WTG: Ask Not What this Computer Can Do For You – Donating Your CPU Cycles
This article is the first to explore some interesting ways to give (WTG). Since I hinted at this particular way of giving in my last post on the subject I thought I would describe it here start things off. – DV
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Are there “ways to give” that are fairly painless and will still go to a good cause?
I’m sure we can find some.
Can I donate only at the cost of electricity that it would take to run my computer?
You betcha…
The idea explored in this post fits right in with giving what one can, when one can, is really high on the neat factor, it is giving exactly what that person or organization needs, AND it is exactly the cost of the electricity used to run you computer.
What is this way to give?
Well, donating CPU cycles silly…
CPU Cycles?
CPU cycles are one of those things that we can never get back. Each minute that passes and a computer is turned on but does not use 100% CPU utilization, well, those CPU cycles are pretty much wasted. Smart people a few years ago thought that, well, if we can harness these lost CPU cycles we could, in fact, use them to perform processing that can do some pretty positive things for the world.
Wow, people really need my CPU cycles?
“… the thing is, it is a whole new step forward in the relationship between scientists and the public… to [solve] the problem of protein structure prediction it’s quite clear that it is really not possible without the contributions of people from all over the world… because it is such a big computing problem that it just cannot be done with [just] in house resources. so we can only do it collaboratively… and through this collaboration we can solve a problem that I really think we could not solve otherwise…”
– David Baker, Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington for the Rosetta Project
If you don’t know about this stuff, you can probably feel pretty good about yourself because it probably means that you can get a date outside of the library. On the other hand, yes… organizations and science research can use your unused CPU cycles.
It has been a long time since the days of punched cards; during those days it was a lot more obvious to organizations that their CPU and IT resources were constrained. In a time where there is a-computer-at-every-desk in most organizations, the amount of resources give the impression of their being endless; certainly easy to take for granted. But to spite the impression, resources are still limited.
Who can use my cycles? How can I help?
Some scientific pursuits can still use more resources, specifically CPU resources, and by tapping into your unused CPU cycles we may all benefit. Sharing CPU cycles is one of hidden benefits of all this distributed computing stuff and the Internet. Not only can you be attached to this big network of computers and gather information, you can collaborate to create better content, data, and you can also allow your resources to be shared and used for a worthy cause.
Folding@Home – Their goal is to understand protein folding, misfolding, and related diseases
SETI@Home – An experiment that uses distributed computers to analyze radio telescope data (the search for ET)
The BOINC project – This project allows you to choose from a list of projects that will use your CPU cycles. These project currently range in the subjects of Astronomy/Physics/Chemistry, Biology and Medicine, Earth Sciences, and Mathematics and strategy games. You get to choose which project you would like to give your cycles to. Some of them are really cool. Here is a list of projects.
GridRepublic – Another site that allows you to donate your cycles to a list of projects.
GRID.org – Cluster Stack Approach. “A public interest research grid… whose primary mission was to demonstrate the power of early grid technology.” This is a networking site for those of us geeks who would like to interact more than just running a program.
Distributed.Net – “… the Internet’s first general-purpose distributed computing project. Founded in 1997, our network has grown to include thousands of users around the world donating the power of their home computers to academic research and public-interest projects…”
A video about Folding at Home:
Here is a video about Rosetta at Home, a project that you can donate your CPU cycles to through the BOINC project:
Amazing huh? You can really help with this…
Earn Money from Your CPU Cycles?
I haven’t tried this but there is a way you can “sell” your CPU cycles for credits. One place is the CPU Share project. I’m not sure the cost of the electricity will be less than what you will make by selling cycles, so seller beware.
What is the catch for doing any of this?
There isn’t much of one other than the cost of electricity. If you can afford the electricity while your computer is on and running these programs, you should be able to afford donating the CPU cycles.
Here is a web site that has some tips on calculating the cost of running your computer.
Some of these seem like really worthy causes. Can I just donate money?
Yes, you can. These organizations need money and CPU cycles. To donate click on the specific project to get details. If not you can comment to this post, and I will try to get the information for you.
Happy Cycling! – DV
Articles that may interest you:
Article: Overclockers.com – How much does it cost you to run your PC?
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