Macrumors is slipping...

[Vlade]

Despite rising to 420 users we are now in the green at about 19900 ppd! The Mac OS X team is above 30K and will be passing us in a few months, but if the trend continues that will be much faster!

Has anyone talked to arn about getting a front page article saying that we passed team speedguide.net and in order to keep rising we need many more participants?

On a unrelated note it seams that 2 WU's I sent in a day ago didn't register on the server, both from different computers, that sucks

 

[wPod]

vlade - what is your avtar? thumbs down apple thumbs up windows?

 

[blue&whiteman]

I am an anonymous user of folding. I use the terminal version and log in as anonymous. its not about who has the highest numbers and all or getting your name at the top. you seem to be missing the whole point of folding. as long as someone runs it and does their part as a human thats all that matters.

its to help protein research, not to see who ranks the highest. I think this whole approach is wrong.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

well, macosX is almost doubling our production....and they'll be passing us and we'll be losing our #1 team status.

I think its mostly due to Mrmacman's taunting in their forum. He really got them going.

D

 

[Rower_CPU]

I've been really scratching my head over our decline lately...a couple of our big folders have dropped in production, but to drop from nearly 30k/week to under 20k/week is just not good and its a mystery as well.

Team Mac OSX gained a lot of momentum in their push to pass SPCR and it's turned them into a formidable group. We need our big guns firing to hold them off.

 

[Rower_CPU]

I am an anonymous user of folding. I use the terminal version and log in as anonymous. its not about who has the highest numbers and all or getting your name at the top. you seem to be missing the whole point of folding. as long as someone runs it and does their part as a human thats all that matters.

its to help protein research, not to see who ranks the highest. I think this whole approach is wrong.

No, the competitive aspect drives teams to produce even more than they would otherwise. It's a positive aspect of the effort.

You're right about the big picture, but don't discount the motivational factor.

 

[bousozoku]

I've been really scratching my head over our decline lately...a couple of our big folders have dropped in production, but to drop from nearly 30k/week to under 20k/week is just not good and its a mystery as well.

Team Mac OSX gained a lot of momentum in their push to pass SPCR and it's turned them into a formidable group. We need our big guns firing to hold them off.

Maybe CompUSA cleaned up their machines.

For a while, I was running between 600 and 800 points per week. Now, I'm between 400 and 550. I suppose it could be that I'm using the machines more but it seems more likely that I'm drawing slower processing WUs.

 

[Rower_CPU]

For a while, I was running between 600 and 800 points per week. Now, I'm between 400 and 550. I suppose it could be that I'm using the machines more but it seems more likely that I'm drawing slower processing WUs.

I think that's part of it, hence my discussion of the advmethods switch in the Tinker thread.

Optimization is part of the battle, since if everyone was getting tougher WUs all point rates would drop the same amount - we're the only ones dropping that I've seen.

 

[Arkillion]

I just recently started folding, and immediatly joined up for macrumors, I have about 400 points so far in about 5 days. I do have another p3 500mhz in my room that I could possibly use, but its damn noisy, and produces tons of heat, I am not sure if I really want to start it up for folding purposes. But if trends continue, I might have to.

 

[bousozoku]

I just recently started folding, and immediatly joined up for macrumors, I have about 400 points so far in about 5 days. I do have another p3 500mhz in my room that I could possibly use, but its damn noisy, and produces tons of heat, I am not sure if I really want to start it up for folding purposes. But if trends continue, I might have to.

The team appreciates your effort. The P3 is on the low side but it might be enough to pick up some (s)Tinker slack, if things get really rough. We need to keep the G4s working on Gromacs WUs.

 

[wdlove]

No, the competitive aspect drives teams to produce even more than they would otherwise. It's a positive aspect of the effort.

You're right about the big picture, but don't discount the motivational factor.

Motivation can do a lot. It must be that power users really know how in increase processor power. Like others have said, the most important issue is that we are assisting medical research.

Not to open a can of worms again, but we need to get more members. Do you have any insight into the progress on the banner that we voted on last month? Do you have any control Rower_CPU?

 

[bousozoku]

If people who have already contributed would continue to contribute, the team would be okay.

Rattle some old cages.

 

[Dros]

I think one reason Team MacOS X has jumped is that there was a page on Apple.com in the science section about folding and it featured them. It had a few misleading statements, but despite that several hundred people joined, I think. So advertising does do good.

I feel a little guilty as I write this... I actually switched a few weeks ago from MacRumors to MacOS X, despite enjoying the MacRumors forums so much. Partly I had been watching them battle SPCR for so long and it seemed like they needed a little extra help, so I was just going to do it temporarily. And partly because I liked the idea of a general Mac group doing folding.

And I have to agree with the people above about folding. The folding researchers put in all the rankings, etc, because they knew that people weren't going to go borg machines and set up folding farms without a little competition to get the juices going. If you don't need that, good for you. I find the friendly taunting between teams amusing and think it enhances my experience.

 

[Sparky's]

Wether I have directly benefitted from the results of folding or not I am glad that research had progressed far enough to provide me with the proper drugs I needed to beat my cancer into submission (2 years ago). I have been folding now since I just recently came home from the hospital after having emergency surgery to remove a ruptured gallbladder. I only have 20 some points but at this moment I'm 88% through my third protein that will give me another 28 points (for the team mind you). All I can offer is my G4-500 but I leave it running 24/7 now. Having life altering health issue allows one to rethink what the "Big Picture" is and I am proud to offer my machine for whatever it can produce, because it's not about me anymore, it's about those who may not make it, and need this more than I do. But again I love this forum also (even though I've been known to put my foot in my mouth a few times) and have benefitted from the advice and help I have received.
SOoooooooo I raise my glass to Team MacRumors Fold On!!!

 

[Sparky's]

PS I have 2 more G4s at work I'm updateing to OS X as soon as I do.....it's folding time

 

[blue&whiteman]

No, the competitive aspect drives teams to produce even more than they would otherwise. It's a positive aspect of the effort.

You're right about the big picture, but don't discount the motivational factor.

I see what you're saying. don't you think the motivation factor would be even better if the focus was on helping people rather than stats. I think this concept would make even more people get on board. emphasize the more human factor. the more positive side of things.

 

[Rower_CPU]

I see what you're saying. don't you think the motivation factor would be even better if the focus was on helping people rather than stats. I think this concept would make even more people get on board. emphasize the more human factor. the more positive side of things.

Yeah, I think that's a fair argument. Plus, it helps to differentiate Folding from other DC projects.

Honestly, though, another reason for rankings and stats is for immediate feedback on the progress. It may be months/years before a breakthrough is made in Folding - it may be next week. Competition among individuals and teams gives us short-term results while we wait for the long-term ones.

 

[bousozoku]

Certainly competition drives people. The SETI project was going through a phase where people were cheating to pad their scores.

I think most people start with the idea that they can be in the team's top 10 within a week or so and when that doesn't happen, they drop out.

 

[ExoticFish]

my two main machines still continue to pump out WU's at their regular pace but i've been using my primary Mac more lately so it's had a litle less time to process proteins but i think i'll make a better effort to get it back into the game as well. now that i think about it i think i might have another machine i could add... i'll have to see on monday when i go back to work.

cheers to the Macrumors team for all the work they've done so far. Let's continue to show everyone who the number one Mac Folding team is!

 

[chibianh]

I've had the same number of machines crunching and have been holding a steady points output. I'll be getting a G5 this week (yay!!!) and will put that to use also.

 

[Vlade]

I see what you're saying. don't you think the motivation factor would be even better if the focus was on helping people rather than stats. I think this concept would make even more people get on board. emphasize the more human factor. the more positive side of things.

I know for a fact that if macrumors didn't have a team and a forum for folding we would maybe have 10%, if that of our normal production, competitiveness drives the DC project to gain new members. I agree it would be great if everyone did it for science instead of points, but its a mute point because either one helps science.

 

[howard]

if someone can point out some of the advances made in the last 6 months i might jump back on the folding bandwagon...i've been a little out of it... has there been any new scripts?...where can i find the old ones/new ones?

i stopped because i have an ibook that i don't want to run to harshly. i had the fried logic board problem and was wondering if folding contributed to that problem.

also...the script i would want to be able to stop/start depending on if my ibook is plugged in or not...

hmm...if that was automated in to the script that would be pretty sweet...maybe it has and i don't know it!...

thanks in advance for the help

 

[Sparky's]

if someone can point out some of the advances made in the last 6 months i might jump back on the folding bandwagon...i've been a little out of it... has there been any new scripts?...where can i find the old ones/new ones?

i stopped because i have an ibook that i don't want to run to harshly. i had the fried logic board problem and was wondering if folding contributed to that problem.

also...the script i would want to be able to stop/start depending on if my ibook is plugged in or not...

hmm...if that was automated in to the script that would be pretty sweet...maybe it has and i don't know it!...

thanks in advance for the help

Rower, I see someone could use "InCrease" you helped me out with it!

 

[allonzoallegro]

Wha?

Greetings computer literate people,

I stumbled across this thread and decided to try and join the folding team, considering my G5 (which I intended to use for Photoshop and Quark work) isn't occupied nearly as much as I would like (I spend too much time in the office).

Unfortunately, though, I know nothing about folding and feel like I've gone down the rabbit hole and who knows where I am.

I also don't know a thing about Terminal, don't really grasp the terms being bandied about on this thread, and am generally a computing neophyte, but would like to pitch in to what seems like a worthy cause (especially considering the guilt that I feel for underusing a G5).

I think I got the gist of the project from the link to the Stanford page, but if someone could explain what on earth my computer is doing in Terminal in simple language, I would definitely appreciate it.

P.S. I think I've logged in as an anonymous user. How do I change my name so that I can monitor my contributions?

 

[Rower_CPU]

howard-

You have a couple of options. If you're marginally comfortable with the Terminal, I'd say go with mc68k's scripts which now have a pause/resume feature and a work command to show you current progress, thanks to bousozoku.

If you'd prefer a GUI, you can try InCrease which is a fully automated install and monitoring/control app.

Let me know if you need help.