Another DC project - Searching for Alien signals (SETI@Home)

[Assimilator1]

Hmmm ,dunno how much viewing this is going to but I'll give it a shot anyway;)

SETI@Home is a DC project which scans blocks of radio data (recorded & then downloaded) for alien signals ,this is a real attempt to find proof of Alien life.
The program can either run as a screensaver (slow!:P) or as a background program with idle priority(only takes spare cpu power).
An average block of data will take anywhere between 3-18hrs (longer for older S7 PC's) to search through depending on your rig
If you wanta know more checkout SETI@Home's website (http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/)

I could suggest a really cool team to join but I wouldn't want to risk offending anyone here on my 1st post!;)

[Assimilator1]

Whoops! forgot to ask ,do you already have your own SETI team?

[karetaker]

Ive got this now. Its quite kool knowing your computer could scan and find an alien signal :) My computer is still on the first packet of data and so far, taken 30 hours and done 70%. <LOL

it downloads the onformation which takes about a minute. Then scans it for a few days. Mine for example is a transmission taken from arecibo radio observetory. and gives u info on where it was facing in space etc.

[WhiteKnight]

Old news mate..

i was doing that years ago (Literally)

Moved over to UD as Cancer cure is more worthwile than looking for aliens that probably dont exist anyway..

[Assimilator1]

Karetaker
That's a helluva long Work Unit time you've got there!:Q ,I guess your running the screen saver version with the graphics showing?.That doubles your WU times!
What spec is your machine?
Btw my PIII 650 @ 820 does most WU's in about 7hrs ,my Cel 366 @ 550 does most WU's in about 10.5 hrs

Inccidently ,until they bring online more telescopes in the southern hemisphere(it's in the pipeline) all WU's come from Arecibo
Good luck with the search :)

WhiteKnight
Old news mate..
I've being doing SETI since October 1999 ,so I know :P ,SETI started in May 1999.
I didn't see anyone else mentioning SETI so I did.

looking for aliens that probably dont exist anyway
You don't seriously believe we are alone in this vast universe do you?! ,lol;)

As for its 'worthyness' ,do you give all your spare £'s to charity? ,is our own money & time always spent on worthy causes? no of course not,other things are important too.
Is NASA & ESA a big waste of money? no because its to do with learning about the Galaxy around us & exploring ,you see where I'm coming from?.
SETI for me is about exploring & taking part in a real attempt to find proof of alien life ,I find no other DC project as fascanating

[Cabe]

Originally posted by Assimilator1

WhiteKnight
Old news mate..
I've being doing SETI since October 1999 ,so I know :P ,SETI started in May 1999.
I didn't see anyone else mentioning SETI so I did.


thats what "Archives" are for.

[karetaker]

LOL, i thought mine seemed a little slow comapred i mean..

SPEC..

900 athlon
383MB 133 ram

so err i did try the cancer one, but i dont like it. I know its more worthwhile but the interface does my head in

[Assimilator1]

Cabe
I was refering to the here & now

karetaker
As a quick fix you should disable the graphics

If run as screensaver ,go to display properties,screen saver,screen saver settings.Enable 'blank screen' & set to less than 6 mins.
If set to 'always run' (it should be!;)) only ,then just minimise the SETI window.
These actions alone will halve your WU times ,but really the best option is to run the text(CLi) version this will be about 25% faster still:)(that's what I use).Using it with SETIDriver makes it easier to use & gives you the abilty to store WU's.

[Cabe]

of course those of us with skillz use the text only version

available here (ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/setiathome/setiathome-3.03.i386-winnt-cmdline.exe)