Questions.

If you're new to FAH and need help getting started or you have very basic questions, start here.

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Mike.LD90
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2020 9:11 am

Questions.

Post by Mike.LD90 »

Hello Folding@home team,

I'am new here.

The first thing I noticed was:

NOT a very and clear simple 1 step captcha-system for new users...

Use always a very simple 1 step captcha-system.

The software:

'I support research fighting:'

COVID-19 is NOT mentioned...

Why not, do you have already enough participants?

Use ALWAYS the KISS principle, "Keep It Stupid Simple".

Best regards,

Mike
davidcoton
Posts: 1094
Joined: Wed Nov 05, 2008 3:19 pm
Location: Cambridge, UK

Re: Questions.

Post by davidcoton »

Welcome, Mike.

May I suggest that you do some research before asking questions? I don't know about the captcha, but it hasn't put off many of the 20x increase in donors over the last couple of weeks. It has been explained several times that to add COVID-19 to the cause list would require a new client, and there is little prospect of rolling that out at present. COVID-19 projects have priority over all others, so if you set Cause:Any, you will get COVID-19 projects while they are available.
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Joe_H
Site Admin
Posts: 7939
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Location: W. MA

Re: Questions.

Post by Joe_H »

Mike.LD90 wrote:NOT a very and clear simple 1 step captcha-system for new users...

Use always a very simple 1 step captcha-system.
Not supported by this version of the forum software. We put up what could be used, but it can't be that hard to figure out, spammers get through on a regular basis. Banned one at about the same time your post was approved.

Now, if actually have some questions about F@H or issues with the software, please do post them here.
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Mike.LD90
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2020 9:11 am

Re: Questions.

Post by Mike.LD90 »

davidcoton wrote:Welcome, Mike.

May I suggest that you do some research before asking questions? I don't know about the captcha, but it hasn't put off many of the 20x increase in donors over the last couple of weeks. It has been explained several times that to add COVID-19 to the cause list would require a new client, and there is little prospect of rolling that out at present. COVID-19 projects have priority over all others, so if you set Cause:Any, you will get COVID-19 projects while they are available.
Thanks David and Joe,

Sometimes you have to wait... :e(

I do not want to do ANY research!

Folding@home wants to use computer-time for free?

Make it K.I.S.S. !
But it hasn't put off many of the 20x increase in donors over the last couple of weeks.
If Folding@home made joining K.I.S.S. and added COVID-19 to the cause list, they had maybe an increase of 200, 2000, 20.000, or 2 million...
It has been explained several times that to add COVID-19 to the cause list would require a new client, and there is little prospect of rolling that out at present.
COVID-19 is NOW THE ultimate reason to join Folding@home.

Folding@home has more enough computer-power, I presume...

Let's waste more time? :shock:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

See always the opportunities! Never the challenges!

Best regards,

Mike
Neil-B
Posts: 1996
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2020 5:52 pm
Hardware configuration: 1: 2x Xeon E5-2697v3@2.60GHz, 512GB DDR4 LRDIMM, SSD Raid, Win10 Ent 20H2, Quadro K420 1GB, FAH 7.6.21
2: Xeon E3-1505Mv5@2.80GHz, 32GB DDR4, NVME, Win10 Pro 20H2, Quadro M1000M 2GB, FAH 7.6.21 (actually have two of these)
3: i7-960@3.20GHz, 12GB DDR3, SSD, Win10 Pro 20H2, GTX 750Ti 2GB, GTX 1080Ti 11GB, FAH 7.6.21
Location: UK

Re: Questions.

Post by Neil-B »

"Be part of the solution, not part of the Problem" might be another mantra that you might want to think about?

Over the last months FAH has expanded from an enthusiasts platform to a platform 20x larger and has managed this with minimal development and support resources … The server infrastructure, folding clients and guidance have all massively changed during that period and are continuing to do so.

Logging onto a forum and "stating the obvious" to people who have been working flat out to actually make all this change happen without actually spending any time researching either the background of FAH or the monumental changes is has already achieved in the last month or so is both insulting to everyone involved in FAH (the scientists, the developer, the volunteers) and does yourself a disservice, making you look little more than a troll wanting to be noticed.

I will (as just a regular folder with no association to the FAH Consortium), as will most people in this forum however extend you the courtesy of believing your intentions are actually good and try to clarify a few points if I may (in very simplistic manner):

- FAH is a scientific platform that assists researchers by providing compute resource where they would otherwise not have access to such power.

- FAH has been around for decades and as an enthusiasts platform has been relatively stable in its growth and met the needs of the researchers who were tasking it.

- Due to some unexpected support from massive publicity feeds overnight FAH was swamped with both a twenty fold increase in participants and a whole new demographic of users, many of whom are not technical enthusiasts and who therefore need a very different engagement process.

- It takes time, money, development effort and more time to make the scale of changes needed in the infrastructure, processes, science generation, interfaces.

- The limited development effort has been prioritised to ensure the capabilities of the science are maximised as quickly as possible.

- Whilst a whole new front end and interface would be great, it wouldn't make as much difference as expanding the server capacity or generating new projects to feed the massively expanded compute resource so it has been up to the forums - which are volunteers/folders not paid staff - to help newcomers over the hurdles of the old system that was set up for enthusiasts.

- Time is not being wasted, if anything the heroics of the core team have been creating/buying time by handling issues in agile/innovative ways.

- At every point behind FAH there re human beings, and guess what, they are also just like the rest of us having to manage lockdowns, quarantines, transport and travel issues, family priorities - and imo they are doing damn well … and they may well feel overworked, stressed, underappreciated, and have relatively short fuses under the circumstances - they are human and can be forgiven that!!

I can promise you that everyone is working to make appropriate, prioritised changes to FAH as quickly as can be done … it isn't in any way perfect but it is improving, and being the largest/fastest compute resource on the planet whilst doing things sub optimally and enacting significant change programs without interrupting the existing capability is actually damn impressive (if one takes the time to look and understand) … and give the size of the team behind it all it is mind-blowing - compare the number of employees working for all the supercomputer suppliers and the total power their platforms produce and the size of the FAH team if you want to understand what has really been achieved.

So I ask you … Are you part of the problem, or are you part of the solution? … Do you want to constructively engage and help make things better and improve how FAH works as there are volunteer developer sessions for those with skills that can help, there are these forums where those who want to help others can try to sort out issues as they occur, there are even opportunities to supply/support infrastructure components nd/or pay for development effort if one has deep pockets … or, do you simply wish to make you point "KISS" and walk away? … It is your choice, no one will make it for you … Many have chosen to be part of this incredible platform and give their compute resource and also their time, effort, commitment, skills and good will … but no one has forced them - it is a choice they have made.
2x Xeon E5-2697v3, 512GB DDR4 LRDIMM, SSD Raid, W10-Ent, Quadro K420
Xeon E3-1505Mv5, 32GB DDR4, NVME, W10-Pro, Quadro M1000M
i7-960, 12GB DDR3, SSD, W10-Pro, GTX1080Ti
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Mike.LD90
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2020 9:11 am

Re: Questions.

Post by Mike.LD90 »

Hello Neil,

Please use always K.I.S.S.

I am very lazy and short on time.

I see defensive language...

I never, ever intend to comment.

If you need so many words to make a point...

Just tell me what Folding@home needs.

1) More computer-time?

2) Money?

3) Something else?

Best regards,

Mike
Last edited by Mike.LD90 on Fri Apr 24, 2020 10:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
HaloJones
Posts: 906
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:16 am

Re: Questions.

Post by HaloJones »

Mike, you're being very rude.

Folding@Home is very clear on its website - you donate your computer's power to work on saving humanity from things like CV-19 but also Cancer. If you want to take part, read the details on the site, download the software and contribute. If you want to come on here and diss people, please don't. If you have a problem with the software, ask politely and we will try to help.
single 1070

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bruce
Posts: 20824
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:13 pm
Location: So. Cal.

Re: Questions.

Post by bruce »

The public response has been phenomenal. Tomorrow or next week the pinch point might be elsewhere, but at this moment in time, FAH is trying very hard to supply enough servers and enough work assignments to keep up with the demand. Yes, FAH uses your computer for free, but only if you choose to donate those resources. If you do donate money, it, too, will be put to good use.

Yes, the captcha is pretty lame, but I'm not seeing many people trying to hack our forum ... just people offering to help. We can support you if you're here to ask for help.
Neil-B
Posts: 1996
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2020 5:52 pm
Hardware configuration: 1: 2x Xeon E5-2697v3@2.60GHz, 512GB DDR4 LRDIMM, SSD Raid, Win10 Ent 20H2, Quadro K420 1GB, FAH 7.6.21
2: Xeon E3-1505Mv5@2.80GHz, 32GB DDR4, NVME, Win10 Pro 20H2, Quadro M1000M 2GB, FAH 7.6.21 (actually have two of these)
3: i7-960@3.20GHz, 12GB DDR3, SSD, Win10 Pro 20H2, GTX 750Ti 2GB, GTX 1080Ti 11GB, FAH 7.6.21
Location: UK

Re: Questions.

Post by Neil-B »

Mike.LD90 wrote:If you need so many words to make a point..
"Noted … Now Ignored :)"
2x Xeon E5-2697v3, 512GB DDR4 LRDIMM, SSD Raid, W10-Ent, Quadro K420
Xeon E3-1505Mv5, 32GB DDR4, NVME, W10-Pro, Quadro M1000M
i7-960, 12GB DDR3, SSD, W10-Pro, GTX1080Ti
i9-10850K, 64GB DDR4, NVME, W11-Pro, RTX3070

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Mike.LD90
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2020 9:11 am

Re: Questions.

Post by Mike.LD90 »

Hello Halo Jones,

Again, I don't want to offend anyone!

I ask simple questions and want simple answers.

Why?

A lot of people just want to donate computer-time or money, but don't have the time or patience to figure things out.

You said:
Folding@Home is very clear on its website - you donate your computer's power to work on saving humanity from things like CV-19 but also Cancer.
I can find an option to donate computer-time to COVID-19 ...

I said:
COVID-19 is NOW THE ultimate reason to join Folding@home.
Best regards,

Mike
Mike.LD90
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2020 9:11 am

Re: Questions.

Post by Mike.LD90 »

Thanks for the clear and short answer Bruce !
Mike.LD90
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2020 9:11 am

Re: Questions.

Post by Mike.LD90 »

Hello Neil,

Please don't take it personally.

I appreciated your effort to answer me, but if you use so many words to explain something, chances are your message is not getting across...

Most people won't tell you that irl.

Best regards,

Mike

Real friends will tell you things you don't want to hear.
pr0ti3n
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2020 2:31 am
Location: @homefolding

Re: Questions.

Post by pr0ti3n »

Mike.LD90 wrote: I can find an option to donate computer-time to COVID-19 ...

Open FAHControl and Go to Configure > Advanced. There is an option in the drop down box for covid-19
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pr0ti3n
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2020 2:31 am
Location: @homefolding

Re: Questions.

Post by pr0ti3n »

Heres another option for covid-19

Code: Select all

http://127.0.0.1:7396/
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FoldingFodder
Posts: 44
Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2020 6:07 pm

Re: Questions.

Post by FoldingFodder »

Mike.LD90,

May i ask what is not KISS about the F@H software?

When i first used it, i installed it and it started processing work units. I didn't have to set anything up, nor did i have to interact with it. Going in to the advanced control and everything is clearly labelled and described. To me this seems ideal for the average user.

With regards to the forum, what is wrong with the bot captcha? Assuming this is what you were questioning. Isn't it one step already? State what is shown in the image.


Please forgive me if this comes across as rude; are you a native English speaker?
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