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True-Gossiper · 24th February 2007, 08:00 PM

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/

I wonder how it is working, assuming that it does work.

Any of you guys have links that expose or support this tool?

The_Fire · 24th February 2007, 10:02 PM

Given the fact that it's run by a uni, have run for several years and that I am a member: Yes, it works.
What happens is this: The Aricebo radio telescope records a whole bunch of signals. These gets distributed through a computer network currently based on the BOINC distribution system. This network is comprised of a whole bunch of privately, or company, owned computers, which normally doesn't have a 100& busy and 100% taken resources consitantly through the day. BOINC then proceeds to use a percentage, if not all, of this available, unused computer power (tweaked to fit your personal specifications) to run through the Aricebo data using an algorithm to isolate signals from "out there" within a specific range and with repetitive pattern to it. The range is determined on some educated theories on which frequencies a civilized alien culture will communicate through.

Once promising signals have been isolated (I have assisted in one such signal during 3 or 4 years of participating), the coordinates for the signal is collected at Berkely and reelistned to at the Aricebo again. If the signal persists, the star in question is examined more thou thoroughly. So far the most exciting have been a bunch of fast rotating neutrino stars, but hope is green and aliens grey......
It's not woo-woo, if that what you are asking.
BOINC is also used for several other projects in need of raw computer power normally only found in an array of supercomputer. Several of these projects either runs various science calculations or helps calculate protein folding (important in research of diseases and their cures) and other such things.

I run 4 projects:
Seti@home
LHC@home (not distributing work at this point but is part of the CERN particle research afair)
Rosetta@home (protein folding)
Einstein@home

I am also an inactive member of Climateprediction@home due to me not wanting to wait more than 3000 hours for one workunit to complete.
When you run more than one project, BOINC switches between projects every hour.

ETA: Let me expand on the Not-Woo-Woo comment: SETI@Home operates on the theory that the universe contains more than one planet with life on it (highly plausible) and that some of these have developed a way of using radiowaves to carry communication. They, and most of the participants, doesn't expect to see UFO's parking in front of the white house anytime soon. They are simply looking for signs of some type of company "out there". They are looking for signs of life, not direct communication (more or less impossible anyhow due to distance).

Notrump · 24th February 2007, 11:05 PM

I highly doubt there are other technological civilizations in the galaxy. Obviously, some other folks believe (hope, wish) there are. If they want to spend their own money on a fairly scientific research program, so be it. Admittedly, I do benefit from learning about their negative results. On the remote chance that they are right, I would certainly learn something. Our collective resources could be probably be invested more wisely, but that could be said about a great many things in a free society.

When I was eleven I attended a planetarium lecture on the origin, age and future of the universe. At the bus stop going home I got to thinking that even if I lived to be a hundred, the chance of the current moment in the history of the universe also being a moment in my life was pitifully small. While the odds of my being alive at that moment were weak, nevertheless I knew I could only consider the problem during my lifetime. Logic trumps probability. Matter and energy may have had to jump through countless high and tiny hoops to produce mankind. But despite the odds, they obviously succeeded at least once. Although that it no way proves it happened twice or was even likely to have occurred elsewhere. There may be a zillion planets out there, but that does not imply that technological civilizations “must have” evolved on some of them.

We are a result of a process of biological evolution. Genes protect their own kind and destroy those that directly threaten them or compete for resources. The fittest survive. Our own species has engaged in war and genocide right up to the modern era, not to mention what we do to other species. We likely disposed of the Neanderthals and other humanoids. Yet we are more closely related to a blade of grass, than to any extraterrestrial, no matter how intelligent it might be.

I would be concerned about the designs of a race of technological extraterrestrials that became aware of our existence. It may be unfortunate, but those who assume (hope, wish) that evolution will eventually lead to harmony and brotherhood among all intelligent creatures are probably kidding themselves. Survival is what matters, and its means may not be what some Pollyanna thinks it should be. Yet I submit that it is often (not always) Pollyanna who is searching for extraterrestrial intelligence. Polly is relatively harmless as long as she only attempts to receive signals and not send them.

To some the notion that intelligent extraterrestrials would come to guide us, gives them almost religious comfort even if they have abandoned traditional religions. Yet this is a motivation for many (not all) SETI people. But would we really want to become like Eloi and have no need to think or provide for ourselves? Would we prefer to have learned the laws of mechanics from ET rather than Galileo and Newton? If ET really came "to serve man”, would we actually be better off? Would life be worth living?

The universe has existed for 13.7 billion years. One percent of one percent of that is 1.37 million years. I suspect it is rather unlikely that two intelligent species reached our technological level together in the galaxy within a time span less than that. We are probably either well ahead of whichever species (if any) is in second place, or well behind any other that might be in first place. And if there are tens of thousands of such species, as some SETI promoters suggest, at least one of them at one time in its history could easily have had a leader who led a campaign of galactic cleansing. It only had to be done once for our species to be exterminated. I submit that if any species became technological before us, they would have wiped out our ancestors as vermin long ago, and we would not be holding this discussion.

So I would be worried and not pleased if SETI were successful in finding ETI. Yet since our ancestors were not destroyed by extraterrestrials long ago, that sets asides my fears and leads me to the happy conclusion that technological ETs never have existed.

You might enjoy the collection of papers in a book that speaks to both sides of the question: Extraterrestrials: Where Are They?
Click this link for more info on the book: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...350/crastro-20

Another good one that's more recent is: If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens... Where Is Everybody? Fifty Solutions to Fermi's Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life
Here's the link to its info: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...011/crastro-20

MetalPig · 25th February 2007, 12:18 AM

As an aside:
There was a story in the news last week about a guy who located his wife's stolen laptop with the help of Seti@Home. Here's a link to the story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070221/..._aliens_laptop

wombatwal · 25th February 2007, 01:53 AM

Originally Posted by MetalPig

As an aside:
There was a story in the news last week about a guy who located his wife's stolen laptop with the help of Seti@Home. Here's a link to the story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070221/..._aliens_laptop

UUHHMM, I don't know much about tracing computers with the IP address. Is this a urban myth

rockoon · 25th February 2007, 02:21 AM

I think the chance of SETI finding an ET communication is just about zero.

If you look at the progression of OUR telecomunications output, our signals are progressing towards being indistinguishable from noise and this is related to our desire to optimally encode (compress) information before transmitting it. Patterns only exist in poorly encoded information. The comming end of analog T.V signals is just one more step on the way to humanity being just another random noise source.

There is no reason to believe that ET's wouldn't also desire to optimally encode their own data, because its beneficial to do so.

Shrinker · 25th February 2007, 02:22 AM

Originally Posted by wombatwal

UUHHMM, I don't know much about tracing computers with the IP address. Is this a urban myth

Not at all. It depends on how you're connecting to the internet. Some, if not all, ADSL connections have a static IP, so the IP points directly to an individual customer.

Even with dail-up or a dynamic IP, so long as you know the time of the connection the ISP could probably trace where the connection came from. I was once with a dail-up firm that stated up front that they recorded your telephone number whenever you connected in order to prevent 'abuse'. They possibily all do that if you check the small print.

gnome · 25th February 2007, 08:43 AM

Originally Posted by rockoon

I think the chance of SETI finding an ET communication is just about zero.

If you look at the progression of OUR telecomunications output, our signals are progressing towards being indistinguishable from noise and this is related to our desire to optimally encode (compress) information before transmitting it. Patterns only exist in poorly encoded information. The comming end of analog T.V signals is just one more step on the way to humanity being just another random noise source.

There is no reason to believe that ET's wouldn't also desire to optimally encode their own data, because its beneficial to do so.

I think there's one thing missing in that analysis... the presence of the signal itself... sure you may not be able to extract any data without knowing the encoding, but a persistent signal from a particular spot would be meaningful...

rockoon · 25th February 2007, 11:26 AM

Originally Posted by gnome

I think there's one thing missing in that analysis... the presence of the signal itself... sure you may not be able to extract any data without knowing the encoding, but a persistent signal from a particular spot would be meaningful...

If that were true, then SETI@HOME would be pointless. The universe is full of radiation comming from all directions (white noise), so much of it that SETI needs your help(tm) to find patterns in it.

They are looking for periodic, not persistent.

Alan Heap · 25th February 2007, 11:39 AM

it's nothing new. cancer research and many other themed projects involving multiple computers over private or public networks, to work out equation upon equation faster, have been going for years.

you can even use multi computers at home for faster processing.

Dave1001 · 25th February 2007, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by Notrump

<snip>

I submit that if any species became technological before us, they would have wiped out our ancestors as vermin long ago, and we would not be holding this discussion.

<snip>

Yet since our ancestors were not destroyed by extraterrestrials long ago, that sets asides my fears and leads me to the happy conclusion that technological ETs never have existed.

Although I share your realist caution about alien intelligent life, I think it's completely speculative to posit that because we haven't been wiped out yet as a species, more intelligent alien life doesn't exist. As one possibility of many, their weapons of anhillation may be one day's travel time away from us.

JamesM · 25th February 2007, 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by Alan Heap

it's nothing new. cancer research and many other themed projects involving multiple computers over private or public networks, to work out equation upon equation faster, have been going for years.

If you're referring to the likes of Folding@Home, Rosetta@Home and FightAIDS@Home, they all post-date SETI@Home.

Alan Heap · 25th February 2007, 12:15 PM

Originally Posted by JamesM

If you're referring to the likes of Folding@Home, Rosetta@Home and FightAIDS@Home, they all post-date SETI@Home.

not specifically, no, i have no idea if this was the first. theres probably now hundreds of these things or nearing a hundred (not including private networks), and i couldn't care about a new one today let alone 2, 3 or however many years ago when this hole method got popular.

oh and i forgot to add previously; of course it's genuine.

and after a quick search on wikipedia, i found a nice list of these types of projects. have fun: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...uting_projects

Cuddles · 26th February 2007, 09:24 AM

Originally Posted by Alan Heap

not specifically, no, i have no idea if this was the first. theres probably now hundreds of these things or nearing a hundred (not including private networks), and i couldn't care about a new one today let alone 2, 3 or however many years ago when this hole method got popular.

SETI@home was the first one. Unfortunately they switched to a common interface program with a few other @home projects a couple of years ago and it didn't agree with my computer, but I used to have them on there.

Blue Bubble · 27th February 2007, 01:49 AM

Originally Posted by Cuddles

SETI@home was the first one. Unfortunately they switched to a common interface program with a few other @home projects a couple of years ago and it didn't agree with my computer, but I used to have them on there.

Hmmm... that's interesting, Cuddles. What computer+OS are you using ?

I ask because before SETI@Home switched to BOINC, I was in the top 10,000 in the world (out of more than 5,000,000) using idle time on a whole bunch of Alphas running VMS. BOINC was never ported to VMS.

Cuddles · 27th February 2007, 03:39 AM

Originally Posted by Blue Bubble

Hmmm... that's interesting, Cuddles. What computer+OS are you using ?

I ask because before SETI@Home switched to BOINC, I was in the top 10,000 in the world (out of more than 5,000,000) using idle time on a whole bunch of Alphas running VMS. BOINC was never ported to VMS.

I was just using boring old Windows, probably 2000 at the time. No idea why it wouldn't work because I know it worked fine for other people. I think computers generally just don't like me. I'm the only person I know that can crash a Linux machine with about 5000 hours of continuous running just by clicking the mouse.

valis · 27th February 2007, 05:53 AM

Originally Posted by wombatwal

UUHHMM, I don't know much about tracing computers with the IP address. Is this a urban myth

It is certainly possible. The software company I work for was able to locate a missing laptop for a customer because our software contacts our server when the computer is started (actually a lot of software does this, anything that has ever offered you an automatic update is getting that information somehow). He called many times and the computer kept showing his old IP address; finally he called one day and we showed a new address, he went to the police and they were able to recover the computer based on that information.

Diamond · 27th February 2007, 06:00 AM

I'm sorry but SETI is a religious belief, not a scientific endeavor.

I would subscribe to something useful, like Folding@home

andyandy · 27th February 2007, 07:22 AM

Originally Posted by Diamond

I'm sorry but SETI is a religious belief, not a scientific endeavor.

why's it a religous belief?

That's a strange thing to say.....

Cuddles · 27th February 2007, 08:59 AM

Originally Posted by Diamond

I'm sorry but SETI is a religious belief, not a scientific endeavor.

I would subscribe to something useful, like Folding@home

No. Believing in aliens is a belief. Searching to see if there are aliens is science.

24th February 2007, 08:00 PM	#1
True-Gossiper Student Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 35	SETI @ home http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ I wonder how it is working, assuming that it does work. Any of you guys have links that expose or support this tool?
True-Gossiper Student Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 35	Last edited by True-Gossiper; 24th February 2007 at 08:02 PM.

24th February 2007, 10:02 PM	#2
The_Fire Unimpressed Female Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: 8th level of Hell - Maleborgia Posts: 3,038	Given the fact that it's run by a uni, have run for several years and that I am a member: Yes, it works. What happens is this: The Aricebo radio telescope records a whole bunch of signals. These gets distributed through a computer network currently based on the BOINC distribution system. This network is comprised of a whole bunch of privately, or company, owned computers, which normally doesn't have a 100& busy and 100% taken resources consitantly through the day. BOINC then proceeds to use a percentage, if not all, of this available, unused computer power (tweaked to fit your personal specifications) to run through the Aricebo data using an algorithm to isolate signals from "out there" within a specific range and with repetitive pattern to it. The range is determined on some educated theories on which frequencies a civilized alien culture will communicate through. Once promising signals have been isolated (I have assisted in one such signal during 3 or 4 years of participating), the coordinates for the signal is collected at Berkely and reelistned to at the Aricebo again. If the signal persists, the star in question is examined more thou thoroughly. So far the most exciting have been a bunch of fast rotating neutrino stars, but hope is green and aliens grey...... It's not woo-woo, if that what you are asking. BOINC is also used for several other projects in need of raw computer power normally only found in an array of supercomputer. Several of these projects either runs various science calculations or helps calculate protein folding (important in research of diseases and their cures) and other such things. I run 4 projects: Seti@home LHC@home (not distributing work at this point but is part of the CERN particle research afair) Rosetta@home (protein folding) Einstein@home I am also an inactive member of Climateprediction@home due to me not wanting to wait more than 3000 hours for one workunit to complete. When you run more than one project, BOINC switches between projects every hour. ETA: Let me expand on the Not-Woo-Woo comment: SETI@Home operates on the theory that the universe contains more than one planet with life on it (highly plausible) and that some of these have developed a way of using radiowaves to carry communication. They, and most of the participants, doesn't expect to see UFO's parking in front of the white house anytime soon. They are simply looking for signs of some type of company "out there". They are looking for signs of life, not direct communication (more or less impossible anyhow due to distance).
	__________________ If anyone told you that I'm a nice person, they were either from a different level of existance, lying through their teeth or mentally instable. "We? That better be you and that invisible aardwarck in your pocket you are talking about, because I KNOW you are not stupid enough to open a giant can of whoop ass by claiming you know what I think." Stop Sylvia Browne Last edited by The_Fire; 24th February 2007 at 10:07 PM.

24th February 2007, 11:05 PM	#3
Notrump Muse Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Chicago Posts: 542	"Where Are They?" - Enrico Fermi I highly doubt there are other technological civilizations in the galaxy. Obviously, some other folks believe (hope, wish) there are. If they want to spend their own money on a fairly scientific research program, so be it. Admittedly, I do benefit from learning about their negative results. On the remote chance that they are right, I would certainly learn something. Our collective resources could be probably be invested more wisely, but that could be said about a great many things in a free society. When I was eleven I attended a planetarium lecture on the origin, age and future of the universe. At the bus stop going home I got to thinking that even if I lived to be a hundred, the chance of the current moment in the history of the universe also being a moment in my life was pitifully small. While the odds of my being alive at that moment were weak, nevertheless I knew I could only consider the problem during my lifetime. Logic trumps probability. Matter and energy may have had to jump through countless high and tiny hoops to produce mankind. But despite the odds, they obviously succeeded at least once. Although that it no way proves it happened twice or was even likely to have occurred elsewhere. There may be a zillion planets out there, but that does not imply that technological civilizations “must have” evolved on some of them. We are a result of a process of biological evolution. Genes protect their own kind and destroy those that directly threaten them or compete for resources. The fittest survive. Our own species has engaged in war and genocide right up to the modern era, not to mention what we do to other species. We likely disposed of the Neanderthals and other humanoids. Yet we are more closely related to a blade of grass, than to any extraterrestrial, no matter how intelligent it might be. I would be concerned about the designs of a race of technological extraterrestrials that became aware of our existence. It may be unfortunate, but those who assume (hope, wish) that evolution will eventually lead to harmony and brotherhood among all intelligent creatures are probably kidding themselves. Survival is what matters, and its means may not be what some Pollyanna thinks it should be. Yet I submit that it is often (not always) Pollyanna who is searching for extraterrestrial intelligence. Polly is relatively harmless as long as she only attempts to receive signals and not send them. To some the notion that intelligent extraterrestrials would come to guide us, gives them almost religious comfort even if they have abandoned traditional religions. Yet this is a motivation for many (not all) SETI people. But would we really want to become like Eloi and have no need to think or provide for ourselves? Would we prefer to have learned the laws of mechanics from ET rather than Galileo and Newton? If ET really came "to serve man”, would we actually be better off? Would life be worth living? The universe has existed for 13.7 billion years. One percent of one percent of that is 1.37 million years. I suspect it is rather unlikely that two intelligent species reached our technological level together in the galaxy within a time span less than that. We are probably either well ahead of whichever species (if any) is in second place, or well behind any other that might be in first place. And if there are tens of thousands of such species, as some SETI promoters suggest, at least one of them at one time in its history could easily have had a leader who led a campaign of galactic cleansing. It only had to be done once for our species to be exterminated. I submit that if any species became technological before us, they would have wiped out our ancestors as vermin long ago, and we would not be holding this discussion. So I would be worried and not pleased if SETI were successful in finding ETI. Yet since our ancestors were not destroyed by extraterrestrials long ago, that sets asides my fears and leads me to the happy conclusion that technological ETs never have existed. You might enjoy the collection of papers in a book that speaks to both sides of the question: Extraterrestrials: Where Are They? Click this link for more info on the book: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...350/crastro-20 Another good one that's more recent is: If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens... Where Is Everybody? Fifty Solutions to Fermi's Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life Here's the link to its info: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...011/crastro-20

25th February 2007, 12:18 AM	#4
MetalPig Master Poster Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Juicing the piglet since 1989 Posts: 2,007	As an aside: There was a story in the news last week about a guy who located his wife's stolen laptop with the help of Seti@Home. Here's a link to the story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070221/..._aliens_laptop
	__________________ When I met you my eyes hurt That is how beautiful you are Last edited by MetalPig; 25th February 2007 at 12:21 AM. Reason: link added

25th February 2007, 02:21 AM	#6
rockoon Graduate Poster Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 1,106	I think the chance of SETI finding an ET communication is just about zero. If you look at the progression of OUR telecomunications output, our signals are progressing towards being indistinguishable from noise and this is related to our desire to optimally encode (compress) information before transmitting it. Patterns only exist in poorly encoded information. The comming end of analog T.V signals is just one more step on the way to humanity being just another random noise source. There is no reason to believe that ET's wouldn't also desire to optimally encode their own data, because its beneficial to do so.
rockoon Graduate Poster Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 1,106	__________________ Quality never goes begging.

25th February 2007, 01:53 AM	#5
wombatwal Muse Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 888	Originally Posted by MetalPig As an aside: There was a story in the news last week about a guy who located his wife's stolen laptop with the help of Seti@Home. Here's a link to the story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070221/..._aliens_laptop UUHHMM, I don't know much about tracing computers with the IP address. Is this a urban myth

25th February 2007, 02:22 AM	#7
Shrinker Graduate Poster Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 1,037	Originally Posted by wombatwal UUHHMM, I don't know much about tracing computers with the IP address. Is this a urban myth Not at all. It depends on how you're connecting to the internet. Some, if not all, ADSL connections have a static IP, so the IP points directly to an individual customer. Even with dail-up or a dynamic IP, so long as you know the time of the connection the ISP could probably trace where the connection came from. I was once with a dail-up firm that stated up front that they recorded your telephone number whenever you connected in order to prevent 'abuse'. They possibily all do that if you check the small print.

25th February 2007, 08:43 AM	#8
gnome Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 9,880	Originally Posted by rockoon I think the chance of SETI finding an ET communication is just about zero. If you look at the progression of OUR telecomunications output, our signals are progressing towards being indistinguishable from noise and this is related to our desire to optimally encode (compress) information before transmitting it. Patterns only exist in poorly encoded information. The comming end of analog T.V signals is just one more step on the way to humanity being just another random noise source. There is no reason to believe that ET's wouldn't also desire to optimally encode their own data, because its beneficial to do so. I think there's one thing missing in that analysis... the presence of the signal itself... sure you may not be able to extract any data without knowing the encoding, but a persistent signal from a particular spot would be meaningful...
gnome Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 9,880	__________________

25th February 2007, 11:26 AM	#9
rockoon Graduate Poster Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 1,106	Originally Posted by gnome I think there's one thing missing in that analysis... the presence of the signal itself... sure you may not be able to extract any data without knowing the encoding, but a persistent signal from a particular spot would be meaningful... If that were true, then SETI@HOME would be pointless. The universe is full of radiation comming from all directions (white noise), so much of it that SETI needs your help(tm) to find patterns in it. They are looking for periodic, not persistent.
rockoon Graduate Poster Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 1,106	__________________ Quality never goes begging.

25th February 2007, 11:39 AM	#10
Alan Heap Scholar Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 86	it's nothing new. cancer research and many other themed projects involving multiple computers over private or public networks, to work out equation upon equation faster, have been going for years. you can even use multi computers at home for faster processing.
Alan Heap Scholar Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 86	Last edited by Alan Heap; 25th February 2007 at 11:53 AM.

25th February 2007, 11:42 AM	#11
Dave1001 Illuminator Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 3,717	Originally Posted by Notrump <snip> I submit that if any species became technological before us, they would have wiped out our ancestors as vermin long ago, and we would not be holding this discussion. <snip> Yet since our ancestors were not destroyed by extraterrestrials long ago, that sets asides my fears and leads me to the happy conclusion that technological ETs never have existed. Although I share your realist caution about alien intelligent life, I think it's completely speculative to posit that because we haven't been wiped out yet as a species, more intelligent alien life doesn't exist. As one possibility of many, their weapons of anhillation may be one day's travel time away from us.
Dave1001 Illuminator Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 3,717	__________________ I'm here to discuss ideas, not to get personal. I won't criticize you personally, please don't criticize me personally. I won't direct ad hominems at you, please don't direct ad hominems at me. I won't attack you or put you down, please don't attack me or put me down. Thanks.

25th February 2007, 12:01 PM	#12
JamesM Graduate Poster Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,823	Originally Posted by Alan Heap it's nothing new. cancer research and many other themed projects involving multiple computers over private or public networks, to work out equation upon equation faster, have been going for years. If you're referring to the likes of Folding@Home, Rosetta@Home and FightAIDS@Home, they all post-date SETI@Home.
JamesM Graduate Poster Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,823	__________________ "When we type away on discussion boards and post comments on our blogs, it feels like we’re sitting outside a pub in the evening sunshine with our attractive, cool friends – but we aren’t. That’s something we used to do before we got addicted to the internet." - Jon Ronson

25th February 2007, 12:15 PM	#13
Alan Heap Scholar Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 86	Originally Posted by JamesM If you're referring to the likes of Folding@Home, Rosetta@Home and FightAIDS@Home, they all post-date SETI@Home. not specifically, no, i have no idea if this was the first. theres probably now hundreds of these things or nearing a hundred (not including private networks), and i couldn't care about a new one today let alone 2, 3 or however many years ago when this hole method got popular. oh and i forgot to add previously; of course it's genuine. and after a quick search on wikipedia, i found a nice list of these types of projects. have fun: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...uting_projects
Alan Heap Scholar Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 86	Last edited by Alan Heap; 25th February 2007 at 12:26 PM. Reason: adding more info

26th February 2007, 09:24 AM	#14
Cuddles Decoy Moderator Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: A magical land full of pink fluffy sheeps and bunnies Posts: 16,676	Originally Posted by Alan Heap not specifically, no, i have no idea if this was the first. theres probably now hundreds of these things or nearing a hundred (not including private networks), and i couldn't care about a new one today let alone 2, 3 or however many years ago when this hole method got popular. SETI@home was the first one. Unfortunately they switched to a common interface program with a few other @home projects a couple of years ago and it didn't agree with my computer, but I used to have them on there.
	__________________ I am not a little teapot.

27th February 2007, 01:49 AM	#15
Blue Bubble Sharper than a thorn Join Date: May 2005 Location: Duxford, Cambridgeshire, UK Posts: 2,247	Originally Posted by Cuddles SETI@home was the first one. Unfortunately they switched to a common interface program with a few other @home projects a couple of years ago and it didn't agree with my computer, but I used to have them on there. Hmmm... that's interesting, Cuddles. What computer+OS are you using ? I ask because before SETI@Home switched to BOINC, I was in the top 10,000 in the world (out of more than 5,000,000) using idle time on a whole bunch of Alphas running VMS. BOINC was never ported to VMS.

27th February 2007, 03:39 AM	#16
Cuddles Decoy Moderator Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: A magical land full of pink fluffy sheeps and bunnies Posts: 16,676	Originally Posted by Blue Bubble Hmmm... that's interesting, Cuddles. What computer+OS are you using ? I ask because before SETI@Home switched to BOINC, I was in the top 10,000 in the world (out of more than 5,000,000) using idle time on a whole bunch of Alphas running VMS. BOINC was never ported to VMS. I was just using boring old Windows, probably 2000 at the time. No idea why it wouldn't work because I know it worked fine for other people. I think computers generally just don't like me. I'm the only person I know that can crash a Linux machine with about 5000 hours of continuous running just by clicking the mouse.
	__________________ I am not a little teapot.

27th February 2007, 05:53 AM	#17
valis Muse Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: sebastian. fl Posts: 649	Originally Posted by wombatwal UUHHMM, I don't know much about tracing computers with the IP address. Is this a urban myth It is certainly possible. The software company I work for was able to locate a missing laptop for a customer because our software contacts our server when the computer is started (actually a lot of software does this, anything that has ever offered you an automatic update is getting that information somehow). He called many times and the computer kept showing his old IP address; finally he called one day and we showed a new address, he went to the police and they were able to recover the computer based on that information.
	__________________ Everybody knows freedom, it's living inside your head. Everybody knows Jesus, you'll meet him when you are dead. A song, by those guys...

27th February 2007, 06:00 AM	#18
Diamond SkepticWiki Founder Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: 'Stralia Posts: 4,748	I'm sorry but SETI is a religious belief, not a scientific endeavor. I would subscribe to something useful, like Folding@home
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27th February 2007, 07:22 AM	#19
andyandy anthropomorphic ape Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: up a tree Posts: 8,213	Originally Posted by Diamond I'm sorry but SETI is a religious belief, not a scientific endeavor. why's it a religous belief? That's a strange thing to say.....
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27th February 2007, 08:59 AM	#20
Cuddles Decoy Moderator Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: A magical land full of pink fluffy sheeps and bunnies Posts: 16,676	Originally Posted by Diamond I'm sorry but SETI is a religious belief, not a scientific endeavor. I would subscribe to something useful, like Folding@home No. Believing in aliens is a belief. Searching to see if there are aliens is science.
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