun to feel part of the SETI project,
> but helping AIDS research seems more urgent. I think I would rather focus my
> resources on that. Thanks for letting me know. :-)

Actually, if/when FA@h goes to BOINC you can be part of both projects at the same time - on the same computers - without braking a sweat ;) You can even designate how much CPU power each project should have available.

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> Actually, if/when FA@h goes to BOINC you can be part of both projects at the
> same time - on the same computers - without braking a sweat ;) You can even
> designate how much CPU power each project should have available.


Gee, I feel like a kid in front of a candy counter... LOL


Starhugger

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> Gee, I feel like a kid in front of a candy counter... LOL
> Starhugger

...and you really like it, do you? ;)

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Aloha, Uli

> > Actually, if/when FA@h goes to BOINC you can be part of both projects at
> the
> > same time - on the same computers - without braking a sweat ;) You can
> even
> > designate how much CPU power each project should have available.
>
>
> Gee, I feel like a kid in front of a candy counter... LOL

Yes, it's pretty neat *lol* That's why I'm able to participate in so many projects - I practically only have one computer (the other one is on between 30 minutes and a few hours a day), but still I'm on 7 projects so far. Ok, FA@h and folding are on as well, but they really don't get much work done as they currently are not on BOINC - so guess what I'm hoping and crossing my fingers for ;)

---

> Since FA@H runs out of Scripps Research, and S@H is at UC Berkeley, I don't
> think they'll have the same technical difficulties. I'd wonder if they'll have
> any common tech side with ProteinPredictor, which is also at Scripps.

I'd think they'll end up with seperate tech side - but FA@h could deffinately benifit alot from predictors experience - so perhabs there'll be some communication there ;)

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So BOINC is really just a coordinating front end for other projects then?


Starhugger

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> So BOINC is really just a coordinating front end for other projects then?

The candidate got 100 points! ;)

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Aloha, Uli

> > So BOINC is really just a coordinating front end for other projects
> then?
>
> The candidate got 100 points! ;)


*Candidate takes a bow*


;-)

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I would like to believe this is really going to help FA@H. I have been running it for some time now but am only devoting 1 CPU worth ATM. The "temporarily disabled" accounts/logins has been temporarily closed for almost three years. Also, many times attempting to login in again, with the same username/pass on different machines results in "no server available" when it should be telling you the account does not exist or password incorrect. This has resulted in me creating three different user accounts with no way of combining them. Also, FA@H gives very little info regarding what the project you are working on is actually doing. There has been quite a bit of blind faith with the project so far.

I hope this means a new era of better feedback from this project. I would move much of my computing power over to FA@H if it does.

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> So BOINC is really just a coordinating front end for other projects then?

BOINC is a framework for distributed computing.

S@H, E@H, CPDN, LHC, and others are all projects running on that framework.

For the most part, the folks complaining bitterly either haven't figured out how to get BOINC to cache work, or haven't joined other projects.

Last friday, only one of the three projects I crunch was "up" but by monday night all three were working.

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> For the most part, the folks complaining bitterly either haven't figured out
> how to get BOINC to cache work, or haven't joined other projects.


Uh yuh, that would be me. ;-) *blush*

So... how DO you get BOINC to cache work? I was running both BOINC and SETI classic and more often than not, they couldn't find the server. I finally uninstalled both. There really isn't a lot of newbie-friendly information here about how the BOINC projects work.


Starhugger

---

> FA@H gives very little info regarding what the project
> you are working on is actually doing. There has been quite a bit of blind
> faith with the project so far.


Yes, I've noticed this too. I'm all for contributing to AIDS research but I'm not nuts about the thought of doing something that will only benefit some big drug company for whom this project might be a "non-profit" front. I tried emailing them with some questions and the emails bounced. It doesn't exactly fill one with confidence, does it?


Starhugger

---

> > For the most part, the folks complaining bitterly either haven't figured
> out
> > how to get BOINC to cache work, or haven't joined other projects.
>
>
> Uh yuh, that would be me. ;-) *blush*
>
> So... how DO you get BOINC to cache work? I was running both BOINC and SETI
> classic and more often than not, they couldn't find the server. I finally
> uninstalled both. There really isn't a lot of newbie-friendly information here
> about how the BOINC projects work.
>
>
> Starhugger
>
Go to the general preferences page for any project that you are connected to and change the 'Connect to network about every' x number of days to a higher number then go into Boinc and update from the projects tab.

that is how you control your cache. Also there is alot of info at this site for you to read , compliments of Paul D Buck http://boinc-doc.net/index.php

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98SE XP2500+ @ 2.1 GHz Boinc v5.8.8

And God said"Let there be light."But then the program crashed because he was trying to access the 'light' property of a NULL universe pointer.