Boinc on old hardware will win you quite the electric bill. Are they sharing the profits from these discoveries with the contributors? No of course not, that's their IP. You let them use your hardware, pay for the power and bandwidth and they run laughing to the bank. "Boinc - Free supercomputing from the stupid"
Boinc lets you help cutting-edge science research using your computer
11–20 of 90 posts
Re: Boinc lets you help cutting-edge science research using your computer
#12Boinc on old hardware will win you quite the electric bill. Are they sharing the profits from these discoveries with the contributors? No of course not, that's their IP. You let them use your hardware, pay for the power and bandwidth and they run laughing to the bank. "Boinc - Free supercomputing from the stupid"
It depends on the project, of course.
Speaking for Einstein@home, for example, all their research is public and you also get a mention in their paper if a result was in your workunit.
Re: Boinc lets you help cutting-edge science research using your computer
#13The SETI@Home screensaver [0] (the predecessor to BOINC) was the peak of nerd-cool when I was 11 or 12 years old. I had no idea what any of the graphs meant, and still don't, but I knew that I could help find _aliens_, and look like a hacker doing it [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SETI@home?useskin=vector#/medi...
> Since its launch on May 17, 1999, the project has logged over two million years of aggregate computing time What a waste of computing time!
Just wait until you hear about Bitcoin
Re: Boinc lets you help cutting-edge science research using your computer
#14Old desktops with Boinc running 24/7 make an useful alternative to direct electric heating. Of course a heat pump is more efficient, but not everyone has that.
I have a central heat pump in my house, but it doesn't heat the basement very well. My solution for awhile was to run Folding@home on my server, since I figure pretty much every computer is a 100% efficient heater as well.
I eventually stopped because I work in my basement and the server was way too loud when running at full load, but it did a reasonably good job keeping my desk area nice and toasty.
Re: Boinc lets you help cutting-edge science research using your computer
#15Boinc on old hardware will win you quite the electric bill. Are they sharing the profits from these discoveries with the contributors? No of course not, that's their IP. You let them use your hardware, pay for the power and bandwidth and they run laughing to the bank. "Boinc - Free supercomputing from the stupid"
Price doesn't matter if you were going to use that electricity for heating anyway. Mostly the project are run by universities funded by tax payers, and don't exist to make any profit. Ever heard of charity?
Re: Boinc lets you help cutting-edge science research using your computer
#16Boinc on old hardware will win you quite the electric bill. Are they sharing the profits from these discoveries with the contributors? No of course not, that's their IP. You let them use your hardware, pay for the power and bandwidth and they run laughing to the bank. "Boinc - Free supercomputing from the stupid"
Yeah!! My one worthwhile box consumes 300 watts, and I made the mistake of folding covid-19 proteins for Boinc in the summer of '19. It was like a sauna in my office and the bill was eye-watering. Never again...
Re: Boinc lets you help cutting-edge science research using your computer
#17Boinc on old hardware will win you quite the electric bill. Are they sharing the profits from these discoveries with the contributors? No of course not, that's their IP. You let them use your hardware, pay for the power and bandwidth and they run laughing to the bank. "Boinc - Free supercomputing from the stupid"
Don't talk it down just because you don't like it and you are cheap
I did Rosetta for years and I was fully aware what and why I was supporting it...
Re: Boinc lets you help cutting-edge science research using your computer
#18Boinc on old hardware will win you quite the electric bill. Are they sharing the profits from these discoveries with the contributors? No of course not, that's their IP. You let them use your hardware, pay for the power and bandwidth and they run laughing to the bank. "Boinc - Free supercomputing from the stupid"
Don't talk it down just because you don't like it and you are cheap I did Rosetta for years and I was fully aware what and why I was supporting it...
"because you are cheap"
What a weird take.
Re: Boinc lets you help cutting-edge science research using your computer
#19Boinc on old hardware will win you quite the electric bill. Are they sharing the profits from these discoveries with the contributors? No of course not, that's their IP. You let them use your hardware, pay for the power and bandwidth and they run laughing to the bank. "Boinc - Free supercomputing from the stupid"
Price doesn't matter if you were going to use that electricity for heating anyway. Mostly the project are run by universities funded by tax payers, and don't exist to make any profit. Ever heard of charity?
You can also recoup some of the cost by attaching your Boinc to Gridcoin: https://gridcoin.us/
Re: Boinc lets you help cutting-edge science research using your computer
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't talk it down just because you don't like it and you are cheap I did Rosetta for years and I was fully aware what and why I was supporting it...
"because you are cheap" What a weird take.
Expecting a monetary benefit from a BOINC project is the weird take.