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View Full Version : Help INTERCOT Search For Life In Outer Space



imported_JohnY
08-26-2002, 01:52 PM
The SETI@home project searches radio waves for communications from other parts of our universe. If you have spare cpu cycles and a constant connection to the INTERNET (dsl, cable, isdn, dial up you leave on all the time)... AND want a REALLY NIFTY screen saver, join the SETI Project.

You can set it only to work when your screen saver comes on so you don't have to worry abour performance suffering. What it does, is take that idle time to work in conjunction with other computers around the world through distributed computing as a giant supercomputer!

Here's where it gets fun... we as a site can do this as a TEAM.

If you are interested:

1) go to the SETI@home site and grab the download at http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/download.html

2) Then go back to http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/account_area.html and have the password mailed to you (if you don't get it by signing up).

3) Then, join the INTERCOT Community: http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/cgi?cmd=team_join_form&id=149099

4) If you have questions, go to http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu or email me.

The INTERCOT Community page is located at:
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/stats/team/team_149099.html

It doesn't have stats yet as I just created it but it will be neat to follow as the weeks go on if we get a few folks... maybe even the whole site involved.

Post here if you can join us!

[ August 27, 2002, 08:35 PM: Message edited by: JohnY ]

imported_JohnY
08-27-2002, 08:32 PM
I think many of you may have missed this so I am moving it here to the water cooler. I think it would be pretty nice if we banded together as a site to do this...

Figaro
08-27-2002, 08:48 PM
Awesome John! I'll join asap! :D graemlins/thumbsup.gif

::runs off and grabs his satalite and headphones::

Figaro
08-27-2002, 09:05 PM
Joined :D graemlins/mickey.gif graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Jared
08-27-2002, 10:06 PM
I'm in! graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Jeff Handshaw 100+visits
08-27-2002, 10:54 PM
Hope you don't mind if I join you...
A few notes from a veteran...
For the best speed, run it realtime, not as a screensaver and minimized. It may look pretty, but the video output slows down the output tremendously. The units can take pretty long to process, especially on a slower machine. It used to take about a week on my old machine. On my 1.3 Ghz AMD machine it takes about 6 hours. If I don't minimize it would take about 4 times as long. If you have a high tech video card, I imagine the time savings wouldn't be as great.

If you'd like to process multiple units (download several units at a time instead of one at a time), you might want to get Seti Monitor (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the website where you can get it). This is good if you have a dialup connection and your computer does not stay connected to the Internet...it allows it to run non-stop.

[ August 27, 2002, 11:21 PM: Message edited by: Jeff Handshaw 100+visits ]

imported_dpamac
08-27-2002, 11:40 PM
Okay, Jeff should be an inspiration to us all! I just looked at his stats.

Mine are pathetic so far. I joined almost two years ago and I forgot all about it.

Well, I'm gonna catch up with Mr. Handshaw if I have to scan the skies manually.

The SETI site has a ton of cool addons to the program. I suggest you check it out!

MikeH
08-27-2002, 11:51 PM
Joined graemlins/thumbsup.gif

JimmyC
08-28-2002, 07:54 AM
My bosses no longer allow me to talk to space aliens, especially after the 'Zapping The Weasel with Intergalactic Silly String' debacle :(

Had this on my work PC and they said to take it off, even though it causes no harm.

But I might set up my home PC graemlins/thumbsup.gif

imported_dpamac
08-28-2002, 10:29 AM
I'm still jealous of Jeff, who seems to be on a single-handed mission of personally proving the validity of Drake's Equation (N=R*fs*fp*ne*fl*fi*fc*L).

When will my stats update? I'm dying here! I've logged some great time with some data from Arecibo, but it's not showing up on the stats page.

imported_JohnY
08-28-2002, 10:46 AM
I think your stats update when you complete a work unit... I could be wrong but I think that's when mine first started.

Katmegali
08-28-2002, 11:58 AM
This sounds like a great idea. I will put it on my home computer when I get home graemlins/thumbsup.gif

MikeH
08-28-2002, 12:00 PM
When will my stats update? I'm dying here! I've logged some great time with some data from Arecibo, but it's not showing up on the stats page.There is a section in the SETI@Home FAQs, that indicates there could be a delay of up to a few days before credit is given, here's the link http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/faq.html

Patricia
08-30-2002, 12:43 AM
Like Gary I have 26 hours in, but I'm at big fat zero for units.. oh wait, Gary has 2 units.

Way to go Gary.

Jeff your making us look bad here. graemlins/blush.gif

Piglet822
08-30-2002, 01:55 PM
Originally posted by JimmyC:
[QB]My bosses no longer allow me to talk to space aliens, especially after the 'Zapping The Weasel with Intergalactic Silly String' debacle :(

Had this on my work PC and they said to take it off, even though it causes no harm.

Just to show your appreciation, I think you should send them a couple of llamas for Christmas. Don't we have some marmosets that need looking after? Hmmm, just a thought.

Dizney_Nut
08-30-2002, 02:08 PM
Better hurry up and fire up your old 'puters! From what I hear, there gonna stop the SETI@home project come March 03'. But no worries. There are other projects in the works! I've been a member since Sept 2000 and have logged in a total of 120 units: In 1316 hr 41 min 36.8 sec Whoo hoo! Cable lines rule!!!

SETI@home (http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/setifuture.html)

Disney-4-Me
08-31-2002, 11:22 AM
I'm in too! graemlins/thumbsup.gif
I saw Worf last night (4 times thanks to bonus Trek Fridays, bless Ted's money grubbing little heart) does that count?

Katmegali
08-31-2002, 12:17 PM
I just downloaded it. Cool.. you can get mesmirized just by watching it

Disney-4-Me
08-31-2002, 04:21 PM
Four hours later and I have almost 4 hours of CPU time! It's like getting credit and not going to class! I think I like this! graemlins/silly.gif

Jeff Handshaw 100+visits
08-31-2002, 11:59 PM
I make us look good...remember we are a team, and between us we all have about 1000 units!!!
Keep up the good work!
Here is the link for Seti Monitor:
http://highstress.zrlm.com/setimon/
Which is handy for those of us who have to dialup for our connections...this allows you to download several units at a time to process one after the other, then when done connect to send your results and get more units.

Jeff Handshaw 100+visits
09-01-2002, 12:06 AM
What kind of computer are you using, MikeH?
It looks like it really cooks!!!
I process a unit in about 6 hours and 20 minutes, when it sits doing nothing else (my stat is skewed by the days it used to take on my old machine before I got my 1.3Ghz AMD with 256MB DDR memory), and this beats 99% of the Average CPU time per work unit of most of the rest of the Seti community. Your machine is obviously better...maybe 2Ghz or better (Pentium?).

Jeff Handshaw 100+visits
09-01-2002, 12:22 AM
Remember!!!
Although it looks pretty, it runs about 4 times faster when it is minimized.
Hit the [_] or [X] to send it down to your system tray to work without having to paint the picture for you.
When I got my machine, I struggled to up my unit total up to 100 units from it's paltry 10 or so (which used to take almost a week to process EACH on my old 133Mhz Pentium). It was quite a struggle taking about 24 hours a unit. It wasn't long thereafter that I found out that minimizing the pretty screen cut that time to almost 6 hours. That 100 hour accomplishment turned into a big waste of time...it could have been almost 400 hours, if I would have known better!!!

[ September 01, 2002, 12:28 AM: Message edited by: Jeff Handshaw 100+visits ]

Jeff Handshaw 100+visits
09-02-2002, 03:13 PM
If you have 120 units, Dizney_Nut , why haven't you joined us yet? That 120 units would put our team over 1000 units!!!

From what I hear, there gonna stop the SETI@home project come March 03 Actually, they are just replacing the program (that's been used now since the project started with very few updates) with a new processing program called BOINC. This program will continue to process the same data as Seti@home did, but it will be able to do much more, including letting you process different kinds of data at the same time and assign priorities to each one.
No, it's not stopping, it getting BIGGER and BETTER.
Note: cable lines don't have much to do with the time it takes to process a unit. The only time download time comes into play is when you download a unit (uploading results takes only a few seconds each). Downloading a unit using a dialup connection might take 5 minutes, whereas using a cable modem would take 5 seconds. The only other advantage a cable connection would provide would be automatic downloads and therefore non-stop computing, since you can stay online all the time. (which Seti-Monitor also would provide). The processing is all done by your computer.

Jared
09-02-2002, 08:13 PM
Am I doing something wrong? I could have sworn it sent in my first result at like 7:00 tonight, but I don't see it on the website. :confused:

Jeff Handshaw 100+visits
09-02-2002, 09:28 PM
Don't worry, I'm still waiting on my last 4 that I posted at about 3pm.

MikeH
09-03-2002, 01:41 AM
Originally posted by Jeff Handshaw 100+visits:
What kind of computer are you using, MikeH?I'm running a 1.8Ghz Pentium 4 with 512MB of memory, It's doing a lot better than I would have thought it would.

imported_dpamac
09-03-2002, 09:44 AM
Originally posted by Jeff Handshaw 100+visits:
Actually, they are just replacing the program (that's been used now since the project started with very few updates) with a new processing program called BOINC. BOINC?

You're kidding, right? graemlins/silly.gif

Katmegali
09-03-2002, 11:52 AM
BOINC!! graemlins/doubleeek.gif

When you switch users does it stop? My dh uses my computer sometimes and logs me out to get to his login.
I noticed it's taken me abt 20 hours to do one unit. I have been keeping it minimized lately. I would have thought it would have gone faster

Does it go faster if you are not using the computer?

Oh, I have a 1.8GHZ processor

[ September 03, 2002, 12:38 PM: Message edited by: Katmegali ]

devo995493
09-03-2002, 11:57 AM
As soon as I get my password sent to me, I'll join the group. I lost everything when I switched computers, and my sister just told me that she deleted the program off of my opld computer. My current stats are:

[email protected]

Results Received 159
Total CPU Time 3458 hr 25 min
Average CPU Time per work unit 21 hr 45 min 03.8 sec
Average results received per day 0.27
Last result returned: Mon Aug 12 12:18:52 2002 UTC
Registered on: Sun Jan 14 23:50:28 2001 UTC

SETI@home user for: 1.635 years

Your rank out of 3949076 total users is: 490431st place.
The number of users who have this rank: 1767
You have completed more work units than 87.536% of our users.

devo995493
09-03-2002, 12:23 PM
I just joined the group. I'm sure it will update all the stats shortly, but in the meantime here are the group stats as they currently stand:

Name (and URL) Results
received Total CPU time Average CPU time
per work unit Date Last Result Received Country

1) Jeffrey C. Handshaw 946 7193 hr 55 min 7 hr 36 min 16.4 sec Mon Sep 2 19:20:45 2002 United States

2) devo995493 159 3458 hr 25 min 21 hr 45 min 03.8 sec Mon Aug 12 12:18:52 2002 United States

3) MikeH 21 118 hr 02 min 5 hr 37 min 15.4 sec Tue Sep 3 13:38:17 2002 United States

4) intercot 11 188 hr 47 min 17 hr 09 min 45.8 sec Tue Sep 3 01:41:34 2002 United States

5) dpamac 7 85 hr 03 min 12 hr 09 min 03.5 sec Tue Sep 3 13:04:10 2002 United States

6) Patricia 2 39 hr 08 min 19 hr 34 min 04.6 sec Sun Sep 1 04:41:58 2002 Canada

7) Tigger 1 44 hr 24 min 44 hr 24 min 52.5 sec Sun Sep 1 05:42:14 2002 United States

8) JaredDisneyNut 1 41 hr 10 min 41 hr 10 min 37.6 sec Mon Sep 2 23:05:12 2002 United States

9) Diane Waldo 1 18 hr 20 min 18 hr 20 min 10.7 sec Mon Sep 2 11:55:01 2002 United States

10) SnowABrat 1 20 hr 56 min 20 hr 56 min 59.5 sec Mon Sep 2 13:51:42 2002 United States

11) Teky 0 0 hr 00 min Unknown United States

Jeff Handshaw 100+visits
09-03-2002, 10:02 PM
BOINC, read all about it...just check out the seti link that Dizney_Nut posted, it will give you all, and I mean all the details.
===============================================
One thing you have to be sure is done when you minimize Seti is that it is still running (that why I never minimized it when I first started).
Under Settings, Preferences, be sure you have
"Data analysis always runs" selected, otherwise it will only run as a screen saver or when it is open. If you run a good 3D game, it will pretty much stall Seti out (which is a good thing for your gaming, but a bad thing for your stats), so you might want to kill it (right click on icon and exit) while you are playing to keep your stats high

Jeff Handshaw 100+visits
09-03-2002, 10:31 PM
With the addition of devo995493, we are now only 1 update away from shattering through the 1000 unit barrier!!!

devo995493
09-04-2002, 09:25 AM
And the 10,000 hors of work barrier...unfortunately the groups that have been around for a long time haves tens of thousends of work units completed, and hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of work hours completed.

That's all right it's all for a good cause. IF SETI does find a signal that couldbe intelligent life, I guarantee you the Reese's stock will go through the roof.

Jeff Handshaw 100+visits
09-23-2002, 11:44 PM
I heard a rumor from a group who invited me to join them (I guess they noticed that I just broke 1000), that NASA has offered some sort of program. If a group finds something, they will be invited to participate in the program. I could not verify this on the Seti site. Here is the broken English text from the e-mail invitation I was sent...
"Hello!

Here is amail from germany!

Maybe, you will be astonished why to get an Email from this address:

I want to ask you to join our SETI@home group.
I am big Asien-Fan (i study asien and geographie in germany)

Our name is "Die Jenenser Wölfe" ( the Jena Wolfes ), but we are no regular club.

We founded the group in our town Jena January 2001.

Normally, we are sending about 130 data sets per day, i.e. we have analysed about 66.000 data sets so far with a total computation time of seven
years.

The members of our group are from 16 to 50 years old, and we live in Thuringia, Bavaria, Saxony and other German states, Greece, GB, Slovenia
and USA, australia, new zealand.

Our motivation is - besides of the "little competition" for best range - that the NASA offered a space programme in Florida for a seti team to promote
this project.

In case, that one of our group will find some extraterrestrical significance, all members of the group can take part in the NASA programme.

Isn't it great !"
===============================
If we could get everyone involved, we could really cook some signals.

stitchfan
09-26-2002, 02:40 PM
Actually, this is a cool thing to do when you computer is just sitting there.

BUMP graemlins/laughing.gif

Stitchfan

Emily
09-26-2002, 03:13 PM
Originally posted by dpamac:
I'm still jealous of Jeff, who seems to be on a single-handed mission of personally proving the validity of Drake's Equation (N=R*fs*fp*ne*fl*fi*fc*L)I took an astronomy class in college (one of several) on nothing but the Drake equation. Muy interesante! graemlins/thumbsup.gif I'll try to get this going on my PC tonight. Sorry I missed this the first time around.

imported_dpamac
09-26-2002, 04:08 PM
Originally posted by SteelyGirl:
I took an astronomy class in college (one of several) on nothing but the Drake equation. Muy interesante! graemlins/thumbsup.gif I'll try to get this going on my PC tonight. Sorry I missed this the first time around.So did I! It was actually the coolest class I took in college. And my professor looked like Kenny Loggins! Even odder . . . His name was John Messina. (Insert Twilight Zone Music here)

My wife was actually in the same class as I was, but we didn't meet until four years later.

Dizneyana
09-26-2002, 07:16 PM
Okay, I really want to do this, but it would be useless to me at work, since my machine is hardly ever idle.. (Guess that means that I am not either, huh? graemlins/crazy.gif )

I only have dial-up available at home, :mad: but looking at getting satellite internet VERY soon, and I’ll be there as soon as that happens!! graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Keep up the good work for the team, you guys!! :D

Disney-4-Me
09-26-2002, 10:11 PM
Tracey, don't worry about only having dial up, that is all I have at home too. I also loaded Seti on my computer at school and it is taking about 20 hours to process one unit there. It is really ruining my hours/unit stats. Your computer can still be doing other things while it is processing a unit too. My computer at home is always busy, but it is also always processing a Seti unit.

Even if you aren't in the top few, it is still fun to do, and it is fun to keep up with our team stats and standings.

I am a little competitive ;) so I am always trying to catch the person in front of me on our team. Gary, I believe that means you are next! I am not even going to try for Jeff though, he is WAAAAAY too far ahead. graemlins/notworthy.gif

graemlins/idea.gif Unless, of course, I get my whole lab of 30 computers processing! Then nobody's safe!

Diane

imported_dpamac
09-26-2002, 11:52 PM
Originally posted by Disney-4-Me:


I am a little competitive ;) so I am always trying to catch the person in front of me on our team. Gary, I believe that means you are next!
Ooooh. A challenge. smile.gif

Dizneyana
09-27-2002, 04:01 PM
Okay, you convinced me... I’ve loaded it at work, and will do it at home as well, although I don’t stay connected all the time at home, but any bit of time will help, so I am there!! :D

Disney-4-Me
09-28-2002, 12:03 AM
Tracey, you'll be glad you did. It's fun and we are all part of the team. graemlins/muscles.gif

I tried to download the software that allows you to accept more than one unit at a time for processing so that my computer doesn't have to wait for me to unload one unit and get another. Alas, it is only for the non-Apple computer users. graemlins/shakehead.gif Thanks anyway, Jeff.

Dizneyana
09-30-2002, 12:33 PM
Okay, I am officially official!! :D

Took SETI 3 days to e-mail me my password, graemlins/shakehead.gif so I just joined the ICOT team and uploaded a unit this morning!! graemlins/clappy.gif

I have a lot of catching up to do..

Jeff Handshaw 100+visits
10-24-2002, 07:59 PM
Results received 2030, way to go...we broke 2000!!!

Jeff Handshaw 100+visits
02-21-2003, 12:48 AM
We are cooking now, imagine how we'd be doing if all active members got involved.
I'm having a lot of fun leapfroging ahead all people ahead of me in my 'Registration Class'.
Unfortunately, when I first signed up in 2000 my machine really couldn't handle it and if I was lucky I managed to process 1 unit a week the 1st year. Then when I got my new 1.3GHz machine a couple of years ago I wasted 400% of my time running it with the gui window open, processing only one unit a day until I finally reached 100. Then I discovered that I could process 4 units a day with the window closed or minimized (doh). So most of my processing has been done in the last year. Now if I had realized that from the start, I could add about 300 units to my current total, and if my UPS would have worked during my last 3 vacations (where nothing was processed), I could have added another 100 units. These would have put me at 1700 units and 16 places higher (I'm 63rd out of 279 in my class)

devo995493
02-21-2003, 01:01 AM
I took a full year off from SETI when I was in the Marines. I couldn't put it on a government computer. Most of my processing has been done this last year also. I just need to boost my RAM a little more then I'll really be humming.

Too bad my old computer has totally skewed my results.

Disney-4-Me
02-21-2003, 12:32 PM
I'm glad this got bumped up. I hope more Intercot posters join in the fun! :D I'm planning to add more RAM too, we'll see how that effects my processing speed. My DH just asked me this morning if I've met any aliens yet. He always POO-POOs the idea of life in space. graemlins/shakehead.gif

Diane

Patricia
02-21-2003, 07:45 PM
Oops. graemlins/blush.gif

I forgot about this and I unplugged my Mommy computer a couple of weeks ago and have never plugged it back in. I just downloaded Seti to this family 'puter which is the Super Duper Ally Ooper machine. When I plug mine back in (sometime in the next millennium I hope) can I have both computers doing this at the same time when they are networked?

Disney-4-Me
02-22-2003, 12:11 AM
I have two networked computers processing SETI units at the same time. That's how I'm making such good progress even though it takes about 11 hours to process a unit. :D

ElenitaB
02-22-2003, 02:35 PM
I'm in. I've been wanting to get SETI going for a long time and this was just the incentive I needed! graemlins/thumbsup.gif I don't think I can do it on my work machine because of our firewall, but at least my personal machine can listen for ET.