FightAIDS@home

Now this seems like a good idea. I won’t even attempt to explain it myself, so here’s the blurb:

To support FightAIDS@Home, you simply download a free software program from Entropia that runs “in the background” on your computer. FightAIDS@Home processes information (in this case using AutoDock) and calculates prospective targets for drug discovery. Basically, what this means is that FightAIDS@Home uses idle processor cycles that would normally be wasted. FightAIDS@Home captures the otherwise wasted cycles of your PC and applies them to model the evolution of drug resistance and to design the drugs necessary to fight AIDS. When your computer has finished a FightAIDS@Home computation, the FightAIDS@Home results are packed up and sent back to Entropia, ready for Scripps researchers to collect and analyze them. Then when you are using your computer and it needs cycles, FightAIDS@Home simply and automatically turns those resources back over to the program you are using.

Sounds great, but could someone please explain to me (in the language of the stupid) how this actually works? Further information.

1 Comment

  1. It’s very simple. Most computers do not do anything for 90% of the time while they are one. Check your CPU usage if you have windows by right clicking on your task bar, and getting the ‘task manager’ en checking the performance. What yuo get to see is a graphic representation of how much of your computer power you are using. Unless you are starting up a program or doing something with video, this is usually low.

    Programs like FightAIDS@home use your ‘excess’ computer power to perform small bits of large calculations that are needed to FightsAIDS, or find extreterrestrial life. There are plenty of variations.

    The way it works is that the software download a small part of a calculation, your computer does the calculation and sends the outcome back.

    When large numbers of people participate, all that ‘excess computer power’ can be used as an enormous resource.