The Bad News Is: I Had To Reinstall SuSe–for Good News!
August 6, 2009
Written on Valentines Day 2008, on my Linux using Star Writer to create slide show.
by dansmi
(danielle * *****)
owner/user/admin
SuSe LINUX 8.0
Professional/Dell
Dimension 4100
- Could it really be that difficult to back stuff up? Or–
- Am I making it more difficult than it should be–due to my
- IGNORANCE of Linux?!
Next time, I’ll do better! Watch.
Slide 3. Current Situation: The Good News Is…
- All better now…no irreplaceable data was lost–that is, I never created any yet. I listed the downloaded jpg’s, to find them again. All is lost, but not forgotten, see Google.
- Describe the actual situation (avoid euphemisms) Ha! Ha! Ha! No harm done–A clean install does wonders. All configuration problems are gone.
- Linux is awesome, it’s screen savers alone are worth showing off.
Slide 4. Root Causes “Root” Problems
- Analyze the causes of the past mistakes which led to the current situation: Over zealous and unnecessary attention to system settings that nubie root users NEED NOT TOUCH!
- Review incorrect forecasts like: If I just tweak this, I know why I am doing it, and what to expect. Ya, right!
- Name further sources of errors, like: X=< >in Linux as Y=< >in Windows=without exceptions=TRUE! It’s FALSE!
Slide 5. Alternative: Enjoy Tux*
- Rest assured that Linux has been installed just for new users, with nearly all settings adjusted and ready for normal usage. Next time, I’ll think before I click! Think–I would rather be net surfing, or writing, or reading my Linux book again.
- Do not take “permission denied” personally, or as disrespect from the computer, or as an insult to your “user status”. Just except & move on.
- Remember what happened the last time I played a game, any game against my own computer? Game over, You lose! Give up with care.
Slide 6. Recommendations
- Discuss the pros and cons: Takes longer vs.takes a lot, lot, longer–to figure a way out–with saved data in hand. Why look stupid, feel stupid–no! My guests demand more, and deserve better!
- Indicate possible difficulties like: Is this change to the system necessary? Or, will it ever be able to reboot normally, if I can’t undo my mistake(s)?
- Or, say to myself: I would not mess with my windows registry, now would I? Passwords were made for pitiful hackers like me! I should forget them…sometimes, for my own good.
Slide 7. Future Prospects
- Refer to projected costs, like possibly losing some real important work of creative genius–like this new presentation. Valentines Day 2008.
- Review important goals, like: Collecting lots of neat Linux distr. logos, downloading updates, and “made for Linux” software.
- Learning new and creative ways to perform file sharing and backup–beginning with this document.
- Set a time frame: I can and I will get to there from here, starting now!
Slide 8. Summary
- The most important findings are: It pays to have the install CD’s!
- Reassign tasks if necessary: Done. The old root is gone-a new root “admin” has updated the system.
- Explain and support your decisions: See my pretty screen savers? Can your PC do that?
- Motivate the staff: Note to self–please make at least two copies of this file, place each separately in safe places and remember where you put them!
*Tux, the Linux Penguin
Google image 500×600-71k png from: commons.wikimedia.org
Folding@Home & SETI@Home, Distributed Computing
August 5, 2009
Folding@Home Distributed Computing & SETI@Home Distributed Computing
May 27, 2008
By Danielle * *****
What to do when one or more of your PC’s runs 24/7 on line? Why, donate CPU time to science, of course!
Folding@Home is not an envelope stuffing, work at home thing, nor is there any profit what so ever. I am very happy giving further justification to running my perfectly pur-r-r-r-ring PC’s (monitors off at night) and loaning some of my operating system to aid in the study of protein for science, medicine, and disease, at the Stanford University Medical Center and School of Medicine.
Basically, the concept is that linking together on any one day, 35,000 computers into work groups, which in effect creates one giant super computer; actually something much larger than one super PC, that is able to greatly speed up the amount of time necessary for protein folding simulations, reducing the wait for results, which take many hours. This is called “distributed computing”.
I have three PC’s networked to the Internet through a router, four actually, but two or three is all I use most of the time. My friends ask, why have two computers?? Why have three computers???
First of all, I’m running Pentium III’s that are all below 1ghz. I can use older PC’s to do my multi-tasking, and instead of loading one PC down with everything I wish to run and risking freeze ups or crashes, I distribute my workload among at least two computers.
There have been evenings when I have had all three PC’s tuned to my Live Journal, working on three different pages at once. Using one PC while having a problem on another, allows you to use the Internet to troubleshoot that problem very quickly.
Scientists have learned how to use millions of computers to accomplish the impossible feat of computing data at extreme rates of processing.
Do try this at home, you’ll begin to see why having two PC’s can be a real advantage. Another thing is, for the price of $55. per month for Comcast Internet service, I can double or triple my ability to get the most value for my money.
Another example of distributed computing is SETI@Home, where over 3 million computers are harnessed together in search of extraterrestrial intelligence, by analyzing radio telescope data. I may download this space science program from Berkley, but I must first have 512mb of ram in my e-machines PC, otherwise 256mb may not allow every thing to run smoothly.
I remember several years ago, 2002, or 3, I downloaded a tool bar button that let me use my computer to link to other computers involved in the genome project, a linking of PC’s to unravel the genetic whatever?
Today, I downloaded the F@H Windows Client to my Gateway 866 XP from the Pande lab, Departments of Chemistry and of Structural Biology, at
http://folding.stanford.edu.
Once I set my user name, the little 372kb executable program began to fold protein: p4432_Seq41_Amber03, showing on a special screen saver the actual real time build of folding proteins.
“A protein is a necklace of amino acids, a long chain molecules. They are the basis of how biology gets things done.”
Okay, look-I do not know anything about chemistry, or the calculations being done by this group, but I am going to learn, because I really feel doing this is a way I can use the Internet and “donate” my PC to help others, in the study of proteins diseases, and biomedical problems such as:
Alzheimer’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease, cystic fibrosis, BSE (Mad Cow Disease), Cancers and P53, Osteogensis imperfecta, Parkinson’s Disease, and antibiotics.
My third PC has Linux SuSE 8.0, I will in time experiment using this machine with a Linux client for distributed computing too.
From Folding@Home/Awards:
“September 2007: Guinness World Record. From their award: On 16 September 2007, Folding@home, a distributed computing network operating from Stanford University (USA) achieved a computing power of 1 petaflop–or 1 quadrillion floating point operations per second. The project uses the power of peoples’ home computers, as well as their PlayStations3′s to simulate the processes inside living cells that can lead to diseases, such as Alzheimer’s Disease.”
Certificates updated on 7-5-2009
http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/FAHlogoButton.jpg
