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To: texas booster
Several folks have asked to learn more about the Folding@Home project. I will provide information here that talks about the science and the math behind F@H.

Above all, remember that F@H is about finding a cure to the diseases that take the live and minds of our loved ones. Basic research is generated concerning the causes of Alzheimers, Parkinsons and BSE, among others.

F@H is an outgrowth out the Genone@Home project started back in the 90's. That project ended April 14, 2004 and Folding@Home is its offspring.

Folding@Home is a combination of Distributed Computing and Serious Math, sent out all over the world to about 190,000 contributors and 1,900,000 computers.

Check out these links to learn more about F@H:

http://folding.stanford.edu/results.html

http://folding.stanford.edu/papers.html

http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/allprojects

http://fahwiki.net/index.php/Runs%2C_Clones_and_Gens

5 posted on 03/03/2007 3:34:30 PM PST by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120))
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To: texas booster
Folding@Home FAQ for new users:

What is Folding@Home?
A Stanford University project to find out how proteins fold.

Why it's important: Proteins folding wrong causes all kinds of diseases, like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and forms of cancer. Folding@Home uses novel computational methods and large scale distributed computing, to simulate timescales thousands to millions of times longer than previously achieved. Through Folding@home, scientists now have the horsepower to study the mechanics of protein folding. With its ability to share the workload among hundred of thousands of computers economically, Folding@home can help scientists understand how proteins snap, or don't, into their predestined shapes - and may help to explain the origins of diseases such as Alzheimer's and apparently unrelated diseases. We're fueling research that could end all that.


How does it work?: You download a safe, tested program (see link below) that is certified by Stanford University. It gets work from Stanford, runs calculations using your spare computer power, and sends the results back to the University.

Is it safe? Yes! Folding@Home rarely effects computer performance in any way and won't compromise your privacy in any way. It only uses the computing power you aren't using so it doesn't slow down other programs.


How do I get started folding for Team FreeRepublic?:
1.) Download the folding program from Stanford University's folding download page (Folding@home Client Download). Type in your desired username.
2.) Type in 36120 for the team number. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT - if you get the number wrong, you won't be folding for team FreeRepublic!
3.) The third question asks, "Launch automatically at machine startup, installing this as a service?" - We recommend you answer YES. Otherwise you will have to manually start the program after every reboot.


How can my computer help? Even if they were given exclusive access to all of the world's supercomputers, Stanford still wouldn't have as much processing power as they get from the supercluster of people's desktop systems Folding@home relies on. Modern supercomputers are essentially a cluster of hundreds of processors linked by fast networking. But Stanford needed the power of hundreds of thousands of processors, not just hundreds.


There's no reason to not get involved! It's free, easy, and you can know you're helping every minute without lifting a finger.

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List of Relevant Folding Links
Why Fold - Watch This !!


Another Folding Clip


Folding@home Client Download


FreeRepublic.com Folder Stats


Extreme Overclockers Stats for FreeRepublic


Another Stats Page


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Competition (Not!!) Dummies ..Daily Kos


Dummie Folding Threads #7 #8 #9#10#11 #12


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Other Useful Stuff - Links


How much are those work units worth? And what are they?
All Projects Listed
Point Summary for Workunits


Stat Image Generator


Fahmon Third Party Monitoring Software

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Past FreeRepublic Folding threads


#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 #16 #17 #17 #18 #19 #20 #21 #22 #23 #24 #25 #26 #27 #28 #29 #30 #31 #32

7 posted on 03/03/2007 3:51:10 PM PST by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120))
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