PS3 and F@H

[NVM]

Posted on Sun 18 Feb, 2007 22:55 by Vijay Pande (http://forum.folding-community.org/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=22)

With the GPU and PS3 ports looking more and more mature, we have put more efforts into Win SMP and v6 and I am happy to say that we are begining to testing both with outside alpha testers. It's still early, but we see the light at the end of the tunnel on both now that they're in outside alpha testing.

With the release of v6, we have also planned some adjustments to the point system. It's clear that points are important to everyone. Points are important to the science, as they encourage people to do the science. However, this means that the points scheme has to be aligned such that donors who optimize their points optimize the science of what we need too.

We have a plan on how to improve the current scheme and will announce it as v6 rolls out. V6 has some new features which allow us to make changes to the points scheme that were not possible before, which hopefully will let us optimize the points for science, thus allowing us to do our scientific calculations with even greater efficiency.

I'm generally not a fan of announcements without something more concrete (eg a download for the new beta clients would be nice), but I wanted to let people know what was coming, especially considering concerns that donors have had with the current system. We've read the threads -- thanks for the feedback and suggestions. The new system likely won't make *everyone* happy, but I bet it will resolve the issues raised and it will also be better for the science. More details to follow.its going to happen....:)

[mitchellds]

yeah, well they're taking their dear sweet time about it. What I'd really like to see is boinc ported over to the ps3, along with some major science projects. Nano would be cool, then maybe I could catch some teamates that out paced me. heh heh

[drezha]

Ah but a lot of BOINC are behind the times on alternate methods of crunching. Espcially as some projects don't even have linux ports!

What would you prefer? A finished product? Or some shambles that's passed off as a science program?

[mitchellds]

a finished product of course, as far as the ps3 version of folding, that was demo'd in Germany sometime early last year. We're getting impatient.

[AMD-USR_JL]

Yeah, i'm tired of waiting. I'm not getting much sleep at night thinking about the 2 Teraflops that go wasted. If they don't release it soon then i'll have to try installing Fedora Core 5 again and crunching some DNET.

[mitchellds]

Yep I'm with you AMD-USR-JL, its a shame to have all this wasted power doing nothing.

[Steve Lux]

Can the PS3 handle full power usage 24/7, or will after market cooling methods be needed?

[mitchellds]

prob not, but I have seen after market cooling solutions.
http://gear.ign.com/articles/737/737218p1.html

[Brucifer]

So has there been *any* official type info on when they are releasing the ps3 folding client? This is the supposed big month of March...

[NVM]

all that i know that is new(for me anyways) is that it will be quite a large download for a DC project, some 150MB. i've seen the date March 20th a couple times in stories, but its nothing official.

[Brucifer]

Thanks. :)

[NVM]

HERE'S (http://ps3.qj.net/Help-medical-research-via-Folding-Home-PS3-FW1-6/pg/49/aid/86277) another item on the subject. i suppose i will start looking for a PS3. on a side note, i see the BlueRay format is by far dominating the HD-DVD format,so,another reason to get a PS3.

[mitchellds]

yep, I have a couple of bluray disks, and yep they look pretty good. I saw another update that reitterates the end of March for release of cure@home. This update stated that it will actually be a menu item on the ps3 menu and availble when they release the 1.6 software update. I think I'm on 1.5x something or another right now.

[mitchellds]

PlayStation 3s to start folding on March 23
by Cyril Kowaliski (ckowaliski@techreport.com) - 03:27 pm, March 15, 2007 All the way back in August of last year, Stanford University announced (http://www.techreport.com/onearticle.x/10622) that it had partnered up with Sony to port its Folding@Home (http://www.techreport.com/etc/folding/) distributed computing software to the PlayStation 3 console. The folks at Joystiq have now learned that a Folding@Home client for the PlayStation 3 will finally come out (http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/15/folding-home-saves-the-world-via-playstation-3-march-23rd/) next week, on March 23. The client will harness the console's Cell Broadband Engine processor, leaving the integrated Nvidia G70-based "RSX" graphics processor to display folding in real time with high dynamic range lighting and other graphical goodies. A map of other PS3 users currently running the client will be displayed (http://www.scei.co.jp/folding/en/) in the background, and according to Joystiq, users will even be able to manipulate the 3D view of simulated proteins using the PlayStation 3's controller. So what's the point of folding on a console? Well, an article by the San Jose Mercury News states (http://www.mercurynews.com/lifestyle/ci_5440897) that if 10,000 PS3 users—just 1% of those who own the console in North America—run the software, it will double the amount of computing power the project currently receives worldwide. If you happen to own a PlayStation 3 and feel like, er, joining the fold next week, feel free to join team 2630 to fold for TR!

[Brucifer]

Well that is good to hear........... finally! :) Now it's time to sit back and watch for a while and see if any *horror* sories come out about heat issues, etc.

[mitchellds]

Now this is real interesting also. I just might have to try this out.

http://www.orb.com/en/orb_networks_does_it_again_playstation_3_gamers_ca n_now_get_all_of_their_digital_media_on_their_tv_s creens

[Nflight]

A little more news to report on: http://www.dailytech.com/Foldinghome+Enlists+the+Power+of+PS3s+Cell+Broadba nd+Engine/article6507.htm

[mitchellds]

Ok I've got it !!

It running my first PS3 Wu now. estimated completion in 9 hours.

[NVM]

awesome. keep us updated so we can see the power the console has.

[Brucifer]

Cool beans!!! Now we find out for real what's what!!! :)

[gatekeeper53]

If it's real good I guess the kids will get a new PS3. lol I've been lucky neither one has asked for one yet.

[Lagu]

Even if they asked you have the power say NO:)

[AMD-USR_JL]

I got my PS3 crunchin too. :icon_mrgreen: My ETA also says about 9 hours but the seconds are dropping down very fast. I think the name of FAH core that it is crunching, "SCEARD2", pretty much sums up how i am feeling. I am sceard 2 death that my PS3 is going to explode, but i can't even hear it at all over my noisy dually. I have also not smelt anything burning, which is always a good sign.

The graphics are pretty sweet. By default it starts with a big manipulative map of the world which slowly rotates and there are bright dots, which i am guessing is other people with PS3s crunching. By hitting select you can switch to see the real time folding, which you can also manipulate by rotating and zooming in every dimension possible.

For everyone else who has a PS3 and wants to help our team # is 13129

[Steve Lux]

Remember that everything electrical or electronic runs on magical smoke. It will quit if the magical smoke escapes.

[NVM]

go PS3's ... clicky click (http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=osstats)

[mitchellds]

Wow, amazing, look at that TF rating, 367 just for PS3's. I wonder how long its going to take other projects to build a client to tap into this power?

I've completed 3 Ps3 work units in 24 hours now myself with continuous operation. It hasn't burned up yet. How can I tell how much credit a PS3 wu returns in comparison to other client types of Wu's ? I have a combination of GPU wu's and pc wu's. Where is that listed.

[AMD-USR_JL]

Dunno, i still haven't completed mine yet. I turned it off before i went to sleep or else I would have nightmares of it melting. I got home late today and am going to start it again tomorrow. Did you enter all your account details in the PS3? That's the only thing i could think of, i tried to check and see if mine was in my devices list (if FAH has one), but the stats are down (updating) right now.

[Big Whiskey]

Points Summary is here http://fah-web.stanford.edu/psummary.html (http://fah-web.stanford.edu/psummary.html)

[mitchellds]

I see, thanks for the info.

[Bender10]

Geez, Time to go appliance shopping, again.

"But, It's for the kids..."

[NVM]

forgot to ask,how big was the download?

[Brucifer]

I've been doing a little lurking and posting over at ARS in their DC forums. A couple interesting threads there. One is by a gent that goes by thebutler, who has been hacking around with the cuda/nvida code for running a gpu on rc5. Naturally the client he has written isn't an official dnetc client yet, but the two entities have been and are now in discussions with each other.

The other is the ongoing disucsion IRT the PS3, flops, work done, etc. An included url there also shoots you over to the f@h forum where there's some interesting chatting going on about the ps3 effort.

While neither the ps3, or gpu's are the magic answer for every project out there, there are some projects that will significantly benefit from them. I just purchased a new mobo/X2/mem/HD and the stuff set me back a little over half a bill. Well the non-wireless ps3 is like 400. My only issue with this all is that I'm not an overly enthusiastic F@H supporter although I've crunched quite a bit of it in the past.

Three work units in 24 hours is pretty significant. Specially when the equivalent number of points from xp2400's takes days and days... Now I'm just wondering if Sony is going to look at other DC projects to see if others might be compatible for crunching on the cell. Meanwhile, I think my next purchase is going to be a ps3.

[gatekeeper53]

Let me see $400 no os to buy and happy kiddies. Sounds like it can't miss.

[Brucifer]

yeah really! :)

[gatekeeper53]

The very best part.........................Bill Gates gets not one dime!

[mitchellds]

The requires ugrade to 6.1 Sony software was around 150mb

The additional folding software was another 50mb

The work units I cant tell. I watch one unit complete on screen and the upload of the completed wu, and download for the next wu took only seconds. I dont think it caches any wu's ahead.

[vaughan]

Is anyone running Linux on a PS3 here?

[Brucifer]

I'd like to be, but I'm not -- yet anyways. I'd sure like to see another client out there for the PS3 than just F@H as I'm not really a fan of that effort as compared to some other medically related efforts. But who knows, I may break down and buy one yet. All I see around here now are the $600 ones, and I don't need the wireless version.

[xwillem]

Is anyone running Linux on a PS3 here?

xwillem@localhost ~ $ uname -a
Linux localhost 2.6.16-ps3 #1 SMP Wed Mar 7 21:23:09 UTC 2007 ppc64 Cell Broadband Engine, altivec supported PS3PF GNU/Linux
xwillem@localhost ~ $