Here's a thought.
If you've got classic computers you'd love to run but can't think of anything
to DO with them, (and they speak unix) go to
http://setiathome.ssi.berkeley.edu
and make your computer's idle cycles part of the SETI search for
extraterrestrial life. They download you a chunk of data from the Arecebo
radio telescope and your computer spends its idle time running analysis on
that chunk, then sends the results back.
They keep track of what platforms people are using too. Wouldn't it be
cool if the machine that finally found a real ET signal turned out to be
a Vax 11/780 sitting in some collector's garage? They also have it as a
screensaver for mac and windows, too. For reference, a "work unit" - about
300k of data all told - will take about 20 hours to process on my PII/300
machine assuming I let it run continuously.
--
Jim Strickland
jim_at_DIESPAMMERSCUMcalico.litterbox.com
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Vote Meadocrat! Bill and Opus in 2000 - Who ELSE is there?
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Received on Fri May 21 1999 - 13:47:21 BST