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Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing

Recently we published Introduction to BOINC which said that older computers could be useful for processing Berkeley Open Infrastructure For Network Computing, BOINC, work units. These computers, retrofitted with Linux instead of Windows can contribute to the public good by looking for pulsars in outer space, searching for life on other planets, studying protein folding, finding new prime numbers and so forth. Indeed, Linux User and Developer Magazine from the UK devoted a cover story to BOINC some years ago. They called BOINC responsible peer to peer networking, as contrasted with irresponsible peer to peer networking which is associated with theft of copyrighted music, etc.

When I was in high school General Dougles MacArthur appeared before a joint session of Congress. MacArthur had just been fired by President Truman over the issue of supremacy of civilian authority over military leaders.

MacArthur concluded an emotional presentation by recalling a song they used to sing at West Point.

For months afterward Old Soldiers Never Die, They Just Fade Away was a hit song.

How does this apply to BOINC? Well I happen to have two IBM ThinkPad 770Zs. They are Pentium II machines with 320MB of ram, they run at 366MHz and their operating system is Slackware version 10.2. One of them processes Einstein at Home work units. The typical work unit will take about five days to complete on a 770Z. The cycle is get a work unit – process it – upload the result – get another work unit. The objective is to run the wheels off until the machine dies of old age or fatigue.

The other 770Z processes Prime Grid work units. This BOINC project looks for new prime numbers of the form K*B^N+/-1 and B^N+/-K and other kinds of prime numbers.

Do I have any idea what these number forms mean? Well, frankly no I do not. I do know that prime numbers are used in computer security and for other useful purposes. So that is the idea behind BOINC. The volunteers who contribute unused CPU cycles are not required to know the science involved. They just need to be willing to help out. Frankly I think this is a better use of old computers then having them thrown in land fills.

Posted by The GNUinator