Distributed computing in the service of COVID research

Information

The active status displays are shown also in the extended view of the BOINC manager. This window is also structured by tabs. You will find a News tab with a very simple feed reader showing you the latest information on the individual projects, along with their keywords. Links take you to websites with the full details.

The Projects tab lists the projects you have selected in tabular form, and Tasks shows you the tasks within the active projects. Each of these tasks has a status indicator; using the progress bars, you can see the progress of the compute work in each task. The software updates this information in near real time (Figure 4).

Figure 4: The detailed view shows you which tasks the software will complete, along with a time scale.

You can access graphics settings in the Transfer, Statistics, and Disk tabs; some of these settings let you customize to suit individual performance criteria.

Conclusions

The World Community Grid is an innovative option for consigning idle computer capacities to the service of science. The BOINC software does not pose any problems for newcomers and is simple enough to virtually rule out any issues due to incorrect use.

The project launched by the Forli Lab and Scripps Research to explore therapeutic options against COVID-19 provides an excellent opportunity to put your surplus resources to good use. But do keep in mind that computing power costs electricity.

Buy this article as PDF

Express-Checkout as PDF
Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES
 
SUBSCRIPTIONS
 
TABLET & SMARTPHONE APPS
Get it on Google Play

US / Canada

Get it on Google Play

UK / Australia

Related content

  • BOINC

    Grid computing lets little PCs work on big problems. You can use the grid system of the famous SETI@home project to build your own grid computing solutions.

  • BOINC

    Want to participate in the scientific revolution? BOINC lets you lend your spare computer cycles to data analysis efforts for NASA and other science institutions.

  • Science on a Crypto Rig

    Lots of retired Bitcoin mining computers are showing up on the second-hand market for cheap. Could these once-impressive machines have a second life in scientific computing or machine learning?

  • Free Software Projects

    The free high-end game, Yo Frankie, in which players steer a flying squirrel through a colorful 3D world, is almost finished. KI Research still faces major issues, but FreeHAL, a dialog program, gives users a behind-the-scenes look at the current state of affairs.

comments powered by Disqus
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters

Support Our Work

Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

Learn More

News