Does TPF Have A Folding Team?

Kpassa

Member
Mar 20, 2008
578
0
I've never seen mention of a folding team here. If you're interested in joining or starting one let me know, I could give you my team number or you can fold on your own. If TPF has a team I may join it.

Folding@Home FAQ for new users:

What is Folding@Home?
A Stanford University project to find out how proteins fold.

Why it's important: Proteins folding wrong causes all kinds of diseases, like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and forms of cancer. Folding@Home uses novel computational methods and large scale distributed computing, to simulate timescales thousands to millions of times longer than previously achieved. Through Folding@home, scientists now have the horsepower to study the mechanics of protein folding. With its ability to share the workload among hundred of thousands of computers economically, Folding@home can help scientists understand how proteins snap, or don't, into their predestined shapes - and may help to explain the origins of diseases such as Alzheimer's and apparently unrelated diseases. We're fueling research that could end all that.

How does it work?: You download a safe, tested program (see link below) that is certified by Stanford University. It gets work from Stanford, runs calculations using your spare computer power, and sends the results back to the University.

Is it safe? Yes! Folding@Home rarely effects computer performance in any way and won't compromise your privacy in any way. It only uses the computing power you aren't using so it doesn't slow down other programs.

How can my computer help? Even if they were given exclusive access to all of the world's supercomputers, Stanford still wouldn't have as much processing power as they get from the supercluster of people's desktop systems Folding@home relies on. Modern supercomputers are essentially a cluster of hundreds of processors linked by fast networking. But Stanford needed the power of hundreds of thousands of processors, not just hundreds.

There's no reason to not get involved! It's free, easy, and you can know you're helping every minute without lifting a finger.

Why Fold? Watch This: http://icrontic.com/files/thraxfoldingflash/
 
Somehow, I doubt there is a folding team active here on tPF, but I could be wrong. If there isn't, I'd be pleased to join yours, Kpassa. I would need to reasearch it a bit more to satisfy myself that it is legitimate (I do try to protect my privacy at least a little bit online ;)), but it sounds like a worthwhile proposition. Tell me, do you know if one has to be actively using the computer for this program to be helpful to Stanford, or can it be simply left on and idling? I have a second computer that I rarely use which would be free for continuous use if the program works that way. I don't know as much about computers as I'd like.
 
Somehow, I doubt there is a folding team active here on tPF, but I could be wrong. If there isn't, I'd be pleased to join yours, Kpassa. I would need to reasearch it a bit more to satisfy myself that it is legitimate (I do try to protect my privacy at least a little bit online ;)), but it sounds like a worthwhile proposition. Tell me, do you know if one has to be actively using the computer for this program to be helpful to Stanford, or can it be simply left on and idling? I have a second computer that I rarely use which would be free for continuous use if the program works that way. I don't know as much about computers as I'd like.

You install the program, it sits in the taskbar and runs in the background. The best thing to do is leave your computer on all night but if you turn it off it just starts up again when you turn it back on. The only time I turn folding off is when I'm burning DVDs but even if I forget it doesn't affect the burn it just takes longer to do it. I didn't put a download link because I didn't want the admins raising cain over it but if people are interested I can provide a download link and a team number if you want to be part of a team. Many websites, schools and companies have their own teams, it's one of the few things you can see Free Republic, the Daily KOS and ********ic Underground agree on. It even runs on a PS3 and Sony thinks it is so worthwhile that they include the program in their installation CD.

I download a lot, usually 2-4 gigs per day. I was downloading at 500k/second before I installed the program, I download at 500 k/second now. I view web pages at exactly the same speed, post messages like this to forums and never even know it's there. I have 2 pcs on a network, Folding@home is installed on both of them. We share files, print documents, do anything you would normally do on a network and the Folding program has never slowed us down.

Folding@home is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest distributed computing program. It has its own Wikipedia entry. It is 110% legit and 110% worthy of your consideration, don't take my word for it do a Google search.
 
I must be an idiot, because I don't get it! I googled....have no idea what folding is...even after reading it. This is upsetting because I consider myself quite intelligent. LOL!


Edit: I found the wikipedia article...it makes a bit more sense now...
 
Starting or joining a team isn't necessary to fold. You don't get any extra speed, there are no prizes, no glory. It's strictly for bragging rights. So if you say "I'm pretty active on the purse forum" and the other person says "Gee, isn't that exciting, a bunch of ladies obsessing over fashion" then you can say, "Oh yeah, what's your folding rank, smartypants!!" :yahoo: Plus, how often can you do something where the absolute worst that can happen is you find a cure for Alzheimer's?

To see how widely accepted worldwide folding is, take a look at the different teams:

http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/team_list.php?s=
 
Starting or joining a team isn't necessary to fold. You don't get any extra speed, there are no prizes, no glory. It's strictly for bragging rights. So if you say "I'm pretty active on the purse forum" and the other person says "Gee, isn't that exciting, a bunch of ladies obsessing over fashion" then you can say, "Oh yeah, what's your folding rank, smartypants!!" :yahoo: Plus, how often can you do something where the absolute worst that can happen is you find a cure for Alzheimer's?

To see how widely accepted worldwide folding is, take a look at the different teams:

http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/team_list.php?s=

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Do you know if Vista's CPU usage issues affect how efficiently this program works? I am not as much concerned about it slowing the computers down as about the folding program not getting any room to work when a user is working on a computer running Vista. I have two computers with Vista and two with XP. The two Vistas are in use almost constantly and I've heard Vista uses almost all its memory to complete whatever tasks it is given. Does that mean Vista will allot more memory to accomodate this program or will it reduce its use while the computer performing other tasks? If it slows me down, I will take your advice and just pause the folding program while I'm working...I guess I'm asking if I have any excuse to be lazy about adding it to the Vistas. If it will still add an appreciable amount of run-time to the cause I will put it on all of them.
 
:roflmfao: I thought the same darn thing! Yay! Finally a sport I could excel in!! Finally, I won't be the last one sitting on the gym floor waiting to be "chosen" for a team! :yahoo: Now that my bubble is burst, this sounds so interesting. If doing this can help one person, I am sooo in! PM me with the details!! :heart: