GRID Computing

It looks fascinating!

Introduction to grid computing (IBM papers)

BOINC Distributed Computing Projects

Donating spare CPU cycles to distributed computing projects.

Most of time your cpu load is well below under 100%.

You can check how many resources are you using right now, going to menu:
System --> Administration --> System Monitor

What about if this spare resources all over the world would be used by projects like curing diseases,
discover extraterrestrial inteligence, predice climate changes... ?

That is actually possible, here you have a list of projects you can participate:
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/projects.php


These are all distributed computing projects, based on BOINC platform.


Let's try this thing for real. First step will be installing BOINC:

BOINC - Debian and Ubuntu installation

$sudo aptitude update

$sudo aptitude install boinc-client boinc-manager

execute graphic boinc manager:
$boincmgr

you only have to follow wizard instructions.

NOTE: To join a project:
menu bar Tools -> Attach to project

NOTE: You will need konqueror browser to navigate the web from boincmgr.


Some info about interesting BOINC projects:

Roseta@home project: http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/

Rosetta@home needs your help to determine the 3-dimensional shapes of proteins in research that may ultimately lead to finding cures for some major human diseases. By running the Rosetta program on your computer while you don't need it you will help us speed up and extend our research in ways we couldn't possibly attempt without your help. You will also be helping our efforts at designing new proteins to fight diseases such as HIV, Malaria, Cancer, and Alzheimer's (See our Disease Related Research for more information). Please join us in our efforts! Rosetta@home is not for profit.


Climateprediction.net: http://climateprediction.net

Climateprediction.net is the largest experiment to try and produce a forecast of the climate in the 21st century. To do this, we need people around the world to give us time on their computers - time when they have their computers switched on, but are not using them to their full capacity.
[read more about the experiment]

Zattoo on Ubuntu Feisty

Zattoo is a program that allows us to see streaming TV channels over Internet.

It is unfortunately closed source.


Let's go to official Zattoo web page: zattoo.com

Check on your language flag to see what channels are available to see at your zone.


Register to obtain zattoo program: http://zattoo.com/register

After registering, select linux and download zattoo deb file:
e.g: zattoo-2.2.10.6523-i386.deb

Now install the deb file:
$sudo dpkg -i zattoo-2.2.10.6523-i386.deb

I get dependency problems:
zattoo needs libgtkglext1 and libxul0d but those are not installed.

We install those required packages:
$sudo aptitude install libgtkglext1 libxul0d

Once dependencies are solved zattoo package configures automatically.
If that does not happen, then exec:
$sudo dpkg --configure zattoo

Download and install the Adobe Flash plugin from http://www.adobe.com if you have not it on your system yet.

run:
$zattoo_player

introduce your zattoo login (used when registering) and enjoy!

NOTE: To obtain new zattoo versions when they will be available, go to zattoo page, click on login word near country flags, and introduce your email and password.

NOTE: If you wanna know on which ports zattoo is listening, exec this command:
$sudo netstat -l -p -e | grep -i zattoo