I've been looking for an eagle scout project for a while in which i could incorporate my knowledge of computers. I saw the article on Rosetta on CNN and I was intrigued so i downloaded it and now it is running on my pc. I was wondering whether there would be any major problems or issues with installling this program on the computers at my school to fulfill my requirements for the project. Has anyone ever done something similar and you encountered problems?? Thanks- i believe the pcs are Athlon 2500+'s with at least 512mb ram, on a good fast network. i believe they are running 2000 professional

Also, any special settings as far as when it turns on that you would recommend for a school environment? because the pcs stay on the login screen most of the day.

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Also, any special settings as far as when it turns on that you would recommend for a school environment? because the pcs stay on the login screen most of the day.

If PCs stay on login prompt, you should install BOINC as a service (it's an checkbox option during 1st install), so it runs even when nobody is logged on.

Note: If you run BOINC as a service and still want to see the Rosetta graphics on occasion, you can go to Services -> BOINC -> "Logon as system accout" and then check the "allow this service to interact with desktop" (this is from WinXP, I guess Win2K is close/same)

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Wikipedia R@h
How-To: Join Distributed Computing projects that benefit humanity

Hi Ben,
We run Boinc 24x7 on all our 200 workstations, even when they're at the login screen. As Dimitris mentioned, you just have to install it as a windows service (assuming you have the administrator password, of course). When running in this mode, there is no way for the user to see (or tell) that the computer is running Rosetta.

-E

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Ben - Please do not be offended by my asking a question.

Has your school agreed to let you do this?

It is vital, not only legally but also morally, that you obtain
permission from the owners of the hardware before you commit to
the project.

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thanks for the replies everyone- yes i do understand that i would need to be in contact with the school considering this is my eagle project...I was just throwing the idea out to make sure it was viable ;)
Also, if its running as a service in the background will it slow down work while it is being used? or does it automatically only use available resources? thanks!

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The CPU is used when no other process needs the CPU.
When using a Word Processor or an Internet Browser, the CPU is only loaded for about 1% during the day. the rest is used for Rosetta.

The only thing rosetta uses is some of the RAM, but 512mb should be enough to ensure nobody notices.

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Trying to get the world on IPv6, do you have it? check here: IPv6.RHarmsen.nl

Ben - Glad to see that you are being responsible about this!

As Robinski has pointed out, it will not slow down the 'routine' stuff.

Please keep in touch with us and let us know how you get on with the project. There are always plenty of people here in these forums ready to help!

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I wonder how i am gonna convince them that this isnt going to open them up to viruses or clog up the network but i guess i'll mention the University of Washington and that article that was on CNN a few days ago (thats how i found out about it)

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I wonder how i am gonna convince them that this isnt going to open them up to viruses or clog up the network but i guess i'll mention the University of Washington and that article that was on CNN a few days ago (thats how i found out about it)

My department at the UW runs on our ~200 machines and we haven't had any problems with bandwidth (of course, we're on big uni pipes). As for viruses, I don't think there's been a case of big projects like this being comprimised. Since your computer initiates contact with the server, you don't have to worry about your machine being more 'open' to the internet.

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I wonder how i am gonna convince them that this isnt going to open them up to viruses or clog up the network but i guess i'll mention the University of Washington and that article that was on CNN a few days ago (thats how i found out about it)

You are asking the right questions. They SHOULD be concerned. But fortunately BOINC has addressed the concerns.

Personally, I think you would be on safer ground if you were to do some form of community outreach where you would work with individuals that own the computer to understand the project, and get it set up. In fact, you could get a few classmates together and form a school team. Then, when you set people up, you add them to your team and see how many credits you can score.

This would get you more machines. Show community involvement and education. And assure you are only using machines where the owner has approved of the Rosetta installation.

Don't forget, a RUNNING computer uses more power and produces more heat than an idle computer that is still powered on. So the school would be correct is saying there ARE electricity costs associated with running R@H. The main one actually being the cost of air conditioning the air the computer is heating up.

If your school does approve. You would be on safest ground if you simply run Rosetta during non-school hours (or 24hrs during the summer :) You can set the hours of the day that BOINC runs in the General preferences. And so this would assure that the memory BOINC uses doesn't interfere with other applications running on the PC. Once you set the preference, update to the project, then select the "run based on preferences" in the "commands" pulldown menu (it's called the "activity" pulldown in the latest BOINC version).

Ben, welcome to Rosetta! Would you mind posting your responses to the questions posed in this thread?

Perhaps you could use Rosetta as a Science Fair project as well?? Just a thought.

I am very interested in putting together some educational materials that would help teach the teachers about Rosetta. Dr. Baker (Rosetta lead scientist) has expressed his interest in the idea as well. But we need help developing the materials, and defining a rollout plan. See the other posts in that last link for more info. about how you can help be a part of making this happen.

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Add this signature to your EMail:
Running Microsoft's "System Idle Process" will never help cure cancer, AIDS nor Alzheimer's. But running Rosetta@home just might!
https://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/

yea that was one of my concerns- being responsible if problems began popping up which interfered with regular use- i'll have to give it some thought, and the community outreach idea sounds like it could be possible- passing out cds and fliers explaining the benefits/how to install possibly... thanks again i appreciate it!

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Ben you could suggest a trail run on only one or two computers to start, for a couple of weeks. Then when you feel more confident with the project and Boinc then you can increase the numbers at your own pace.

Im gonna answer these questions: (sorry i missed it in the post a few down)
1) What is your age?
17
2) How did you find out about R@H?
CNN article
3) How long do you think you'll be crunchin' R@H?
Why stop?
4) Are you finding the information you need on the project website to understand it?
Pretty much
5) Does your science teacher know about this stuff?
Doubt it
6) Does your school have a team? Are you competing with another school?
Nope
7) If so, who organized the competition? (Principal? Science teacher? Biology teacher? Parents? Students?)
8) Have an ideas how to make the project more interesting to people your age?
-0I think the ranking system is great considering ranks are becoming more popular in lots of applications like games- this is somethimes the only reason i play battlefield 2 lol
-I would though like an explanation better than that we are guessing how proteins fold in order to cure disease though im sure it quickly gets into some pretty deep vocabulary lol
-I think that the user interface could be simplified so as to not confuse less computer illiterate people- perhaps two versions: one for people who wanna install it and let it run and one for those who want to tinker ;)

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Ben thanks for your feedback and ideas.

You might find the video they are putting together interesting. It's rough cut at this point. Details here.

Also, if you are planning on college, you might be interested in what a college lecture might look like. There is a 1hr video (if you have the bandwidth for it) of Dr. Baker explaining the concepts of the project.

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Add this signature to your EMail:
Running Microsoft's "System Idle Process" will never help cure cancer, AIDS nor Alzheimer's. But running Rosetta@home just might!
https://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/

I am 15 and also thought of the idea of asking to install Rosetta on our school computers. All the teachers got new 3.0GHz IBM computers with 1GB of ram and they almost never use their computers anyways except for entering grades and whatnot. I also have a computer business and I clean out computers and install security software for $50. When I do that, should I ask the customers if they want to run Rosetta@Home and explain what it is for and say that they're helping a very good project? Also, if I do that, how do I update the BOINC Manager when a new version comes out? Will the BOINC Manager be able to auto update itself or how do I go about doing that? Thanks

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nice- yea i hav a computer business too lol- id say asking them to do it seems like a good idea i think that i might also do that. id assume it updates itself considering it can auto download new projects- but u should prolly wait for these other guys cuz they know wut they are talkin about

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...how do I update the BOINC Manager when a new version comes out? Will the BOINC Manager be able to auto update itself or how do I go about doing that? Thanks

I've never understood why, but BOINC Manager does not update itself. The projects that run under it do. For example, Rosetta just cut a new release today. The client will automatically download v5.22 Rosetta when they get their next WUs. And BOINC will manage things so that they may have WUs for the new v5.22 and old v5.16 at the same time, and once all the v5.16 work is done then the v5.16 code gets cleaned up. ...but BOINC Manager doesn't work this way. There's more info. in the Wiki.

The Wiki page here explains:

Because of the possibilities that the automated update of the software could render the machine inoperable, most large organizations want to test each and every update to software that is installed on their machines. After testing has shown that the change will not "kill" the machine, the updated software will be released for use.

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Add this signature to your EMail:
Running Microsoft's "System Idle Process" will never help cure cancer, AIDS nor Alzheimer's. But running Rosetta@home just might!
https://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/

I wouldn't expect it to happen that often. I'm still running the same version of boinc I installed last August (4.45 I believe).

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It'd be nice if the Boinc Manager actually gave us the option of allowing automatic updates even if the default was to not allow automatic updates. Unfortunately, we have to go to the Boinc forums to make suggestions like that.. which no doubt have already been made.

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I also have a computer business and I clean out computers and install security software for $50. When I do that, should I ask the customers if they want to run Rosetta@Home and explain what it is for and say that they're helping a very good project?

I just hope you're not going to charge your customers when you install BOINC. That would give them the wrong idea...