the 'topia @ SETI

sangraal · 10-30-08, 20:19

Tons of thanks for hippie's approval, I'd like to introduce a new SETI@home team bearing the same name of our beloved forums.

To those who are not familiar with SETI, it's a program created by Berkeley that uses radio telescopes to scan the skies for evidence that may amount to the existence of extraterrestrial life. The radio telescopes pulls down tons of data packets in which SETI@home users use their own computers to crunch the data, which is then promptly returned to it's main server in order to identify certain peaks in activity which may or may not originate from stars or other heavenly bodies.

Membership and further info can be obtained at http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ . In order to crunch the data, one must follow the directions and download BOINC (which crunches data for many other projects such as the LHC, meterological services, etc) and link it to the SETI@home project. The program then does the rest of the work, downloading data, crunching and returning, and you can set it to do it's thing at any convenience. It's really a cool little project that has been running for many years now. I've been part of it since 1999, although hardly crunching data the entire time.

Once the simple membership form is submitted, you can then join teams. Teams share in stats and, should any anomaly be reported from within it's membership, will also share credit in it's discovery. The 'topia team can be found here:

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/team_...?teamid=137548

I thought this would be a really cool team effort outside of the world of Mycotopia, to join the ranks in crunching info recieved from outer space. I mean... who knows? Oh and any suggestions for a better description are accepted- just wrote up a little thing so I can get this thread started.

chimp · 10-30-08, 21:00

Cool..I am gonna d-load it now

Dr_T · 10-30-08, 21:01

Longtime SETI cruncher- but how do I join the team?

Edit- D'oh! There's a link!

sangraal · 10-30-08, 21:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr_T

Longtime SETI cruncher- but how do I join the team?

Should be able to login to your SETI account and join team through the above link... or at least that's how it used to work?

Dr_T · 10-30-08, 21:18

Yeah, I was just being stupid.
Had to update my email addy to join up, that was exciting- I had to remember my password, too.

But I'm in!

chimp · 10-30-08, 21:30

Ok, I have an account and I joined the topia team. What exactly am i supposed to do now? I'm not very puter savvy.

sangraal · 10-30-08, 21:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by oibchip

Ok, I have an account and I joined the topia team. What exactly am i supposed to do now? I'm not very puter savvy.

download BOINC (click). Install. It will then ask you to link to the project you want... SETI@home, in this instance, so you'd type or copy/paste http://setiathome.berkeley.edu and then it should link up and download your first data packet to be processed.

The rest of the crunching takes care of itself via BOINC.

chimp · 10-30-08, 21:39

Yes, I have already done that. It is already downloading data packets. Is that all I am supposed to do?

sangraal · 10-30-08, 21:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by oibchip

Yes, I have already done that. It is already downloading data packets. Is that all I am supposed to do?

That's it! Just make sure you boot it up when/if you boot your PC. I usually keep mine on all the time, so it's always crunching.

Dr_T · 10-30-08, 22:01

Yep, it runs in background and won't interfere with your 'work'.
The screensaver is fun, too.

Freaky · 10-31-08, 00:41

I'm crunching with Boinc

I don't know if I joined the team or not though, I see it, but don't know if I'm participating with you all.

This is pretty cool, thanks for the set up Sangraal

claykrys · 10-31-08, 01:11

Sounds cool, going there now

chimp · 10-31-08, 01:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freaky

I don't know if I joined the team or not though, I see it, but don't know if I'm participating with you all.

I don't see you there. All u have to do is click on that URL in the original post and once u goto the topia team page and click on the link that says "join team"

chimp · 10-31-08, 01:19

Anyone tell me what "credit" means?

claykrys · 10-31-08, 01:27

I clicked on join team, it does not show me as a member.

MycoChondria · 10-31-08, 01:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by claykrys

I clicked on join team, it does not show me as a member.

Same thing happened to me a minute ago. The Boinc error log indicates that the servers are temporarily down. Could be why the registration for the 'topia group didn't update. When the DBA's figure out the problem I'll be ready to download some work tasks. Time to get crackin' on the CPU Cycles....

Ras Asad · 10-31-08, 01:50

very cool,

and sorry for being simple....

but what exactly does one do with all the stuff they "crunch"?

and what happens from there, after youve downloaded and "crunched" 'data packets'?

or uhmm... what is everyones ?role? i guess? what is the goal?

thanks in advance. :P

waffles420 · 10-31-08, 02:05

i dl ed it and everything now the program just says waiting to contact project servers. are they down or something?

Beastmaster · 10-31-08, 02:12

wow, very cool!

I've been crunching for SETI and some global weather prediction thing for many years now, the weather thing only for a year but SETI ever since it started, or at least soon after, I think...

I'm gonna go look for that link right now!

sangraal · 10-31-08, 07:58

mornin' everyone and happy Halloween..

They update servers periodically, which puts them down for a few hours. Once the server is back up and running, BOINC should automatically download new packets and/or upload processed ones.

oibchip: a credit is simply how much data received by SETI that you have crunched.

Ras: The packets that are crunched is raw data that has been processed into the form of graphs, indicating noise received from outer space. The information is automatically sent to their primary server computers which make sense of it and browses it for unusual peaks, specifically narrow-bandwidth radio signal which are not known to occur naturally. Everyone's role is assisting in crunching the terrabytes of data that the radio telescopes receive because it would be incredibly and unfeasibly expensive for their own computers to constantly crunch that much information all the time. We help in the endeavor by using our computers to do the crunching. If, in the instance, we luck out and get a packet that, when processed, does show something which could indicate an ET lifeform, they we receive credit in it's discovery.

Well, off to work. I wish I could claim today as a religious holiday!

Hippie3 · 10-31-08, 08:03

cool
now find ET

Dr_T · 10-31-08, 08:03

There are other projects that use the same 'crunch engine'; weather prediction as mentioned, some medical research, a few others. Click around the site, see if there's something that interests you. BOINC will split time evenly between projects, or you can tell it what percentages to use.

Edit -

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hippie3

cool
now find ET

We're looking, that's the best we can do.

MycoChondria · 10-31-08, 08:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hippie3

cool
now find ET

Not long after I set up SETI on run on my pc, ET showed up at my door for a visit. Funny thing, I always wanted to have ET for dinner, and we did. Tastes just like squirrel.

Dr_T · 10-31-08, 21:35

Somebody should set up 'Topia teams for some of the other projects- I get a lot of packets for Rosetta, just luck of the draw I guess.

claykrys · 11-01-08, 00:05

Well, Im up and running. If you dont set preferences will it crunch all the time.

MycoChondria · 11-01-08, 00:44

claykrys, it looks like the tasks will run after a short period of user inactivity. You can actually see for yourself what the options are for tasks by clicking on the BOINC Manager icon that should be on the taskbar (at the lower right side of screen).

Dr. T...which projects do you like? There are quite a few, right?

BOINC Manager...sounds like something from Woody Allen's "Sleeper"...no wait, that was the orgasmatron

Dr_T · 11-01-08, 07:50

I do SETI, Rosetta and the Einstein lens thing- but I haven't looked recently, I should see what's going on these days.

sangraal · 11-01-08, 08:21

here's a link to current BOINC projects, with links to each individual project to see what they're about:
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/projects.php

roc · 11-01-08, 10:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr_T

There are other projects that use the same 'crunch engine'; weather prediction as mentioned, some medical research, a few others. Click around the site, see if there's something that interests you. BOINC will split time evenly between projects, or you can tell it what percentages to use.

Edit -

We're looking, that's the best we can do.

I could have swore I saw him just last night...

kswissbob · 11-01-08, 15:23

just joined the group!

dpwishy · 11-01-08, 22:05

I joined a couple days ago and have been streaming nonstop and will continue to forever

But i wont lie this isn't how we will confirm that life exists imo, contact is soon enough

love, peace, compassion and respect
-wishy

Dr_T · 11-01-08, 22:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by sangraal

here's a link to current BOINC projects, with links to each individual project to see what they're about:
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/projects.php

Tried for the Malaria Control project, but they aren't accepting new members. So, Spinhenge got me- the name is pretty cool.

chimp · 11-03-08, 17:51

Has anyone found one of these un natural occurring sound waves in space yet?

If one of us were to find one how would we know? would BOINC admin send an e-mail or what?

Dr_T · 11-03-08, 18:08

If you find something juicy, you'll get an email.
If you find 'it', you'll get more than that.

Understand the we are pre-processing the data for further refinement- it's not like you can listen to these packets and hear voices.

But- there was one... the "Wow!" Signal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SETI#Ea...C_and_SERENDIP
http://www.bigear.org/wowmenu.htm

sangraal · 11-03-08, 18:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by oibchip

Has anyone found one of these un natural occurring sound waves in space yet?

If one of us were to find one how would we know? would BOINC admin send an e-mail or what?

According to a wiki article on SETI_at_home:

Quote:

While the project has not detected any ETI signals, it has identified several candidate targets (sky positions), where the spike in intensity is not easily explained as noisespots for further analysis. The most significant candidate signal to date was announced on September 1st, 2004, named Radio source SHGb02+14a.

The specific data upon that find can be found >here< on their website.

So, nothing conclusive as of yet... and any data discovered would be heavily scrutinized by critics of both the program and those who disbelieve in the possibility of extraterrestrial life. But that's the nature of science anyway; it wasn't long ago that people considered the idea of a round planet to be tantamount to the practice of witchcraft.

I suppose they would contact you by the email on your account profile, should anything spectacular arise out of the data you crunch. Credit was given on their site regarding SHGb02+14a.

sangraal · 11-03-08, 18:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr_T

Understand the we are pre-processing the data for further refinement- it's not like you can listen to these packets and hear voices.

And too bad, too! When I first heard of the program, I was hoping that you could actually "hear" the sounds of the noise processed from space. But that, I suppose, would be contained in a rather larger packet...

chimp · 11-03-08, 18:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by sangraal

And too bad, too! When I first heard of the program, I was hoping that you could actually "hear" the sounds of the noise processed from space. But that, I suppose, would be contained in a rather larger packet...

I never turn on my puter speakers anymore..but I just did and I can hear "noise" from the SETI program.

Dr_T · 11-03-08, 19:15

Huh. May be a new feature?

Yale · 11-03-08, 19:40

I just joined. I love programs that work like this. My friend has a program on his PS3 that calculates protein folds.. I think that is what it does..

sangraal · 11-03-08, 20:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr_T

Huh. May be a new feature?

Not sure. If it is, it's not available on the Linux version of BOINC, which is what I run.

Dr_T · 11-03-08, 20:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yale

I just joined. I love programs that work like this. My friend has a program on his PS3 that calculates protein folds.. I think that is what it does..

Yep- there's a couple available to run on the BOINC engine, if that's your thing. I work with Rosetta, one of the protein folders. But I think the PS3 probably blows my PC away...

chimp · 01-09-09, 19:18

Anyone else having issues with BOINC not working?

It says that it is idle when the screen saver comes up.

Beastmaster · 01-09-09, 19:47

Nope, mine's running just fine. The screensaver/boinc not loading error comes when i've shut down boinc so as to free up memory for playing games. Or if the server is down and I don't have any work units left. Check to see if you have the most recent version, and also the website might say something if its a widespread issue.

chimp · 01-09-09, 21:28

Got it, thanks Beast

joystik · 03-28-09, 19:16

Just joined the group. I hope I can contribute.

UnlearnEverything · 08-14-09, 02:42

ool stuff! I just installed the software and joined the team. Pretty cool knowing that my lil computer is helping search for ET

Ras Asad · 08-14-09, 16:36

ok, i will give it a go to.

Beast.. you got some credits bro! lol

thanks all.

Ras Asad · 08-14-09, 16:49

i cant find the "join this team" link?

ahh nevermind.. got it.

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10-30-08, 20:19	#1 (permalink)
sangraal Gnowledge in Gnature Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 1,000	the 'topia @ SETI Tons of thanks for hippie's approval, I'd like to introduce a new SETI@home team bearing the same name of our beloved forums. To those who are not familiar with SETI, it's a program created by Berkeley that uses radio telescopes to scan the skies for evidence that may amount to the existence of extraterrestrial life. The radio telescopes pulls down tons of data packets in which SETI@home users use their own computers to crunch the data, which is then promptly returned to it's main server in order to identify certain peaks in activity which may or may not originate from stars or other heavenly bodies. Membership and further info can be obtained at http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ . In order to crunch the data, one must follow the directions and download BOINC (which crunches data for many other projects such as the LHC, meterological services, etc) and link it to the SETI@home project. The program then does the rest of the work, downloading data, crunching and returning, and you can set it to do it's thing at any convenience. It's really a cool little project that has been running for many years now. I've been part of it since 1999, although hardly crunching data the entire time. Once the simple membership form is submitted, you can then join teams. Teams share in stats and, should any anomaly be reported from within it's membership, will also share credit in it's discovery. The 'topia team can be found here: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/team_...?teamid=137548 I thought this would be a really cool team effort outside of the world of Mycotopia, to join the ranks in crunching info recieved from outer space. I mean... who knows? Oh and any suggestions for a better description are accepted- just wrote up a little thing so I can get this thread started. __________________ The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the mind to correlate all it's contents.- HP Lovecraft

10-30-08, 21:00	#2 (permalink)
chimp Space Lord Modulator Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,425	Cool..I am gonna d-load it now __________________ Respond, Vibrate, Feedback, Resonate

10-30-08, 21:30	#6 (permalink)
chimp Space Lord Modulator Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,425	Ok, I have an account and I joined the topia team. What exactly am i supposed to do now? I'm not very puter savvy. __________________ Respond, Vibrate, Feedback, Resonate

10-30-08, 21:39	#8 (permalink)
chimp Space Lord Modulator Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,425	Yes, I have already done that. It is already downloading data packets. Is that all I am supposed to do? __________________ Respond, Vibrate, Feedback, Resonate

10-30-08, 21:01	#3 (permalink)
Dr_T Random Dude Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 2,078	Longtime SETI cruncher- but how do I join the team? Edit- D'oh! There's a link!

10-30-08, 21:18	#5 (permalink)
Dr_T Random Dude Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 2,078	Yeah, I was just being stupid. Had to update my email addy to join up, that was exciting- I had to remember my password, too. But I'm in!

10-30-08, 22:01	#10 (permalink)
Dr_T Random Dude Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 2,078	Yep, it runs in background and won't interfere with your 'work'. The screensaver is fun, too.

10-31-08, 00:41	#11 (permalink)
Freaky Magik Mod Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 2,901	I'm crunching with Boinc I don't know if I joined the team or not though, I see it, but don't know if I'm participating with you all. This is pretty cool, thanks for the set up Sangraal __________________

10-31-08, 01:11	#12 (permalink)
claykrys VIP Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 1,180	Sounds cool, going there now __________________ Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't watching you.

10-31-08, 01:19	#14 (permalink)
chimp Space Lord Modulator Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,425	Anyone tell me what "credit" means? __________________ Respond, Vibrate, Feedback, Resonate

10-31-08, 01:27	#15 (permalink)
claykrys VIP Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 1,180	I clicked on join team, it does not show me as a member. __________________ Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't watching you.

10-31-08, 01:50	#17 (permalink)
Ras Asad omnigalactic Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 3,651	very cool, and sorry for being simple.... but what exactly does one do with all the stuff they "crunch"? and what happens from there, after youve downloaded and "crunched" 'data packets'? or uhmm... what is everyones ?role? i guess? what is the goal? thanks in advance. :P __________________ "You are that vast thing that you see far, far off with great telescopes." ~ Alan Watts

10-31-08, 02:05	#18 (permalink)
waffles420 Former Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 165	um... i dl ed it and everything now the program just says waiting to contact project servers. are they down or something?

10-31-08, 02:12	#19 (permalink)
Beastmaster Weremod Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 3,610	wow, very cool! I've been crunching for SETI and some global weather prediction thing for many years now, the weather thing only for a year but SETI ever since it started, or at least soon after, I think... I'm gonna go look for that link right now! __________________ "Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available." -Gregory Benford

10-31-08, 07:58	#20 (permalink)
sangraal Gnowledge in Gnature Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 1,000	mornin' everyone and happy Halloween.. They update servers periodically, which puts them down for a few hours. Once the server is back up and running, BOINC should automatically download new packets and/or upload processed ones. oibchip: a credit is simply how much data received by SETI that you have crunched. Ras: The packets that are crunched is raw data that has been processed into the form of graphs, indicating noise received from outer space. The information is automatically sent to their primary server computers which make sense of it and browses it for unusual peaks, specifically narrow-bandwidth radio signal which are not known to occur naturally. Everyone's role is assisting in crunching the terrabytes of data that the radio telescopes receive because it would be incredibly and unfeasibly expensive for their own computers to constantly crunch that much information all the time. We help in the endeavor by using our computers to do the crunching. If, in the instance, we luck out and get a packet that, when processed, does show something which could indicate an ET lifeform, they we receive credit in it's discovery. Well, off to work. I wish I could claim today as a religious holiday! __________________ The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the mind to correlate all it's contents.- HP Lovecraft

10-31-08, 08:03	#21 (permalink)
Hippie3 DUNG DEALER Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 43,266	cool now find ET __________________ visit dial-a-hippie .

10-31-08, 21:35	#24 (permalink)
Dr_T Random Dude Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 2,078	Somebody should set up 'Topia teams for some of the other projects- I get a lot of packets for Rosetta, just luck of the draw I guess.

11-01-08, 00:05	#25 (permalink)
claykrys VIP Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 1,180	Well, Im up and running. If you dont set preferences will it crunch all the time. __________________ Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't watching you.

11-01-08, 00:44	#26 (permalink)
MycoChondria Intellectually Immortal Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 1,784	claykrys, it looks like the tasks will run after a short period of user inactivity. You can actually see for yourself what the options are for tasks by clicking on the BOINC Manager icon that should be on the taskbar (at the lower right side of screen). Dr. T...which projects do you like? There are quite a few, right? BOINC Manager...sounds like something from Woody Allen's "Sleeper"...no wait, that was the orgasmatron Attached Thumbnails __________________ *Right universe...wrong planet!*

11-01-08, 07:50	#27 (permalink)
Dr_T Random Dude Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 2,078	I do SETI, Rosetta and the Einstein lens thing- but I haven't looked recently, I should see what's going on these days.

11-01-08, 08:21	#28 (permalink)
sangraal Gnowledge in Gnature Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 1,000	here's a link to current BOINC projects, with links to each individual project to see what they're about: http://boinc.berkeley.edu/projects.php __________________ The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the mind to correlate all it's contents.- HP Lovecraft

11-01-08, 15:23	#30 (permalink)
kswissbob Mycophiliac Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 229	just joined the group!

11-01-08, 22:05	#31 (permalink)
dpwishy A Fisher Of Souls Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 700	I joined a couple days ago and have been streaming nonstop and will continue to forever But i wont lie this isn't how we will confirm that life exists imo, contact is soon enough love, peace, compassion and respect -wishy __________________ Manifest on....

11-03-08, 17:51	#33 (permalink)
chimp Space Lord Modulator Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,425	Has anyone found one of these un natural occurring sound waves in space yet? If one of us were to find one how would we know? would BOINC admin send an e-mail or what? __________________ Respond, Vibrate, Feedback, Resonate

11-03-08, 18:08	#34 (permalink)
Dr_T Random Dude Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 2,078	If you find something juicy, you'll get an email. If you find 'it', you'll get more than that. Understand the we are pre-processing the data for further refinement- it's not like you can listen to these packets and hear voices. But- there was one... the "Wow!" Signal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SETI#Ea...C_and_SERENDIP http://www.bigear.org/wowmenu.htm

11-03-08, 19:15	#38 (permalink)
Dr_T Random Dude Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 2,078	Huh. May be a new feature?

11-03-08, 19:40	#39 (permalink)
Yale Mycophiliac Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 156	I just joined. I love programs that work like this. My friend has a program on his PS3 that calculates protein folds.. I think that is what it does..

01-09-09, 19:18	#42 (permalink)
chimp Space Lord Modulator Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,425	Anyone else having issues with BOINC not working? It says that it is idle when the screen saver comes up. __________________ Respond, Vibrate, Feedback, Resonate

01-09-09, 19:47	#43 (permalink)
Beastmaster Weremod Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 3,610	Nope, mine's running just fine. The screensaver/boinc not loading error comes when i've shut down boinc so as to free up memory for playing games. Or if the server is down and I don't have any work units left. Check to see if you have the most recent version, and also the website might say something if its a widespread issue. __________________ "Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available." -Gregory Benford

01-09-09, 21:28	#44 (permalink)
chimp Space Lord Modulator Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,425	Got it, thanks Beast __________________ Respond, Vibrate, Feedback, Resonate

03-28-09, 19:16	#45 (permalink)
joystik Mycotopiate Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 455	Just joined the group. I hope I can contribute.

08-14-09, 02:42	#46 (permalink)
UnlearnEverything I'd rather be dreaming! Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 230	ool stuff! I just installed the software and joined the team. Pretty cool knowing that my lil computer is helping search for ET __________________ I don't ride the spice, the spice rides me.

08-14-09, 16:36	#47 (permalink)
Ras Asad omnigalactic Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 3,651	ok, i will give it a go to. Beast.. you got some credits bro! lol thanks all. __________________ "You are that vast thing that you see far, far off with great telescopes." ~ Alan Watts

08-14-09, 16:49	#48 (permalink)
Ras Asad omnigalactic Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 3,651	i cant find the "join this team" link? ahh nevermind.. got it. __________________ "You are that vast thing that you see far, far off with great telescopes." ~ Alan Watts