Hi All,

I am spreading the word on a GoFundMe project I have setup to help get funding to create a Cluster using ODROID-XU4 units for BOINC projects. Since my old cluster melted down (luckily didn't burn down my house) I came up with an idea to try and build a solar powered cluster ran outside of the house for the challenge of it. I chose the ODROID-XU4's because of their speeds and that they have a fan and many other options. Plus if I don't get a lot of funding at least what I do get will give me a few cores to work with :). But the project also includes the Solar materials, panels (depending on load from the number of ODROIDS I can get) batteries for running at night, ARDUINO's for sensors (humidity, moisture, air quality, motion detection and more), the sensors (though I already have most of those), cables, Plexiglass and a whole bunch of other stuff.

So I thought I would post the link here and ask if you would help spread it around. Naturally any contributions I get will go into a list and will be included in any discoveries that might take place from any projects the cluster runs like a cure for Zika from the WCG project or Alien Signals from SETI or an Asteroid collision from Asteroids @ Home, to Prime Number discoveries from Prime Grid et cetera. hopefully in the future we will see more Medical research projects supporting ARM processors but till then!

Here is the link:

https://www.gofundme.com/x85pkg

Thanks for checking this post out, interested or not!

That and I don't have much room (electricity & cooling) to put another cluster in my closet:

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An interesting concept, but I have a few concerns and questions about it
You appear to have pulled the figure of $10k out of the air with little or no thought to the actual configuration of the cluster beyond the processing hardware you are purchasing.
A few of the missing things are, in no particular order: - number of nodes, router/hubs/switches, power budget, power management, power conversion (battery charging, dc/dc converters, shutdown/start-up management), battery technology.
Before putting up a bid for $10k for the "full size" project I would have expected you to have run a smaller scale system to establish probable answers to the majority of these points.
Further, given the way you are struggling with getting a simple 4-GPU system running, do you have the technical ability to resolve the many issues you will encounter when building a large ARM based cluster (potentially of 50-100 nodes)?

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

I would echo Rob's concerns, and I would also add that GoFundMe's are supposed to help out people short term that are down on their luck, and have an unplanned family or personal crisis. They are not meant to pay for ones hobby.

I didn't see anything in the GoFundMe regulations on specific project restrictions, as they call them campaigns not charities, but I will definitely dig around and see (which I have just now). Though according to this, other than these restrictions, you can use it for whatever unless they deem otherwise:

First, right here it states:

Creative Projects
Create your next song, film, book, or painting without going broke! If you’ve got a great idea, then let people help you make it a reality and try an online fundraiser with GoFundMe! Unlike some other online fundraising sites for creative projects, GoFundMe doesn’t force you to meet your goal by a certain time. Any money that you raise is yours, instantly. What a great fundraising idea! https://www.gofundme.com/creative-fundraising.

Then, I dug even farther into the rules and regulations and found this:

Without limiting the foregoing, you agree to not use the Services to:

Establish or contribute to any Campaign with the implicit or express purpose relating to any of the following:

Any activity that violates any law or governmental regulation;
Content or campaigns that are fraudulent, misleading, inaccurate, dishonest, impossible or imitating any other person or fundraising campaign (whether on the Platform or not);
Illegal drugs, narcotics, steroids, controlled substances or other products that present a risk to consumer safety or any related paraphernalia;
Knives, explosives, ammunition, firearms, or other weaponry or accessories;
Annuities, investments, equity or lottery contracts, lay-away systems, off-shore banking or similar transactions, money service businesses (including currency exchanges, check cashing or the like), debt collection or crypto-currencies;
Gambling, gaming and/or any other activity with an entry fee and a prize, including, but not limited to casino games, sports betting, fantasy sports, horse or greyhound racing, lottery tickets, other ventures that facilitate gambling, games of skill or chance (whether or not it is legally defined as a lottery) or sweepstakes;
The promotion of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, terrorism, or intolerance of any kind relating to race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender or gender identity, or serious disabilities or diseases;
Activities with, in, or involving countries, regions, governments, persons, or entities that are subject to U.S. and other economic sanctions under applicable law, unless such activities are expressly authorized by the appropriate governmental authority;
Ransom, human trafficking or exploitation;
Pornography or other sexual content;
Offensive, graphic, perverse or sensitive content;
The defense or support of anyone alleged to be involved in criminal activity;
Offering monetary rewards, including gift cards;
Transactions for the sale of items before the seller has control or possession of the item;
Collection of payments on behalf of merchants by payment processors or otherwise; or
Credit repair or debt settlement services.
Transmit or otherwise upload any content that (i) infringes any intellectual property or other proprietary rights of any party; (ii) you do not have a right to upload under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships; (iii) contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment; (iv) poses or creates a privacy or security risk to any person; (v) constitutes unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, commercial activities and/or sales, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," "contests," "sweepstakes," or any other form of solicitation; or (vi) in the sole judgment of GoFundMe, is objectionable or which restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying the Services, or which may expose GoFundMe or its users to any harm or liability of any type; or interfere with or disrupt the Services or servers or networks connected to the Services, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the Services; or
harvest or collect email addresses or other contact information of other users from the Services by electronic or other means.

So, as far as I can tell the campaign is well within the boundaries of a GoFundMe compaign for a project of this type.

For your other concerns and additional information: First, I have to say that I didn't include a lot of those specifics specifics because I didn't know how many units I would end up with. I would then determine what of those requirements I would need to cover the minimal number of units and could start adding them in as Campaign Updates to keep interest in the campaign going.

But you all know that things like Number of nodes, routers, switches, power budgets etc would all depend on the amount of funding I got, number of nodes I could get, type and quantity of solar panels, batteries to hold the power from the panels et cetera. Then I would have to determine the materials for chassis, weather proofing ( do I want to use plexiglass or weather treated plywood, or PVC or a combination of those etc). But as I said I was planning on those as project updates, as those figures would change as new funding arrived or I was able to get them myself, units were added on, et cetera.

I was able to get one ODROID-XU4 myself and am working on another, so I should have enough to start the cluster process soon and then see how it goes as I add more units. I have a small 6v 12v 10a solar charge converter now and a small panel and battery, so I was going to use that as the test bed and then go from there, but it just didn't seem logical to create a small campaign and then another larger one as you would loose the momentum of past donations which can encourage new people to pitch in.

In regards to my experience and pas tissues with a GPU rig I was setting up had hardware compatibility issues which were resolved and is up and running just fine. But first off, this is all a learning experience for me and I clearly state that in the details of the project. I have setup and manage clusters at work for VMWARE and NetApp appliances and the like. The clustering of Raspberry Pi's I have done small ones to learn the processes of it all. But I have never done one with the ODROID's and yes it will be a learning experience but I believe most things are and I have people here on the forums to ask and of course Google. The hard part will be getting the initial cluster up and running, but usually in my experience adding additional nodes is pretty straight forward. Power monitoring and regulation will be a challenge, but I was looking into using and Arduino as a monitoring unit that can run on it's own rechargeable battery pack and do unattended shutdowns and startups if power runs out in the batteries at night due to insufficient charging during extended cloudy days or storms or snow et cetera.

Oh and the initial cost of the project being $10,000 as the goal. When I originally created the campaign, the amount GoFundMe put in there was $16,000. I reduced it to $10,00 because if it did get interest and funding, I wanted a high enough number that I know would allow for enough funding for all the materials that would be needed for a decent sized cluster and for any unforeseen costs that might happen. Like I mentioned before, there is a lot of different things involved in a project like this, not just the computing, but the solar power items, including panels, mounting materials for panels, batteries, solar charge controllers and regulators; but wiring, elemental protection, Arduino's, humidity, moisture, air quality sensors and on and on.

So I hope that helps clear up some of those concerns, questions? I don't reckon I know everything I will encounter, but I am sure I can overcome it alone or with help.

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I also sent an email to their customer support just to confirm as I didn't want to do anything against their rules:


Email Contents:

Meeshel (GoFundMe Customer Happiness)

Feb 8, 11:27 AM PST

I appreciate you writing in about this, Mitchell and welcome to GoFundMe!

Raising funds for a creative project or idea is 100% okay- although we do support of campaigns that represent people who are going through very difficult times, we also support users who are going through the best and most exciting times of their lives.

We are not mutually exclusive and we'd love to have you with us on our platform.

And here's an article with some tips on how to be successful:
http://support.gofundme.com/hc/en-us/articles/203604494

Please let me know if you have any questions at all along the way, Mitchell!

Warmly,

Meeshel
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I am still concerned that you are starting in the wrong direction. Do a power budget - how many watts is needed to run a cluster nodes of a given size (choose a cluster size that is scaleable, say ten nodes), including your support hardware like Ethernet switches & routers, power control hardware, dc/dc converters, this will give you an idea of the size of solar panel you need, and the size of you battery bank. You can then work out how many of those sub-clusters you can get for your $10k. This sort of budget can be done without buying a single bit of hardware, just studying the data sheets for the various components.
As for the structure - how it is built and the materials used are going to be driven by the size of the major "solid" lumps - the cluster, the power supplies and the batteries are probably going to be the biggest items that need to be protected, the panels should live outside mounted on simple frames secured to the ground.


[edit]
I'm not commenting about your use of crowd funding in the form of a "GoFundMe" appeal for this venture, as I do think the concept is a worthy one, just that you need to put some more flesh on the bones before setting out on the journey.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

I am still concerned that you are starting in the wrong direction. Do a power budget - how many watts is needed to run a cluster nodes of a given size (choose a cluster size that is scaleable, say ten nodes), including your support hardware like Ethernet switches & routers, power control hardware, dc/dc converters, this will give you an idea of the size of solar panel you need, and the size of you battery bank. You can then work out how many of those sub-clusters you can get for your $10k. This sort of budget can be done without buying a single bit of hardware, just studying the data sheets for the various components.
As for the structure - how it is built and the materials used are going to be driven by the size of the major "solid" lumps - the cluster, the power supplies and the batteries are probably going to be the biggest items that need to be protected, the panels should live outside mounted on simple frames secured to the ground.


[edit]
I'm not commenting about your use of crowd funding in the form of a "GoFundMe" appeal for this venture, as I do think the concept is a worthy one, just that you need to put some more flesh on the bones before setting out on the journey.

I agree and I can do that (actually have been just not on the project page). I run the infrastructure for a 911 center so I have weird hours and get to do stuff like this on my spare time. So I do a bit here and there. I just wanted to make sure the whole project as a whole was understood and within the limits of GoFundMe's rules and the like. Just wanted to make sure if people do support it that it is going towards the project and it is valid et cetera.

Thanks for the advice I'll work on those power numbers soon, though I will have to guess on a few as different manufacturers different power reqs, though trying to keep them to the lowest ones I can think of find.

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