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What is 'Folding'?

wowser

wowser

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 25, 2004
895
0
Inglaterra, Europa
I have seen lots of stuff floated about on this forum about 'folding' ; people joing 'folding teams'; 'folding at home' and so forth. I have absolutely no idea of what all this is about. Could someone enlighten me? :p Can anyone join this 'free mason' like secret society?
 
hehe. Yes, i did see that page in a Google search. So it's about this whole protein thing , is it? I see - i'll check out the details.
 
wowser said:
it all looks rather worthwhile :)
Click to expand...

It's even more worthwhile if you know someone afflicted with something directly related to the mis-folding of proteins. It might even help you someday. :)
 
I certainly hope that you will decide to join our team, 3446. Folding is such a worthwhile cause, research to hep all of mankind.
 
I think i will - It would be probably best to wait till next term (Fall) , as i'll once again have a constant and fast net connection. I'm up for helping mankind :)
 
wowser said:
I think i will - It would be probably best to wait till next term (Fall) , as i'll once again have a constant and fast net connection. I'm up for helping mankind :)
Click to expand...

A constant and/or fast connection wont make much difference. Depending on your machine and how long you leave it running, it can take from a few days to several weeks to complete a work unit. It only needs to use the connection when you finish a unit. I'd say there's no time like the present!
 
wowser said:
I think i will - It would be probably best to wait till next term (Fall) , as i'll once again have a constant and fast net connection. I'm up for helping mankind :)
Click to expand...

If you're on dialup at present, you might see 3-4 minutes for downloading a work unit and the necessary core to process it on the front end and 3-4 minutes to upload the finished results on the back end. Other than that, an internet connection is not necessary at all.

Autumn is still a couple thousand points away. ;)
 
Yay!

As you might notice, as of now, I'm folding away on dialup. Haven't noticed any slowdown (I'm using the terminal app).
 
wowser said:
OK. I am going with the screensaver option. Do i need opther software, or just the screensaver?
Click to expand...

While that's enough to get you started, please don't expect to make much headway with the screensaver. If you're looking for results and want something graphical, choose the GUI version. Yes, it has an impact on your machine at all times, but the impact is very low. On the other hand, I consider the impact that playing games has on my folding potential. :D
 
I'll see how the screensaver goes, then move over to the proper thing ;) I think i may have problems with my university firewall, though
 
Right - I'm suing the text client now. Though i thought it was supposed to run in the background, it appears in the dock and stuff whilst it is running . Is this normal? also, if i am unable to do much folding, does the team suffer? I wouldn't want to let people down
 
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