Join the OneOfSwords Folding@Home team

by Dan on July 11, 2011

I have a PlayStation 3. I play games on it, I watch movies on it…you know, it only does everything.™ But there’s one thing that I use my PS3 for more than anything else, and I’d like to encourage other people to join in. It’s charitable, easy, and even a little competitive.

For several years now I’ve been donating my computer’s spare processing power to the Folding@Home project at Stanford. The goal is to use the untapped power of the world’s idle computers to research how proteins assemble themselves (or how proteins “fold”) and, through that, cure diseases like Alzheimers, Parkinson’s, and cancer. All you have to do is set up the software on your computer, which then downloads “work units” and kicks in whenever you’re not terribly busy. The system assigns you points for your work; I’ve been running clients on my home and work machines for years, so while working with the Maximum PC folding team, I’ve processed over 17,000 work units and earned 5.8 million points. Now I’ve started my own Folding@Home team in an attempt to spread the word and get more people involved.

What a protein looks like on your PlayStation 3

The PlayStation 3 features a built-in Folding@Home client as part of Life With PlayStation; all you have to do is put in your name and team number. Many geek groups already have teams, so pick any organization you like, or join the OneOfSwords team I’ve set up, team 205163, or leave it blank — even uncredited, your work will still go toward a greater good. All you really have to do is leave your PS3 on when you’re not playing, if you’re comfortable with that. (I leave my PS3 Slim running 24/7; I’ve had no problems for the last year or so.) Full setup details are here but you can probably figure it out on your own from within Life With PlayStation. You can track the team leaderboard here and see how we’re doing against other teams here.

So when you’re not working on a new level of Prestige in Call of Duty, consider doing something even more prestigious in the meantime. If you want to spread the word, the URL for this page is http://bit.ly/1osfolding. Thanks.

  • Anonymous

    If I had a PS3 I’d do this all the time. Very cool stuff.

  • Anonymous

    If I had a PS3 I’d do this all the time. Very cool stuff.

  • http://twitter.com/reddjoey Joe M.

    Thanks Dan,

    I recently built a new PC that could fold and wanted to say thanks for passing along the info. 

  • http://thegdexperience.blogspot.com Sonuchi

    It’s a pretty cool idea that Stanford did.  I’ve done some folding with my PS3 and PC…which it killed my GPU.  =(  Haven’t done this in a while, might pick it back up with PS3.  Now the real questions stands:  Who to team up again with?  Full Sail University or OneOfSwords?  =)

  • http://thegdexperience.blogspot.com Sonuchi

    It’s a pretty cool idea that Stanford did.  I’ve done some folding with my PS3 and PC…which it killed my GPU.  =(  Haven’t done this in a while, might pick it back up with PS3.  Now the real questions stands:  Who to team up again with?  Full Sail University or OneOfSwords?  =)

  • http://thegdexperience.blogspot.com Sonuchi

    It’s a pretty cool idea that Stanford did.  I’ve done some folding with my PS3 and PC…which it killed my GPU.  =(  Haven’t done this in a while, might pick it back up with PS3.  Now the real questions stands:  Who to team up again with?  Full Sail University or OneOfSwords?  =)

  • http://thegdexperience.blogspot.com Sonuchi

    It’s a pretty cool idea that Stanford did.  I’ve done some folding with my PS3 and PC…which it killed my GPU.  =(  Haven’t done this in a while, might pick it back up with PS3.  Now the real questions stands:  Who to team up again with?  Full Sail University or OneOfSwords?  =)

  • http://thegdexperience.blogspot.com Sonuchi

    It’s a pretty cool idea that Stanford did.  I’ve done some folding with my PS3 and PC…which it killed my GPU.  =(  Haven’t done this in a while, might pick it back up with PS3.  Now the real questions stands:  Who to team up again with?  Full Sail University or OneOfSwords?  =)

  • http://thegdexperience.blogspot.com Sonuchi

    It’s a pretty cool idea that Stanford did.  I’ve done some folding with my PS3 and PC…which it killed my GPU.  =(  Haven’t done this in a while, might pick it back up with PS3.  Now the real questions stands:  Who to team up again with?  Full Sail University or OneOfSwords?  =)

  • http://thegdexperience.blogspot.com Sonuchi

    It’s a pretty cool idea that Stanford did.  I’ve done some folding with my PS3 and PC…which it killed my GPU.  =(  Haven’t done this in a while, might pick it back up with PS3.  Now the real questions stands:  Who to team up again with?  Full Sail University or OneOfSwords?  =)

  • http://thegdexperience.blogspot.com Sonuchi

    It’s a pretty cool idea that Stanford did.  I’ve done some folding with my PS3 and PC…which it killed my GPU.  =(  Haven’t done this in a while, might pick it back up with PS3.  Now the real questions stands:  Who to team up again with?  Full Sail University or OneOfSwords?  =)

  • http://thegdexperience.blogspot.com Sonuchi

    It’s a pretty cool idea that Stanford did.  I’ve done some folding with my PS3 and PC…which it killed my GPU.  =(  Haven’t done this in a while, might pick it back up with PS3.  Now the real questions stands:  Who to team up again with?  Full Sail University or OneOfSwords?  =)

  • http://twitter.com/BeAtheistItsFun Chaz King

    HEY I was on max PC’s team, but ill be a turncoat and help you guys out!

  • Ryan Scott

    I joined up on your team

  • http://www.socialvideogaming.com/ SteveO GameO

    points are cool but do we get to see the real work done and more so do we get to own it like they own all work at there school. what do we get for all the power we use? the risk of damage to GPU which happens all the time. they charge us to LEARN there why should we not charge them to learn from us?

    i mean after all Stanford is like god right we trust them with out question. not like they behind places like google that have more info on each of us then the government. if i went to there school they charge a fee for laptops they dont give them away free. yet we are giving away ours to them to profit off? they already netted millions off this project, wheres your pay off? if you can not pay for something you can not use it.

    ill let the researchers do there own work. there is just wayyy too little accountability, way little sorry none.

  • http://oneofswords.com/ Dan (OneOfSwords)

    I think you have wildly misinterpreted their goals and purposes here.  

    First, I’ve been folding for about 10 years now. I have never had a GPU die from folding. NEVER. I’m talking roughly 25 different machines and video cards. You haven’t folded at all, so my experience trumps your uninformed paranoia on this one. 

    Also, Stanford is profiting in crunching the data, but “netted millions”? Dude, it’s academic research for the benefit of mankind. Money is not changing hands, and how did you come to that assumption anyway? They are trying to cure cancer and Alzheimer’s, among other things — and if either of those has a CHANCE of happening in my lifetime, I am happy to participate. And what do I get for all the power I use? A good feeling from helping charity. If that’s not enough, that’s okay too.  

    You don’t have to participate if you do not want to, but I fail to see the reason for your alarmist reaction.

  • http://www.socialvideogaming.com/ SteveO GameO

    my post is a exercise of my freedom of expression. men and woman are dying for our rights to speech not for your right to try to shut them up or strong arm them. you must be a SOPA supporter! the simple fact is this my post is to bring awareness to the fact that they have been doing this for years with 100s of millions of dollars of other peoples money and not 1 cure discovered.

    we all want cures and better life. but does that mean we can not pay them for there work? just because they are doing deeds under the pretends of “good” does not mean they do not have to show there work and prove what they have done.

    Fact is you are wrong on 2 things.
    Stanford is NOT a charity as stated in your comment. they are a PRIVATE business. with Endowment
    US$ 16.5 billion (2011) with a budget that is close to the size of calif. Fact 2 they have banked 100s of millions on this project alone. do some research.

    been doing it for 10+ years they must have discovered some cure’s for cancer right? hmm nope. many types of cancer are 100% curable. More than 80% of cancers today are completely curable if treated early. My brother had cancer and was cure over 15 years ago.

    to claim they are a charity  and to claim  they never got money for this project is to cover up the facts and the truth.

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