Also you don't want to leave current volunteers behind, like the Mac users mentioned by Bikeman. That's disturbing. Not only for their particular sakes, but confidence can wane from others who may think they're next. It would sap a project to convey the impression of a preferred elite flavour. E@H has a long term mission tracking and servicing the IFO developments, an expanding worldwide network, and possible future integration with other astronomy modes just like PALFA. So one ought place a premium on volunteer loyalty. They don't have to do it ..... so don't give them any reason not to! :-)
Cheers, Mike.
Don't researchers use Mac's at work, more than IBM compatible pc's anyway? If that assumption is true, and the assumption that people buy for home what they are most comfortable with, then it would follow that alot of researchers have Mac's at home. I would think that alienating those people would not be a good thing, AT ALL!
Don't know about researchers in general but during a visit to the Albert-Einstein-Institute recently I noticed that Macs are quite popular with Einstein@Home staff at least. So Mac users can be assured they have a strong lobby at E@H.
Don't know about researchers in general but during a visit to the Albert-Einstein-Institute recently I noticed that Macs are quite popular with Einstein@Home staff at least. So Mac users can be assured they have a strong lobby at E@H.
Well it applies to whatever existing user subsets you have, Mac being a particular example to discuss here.
Actually Bikeman, would you like to tell us all about that visit? I've been meaning to ask. Who did you meet? What did you talk about and learn ? What did you see? What were your impressions and ideas? C'mon, please do tell .... :-) :-)
Cheers, Mike.
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...
... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal
My visit to AEI was really, really great (my hometown is kinda close to Hannover where one branch of the AEI is located).
I had the chance to meet several of both the IT guys and the physicists behind E@H: Bruce Allen, Bernd Machenschalk, Oliver Bock, Reinhard Prix to name those who have appeared in this forum. Actually I had the chance to watch them during their day-to-day work, including lunchtime chats, weekly status meeting, presentations, discussions on the corridor..that sort of thing. Very, very impressive and inspiring. Not to mention a cool after-work-recreation event :-).
I also had a nice tour of ATLAS (the cooling and power supplies are the most visually impressive components) and the GEO 600 detector, which is impressive not so much because of its size (much smaller than LIGO) but by it's hands-on atmosphere (you will actually see a soldering iron lying around there in a control stand) :-).
I learnt a lot about the inner workings of the E@H science code and the basics of the PALFA search, and could share some experiences when optimizing the code. We had very interesting discussions on a wide range of topics from data visualization to open source development aspects.
He he he :) I am old enough to remember the time when the cool guys run ATARI and COMMODORE and maybe could consider using a MAC but a PC was totally forbidden. I personally think that this was nothing but stupid fundamentalism.
IMO we should use the best equipment we can get. If we use the argument that "Slow science is solid science" then maybe Einstein@home should revert back to using abacus because now they are left behind by the MAC users :)
This is the power used by low end cards in SLI & Crossfire
My visit to AEI was really, really great (my hometown is kinda close to Hannover where one branch of the AEI is located).
I had the chance to meet several of both the IT guys and the physicists behind E@H: Bruce Allen, Bernd Machenschalk, Oliver Bock, Reinhard Prix to name those who have appeared in this forum. Actually I had the chance to watch them during their day-to-day work, including lunchtime chats, weekly status meeting, presentations, discussions on the corridor..that sort of thing. Very, very impressive and inspiring. Not to mention a cool after-work-recreation event :-).
I also had a nice tour of ATLAS (the cooling and power supplies are the most visually impressive components) and the GEO 600 detector, which is impressive not so much because of its size (much smaller than LIGO) but by it's hands-on atmosphere (you will actually see a soldering iron lying around there in a control stand) :-).
I learnt a lot about the inner workings of the E@H science code and the basics of the PALFA search, and could share some experiences when optimizing the code. We had very interesting discussions on a wide range of topics from data visualization to open source development aspects.
Bikeman
Absolutely fabulous! And so very cool of them to let you tag along, sampling the flow of their thoughts and sensing the collaborative atmosphere. What busy bees they are.
ATLAS sounds like a hoot. I'm jealous, of course. I'm sure there'd be more than a few of us with our own mini IT bunker/room/corner/shed at home who drool over that beast.
A soldering iron. No doubt well used. What can I say .... THE sign of serious science. :-)
Cheers, Mike.
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...
... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal
He he he :) I am old enough to remember the time when the cool guys run ATARI and COMMODORE and maybe could consider using a MAC but a PC was totally forbidden. I personally think that this was nothing but stupid fundamentalism.
Neat! I was a C64 guy. I have still a half dozen books on it which have long outlived the machine : several on assembler code programming, a whole memory guide, and a couple of techie pieces full of circuit diagrams.
I wrote a version of the text based, console interactive, 'adventure game' of yore but with pretty pictures to illustrate one's progress through the tasks. The final trick to succeed, by the by, was to type in "throw rabbit at dragon" at the crucial node in the decision graph. You could then escape with the gold treasure. :-) :-)
You could actually encompass all the low level detail then. This is before the onset of the massive integration on substrate that we enjoy today. As one of a small but really nerdy cabal in college ( late 70's thru early 80's ) we weren't fussed about who had what. The university IT department had a 'supercomputer' PDP 11 ... :-)
Cheers, Mike.
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...
... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal
SETI was started with the idea of exploiting unused cycles in common PCs. Now people are building supercomputers in order to run BOINC programs. One SETI user has put 8 graphic boards in his rack and is complaining of not getting enough results. I am wondering about his power bill.
Tullio
RE: Also you don't want to
)
Don't researchers use Mac's at work, more than IBM compatible pc's anyway? If that assumption is true, and the assumption that people buy for home what they are most comfortable with, then it would follow that alot of researchers have Mac's at home. I would think that alienating those people would not be a good thing, AT ALL!
Don't know about researchers
)
Don't know about researchers in general but during a visit to the Albert-Einstein-Institute recently I noticed that Macs are quite popular with Einstein@Home staff at least. So Mac users can be assured they have a strong lobby at E@H.
CU
Bikeman
RE: Don't know about
)
Well it applies to whatever existing user subsets you have, Mac being a particular example to discuss here.
Actually Bikeman, would you like to tell us all about that visit? I've been meaning to ask. Who did you meet? What did you talk about and learn ? What did you see? What were your impressions and ideas? C'mon, please do tell .... :-) :-)
Cheers, Mike.
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...
... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal
My visit to AEI was really,
)
My visit to AEI was really, really great (my hometown is kinda close to Hannover where one branch of the AEI is located).
I had the chance to meet several of both the IT guys and the physicists behind E@H: Bruce Allen, Bernd Machenschalk, Oliver Bock, Reinhard Prix to name those who have appeared in this forum. Actually I had the chance to watch them during their day-to-day work, including lunchtime chats, weekly status meeting, presentations, discussions on the corridor..that sort of thing. Very, very impressive and inspiring. Not to mention a cool after-work-recreation event :-).
I also had a nice tour of ATLAS (the cooling and power supplies are the most visually impressive components) and the GEO 600 detector, which is impressive not so much because of its size (much smaller than LIGO) but by it's hands-on atmosphere (you will actually see a soldering iron lying around there in a control stand) :-).
I learnt a lot about the inner workings of the E@H science code and the basics of the PALFA search, and could share some experiences when optimizing the code. We had very interesting discussions on a wide range of topics from data visualization to open source development aspects.
Bikeman
RE: My visit to AEI was
)
That sounds like a Great trip and, a lot of fun !
I wish you had brought along a film crew to record
the events.
Take Care,
Bill
He he he :) I am old enough
)
He he he :) I am old enough to remember the time when the cool guys run ATARI and COMMODORE and maybe could consider using a MAC but a PC was totally forbidden. I personally think that this was nothing but stupid fundamentalism.
IMO we should use the best equipment we can get. If we use the argument that "Slow science is solid science" then maybe Einstein@home should revert back to using abacus because now they are left behind by the MAC users :)
This is the power used by low end cards in SLI & Crossfire
And this is high end cards
I should also mention that
)
I should also mention that the measurement of the power used was on the
whole computer, an i7 based PC.
RE: My visit to AEI was
)
Absolutely fabulous! And so very cool of them to let you tag along, sampling the flow of their thoughts and sensing the collaborative atmosphere. What busy bees they are.
ATLAS sounds like a hoot. I'm jealous, of course. I'm sure there'd be more than a few of us with our own mini IT bunker/room/corner/shed at home who drool over that beast.
A soldering iron. No doubt well used. What can I say .... THE sign of serious science. :-)
Cheers, Mike.
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...
... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal
RE: He he he :) I am old
)
Neat! I was a C64 guy. I have still a half dozen books on it which have long outlived the machine : several on assembler code programming, a whole memory guide, and a couple of techie pieces full of circuit diagrams.
I wrote a version of the text based, console interactive, 'adventure game' of yore but with pretty pictures to illustrate one's progress through the tasks. The final trick to succeed, by the by, was to type in "throw rabbit at dragon" at the crucial node in the decision graph. You could then escape with the gold treasure. :-) :-)
You could actually encompass all the low level detail then. This is before the onset of the massive integration on substrate that we enjoy today. As one of a small but really nerdy cabal in college ( late 70's thru early 80's ) we weren't fussed about who had what. The university IT department had a 'supercomputer' PDP 11 ... :-)
Cheers, Mike.
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...
... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal
SETI was started with the
)
SETI was started with the idea of exploiting unused cycles in common PCs. Now people are building supercomputers in order to run BOINC programs. One SETI user has put 8 graphic boards in his rack and is complaining of not getting enough results. I am wondering about his power bill.
Tullio