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I don't mean to sound like a "gerbil" here, but could someone please explain to me what exactly UnitedGerbilNation is?? This whole concept of folding is a little foggy for me as well... I've been reading TR for a while now, but just registered recently, and online forums are a new thing for me in general....

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farmpuma edit: Split from "UnitedGerbilNation Census" .. Welcome to the forums and enjoy the wealth of information posted here.

MotoGateVirtual wrote:

I don't mean to sound like a "gerbil" here, but could someone please explain to me what exactly UnitedGerbilNation is?? This whole concept of folding is a little foggy for me as well... I've been reading TR for a while now, but just registered recently, and online forums are a new thing for me in general....

Greetings MotoGateVirtual! Catchy name there. Rolls off the tongue easily. I think you'd fit in quite nicely with our group.

UnitedGerbilNation (UGN) is a group of individuals that have pooled their computer resources under one username in order to achieve higher daily points production. The "Gerbil" is the Avatar for Team TechReport.

I do not know why the Gerbil was chosen, but I think there is an ancient thread about it.

You are welcome to join UGN as we do battle with the silent and mighty Segfault7.

jeffry55 wrote:

UnitedGerbilNation (UGN) is a group of individuals that have pooled their computer resources under one username in order to achieve higher daily points production. The "Gerbil" is the Avatar for Team TechReport.

I do not know why the Gerbil was chosen, but I think there is an ancient thread about it.

This is the post that is usually linked to about why we are gerbils.
http://www.techreport.com/forums/viewto ... 88#p276988

jeffry55 wrote:

MotoGateVirtual wrote:

I don't mean to sound like a "gerbil" here, but could someone please explain to me what exactly UnitedGerbilNation is?? This whole concept of folding is a little foggy for me as well... I've been reading TR for a while now, but just registered recently, and online forums are a new thing for me in general....

Greetings MotoGateVirtual! Catchy name there. Rolls off the tongue easily. I think you'd fit in quite nicely with our group.

UnitedGerbilNation (UGN) is a group of individuals that have pooled their computer resources under one username in order to achieve higher daily points production. The "Gerbil" is the Avatar for Team TechReport.

I do not know why the Gerbil was chosen, but I think there is an ancient thread about it.

You are welcome to join UGN as we do battle with the silent and mighty Segfault7.

How exactly do you 'pool' your computer resources, and does it affect performance? And what is the "Segfault7"? Is/Are he/she/it/they from a different site, or something else entirely?

heyal256 wrote:

jeffry55 wrote:

UnitedGerbilNation (UGN) is a group of individuals that have pooled their computer resources under one username in order to achieve higher daily points production. The "Gerbil" is the Avatar for Team TechReport.

I do not know why the Gerbil was chosen, but I think there is an ancient thread about it.

This is the post that is usually linked to about why we are gerbils.
http://www.techreport.com/forums/viewto ... 88#p276988

Thanks for the info.
......Gerbilicide, hmmmm.......I have to admit, it made me chuckle a little, lol.

MotoGateVirtual wrote:

How exactly do you 'pool' your computer resources, and does it affect performance? And what is the "Segfault7"? Is/Are he/she/it/they from a different site, or something else entirely?

We're all folding for the Tech Report team (2630), but the guys who are folding for UGN are all folding under the same username, essentially creating a subteam. If someone without access to a bunch of hardware wants to be competitive in the points races within the team, folding for UGN is a way to be part of the top folders on the team.

Folding under your own username or under UGN doesn't affect performance. The client runs at idle priority, and it runs exactly the same whether you're reporting points under your own username or under UGN.

Segfault7 is the points leader on team 2630.

Haggis! wrote:

MotoGateVirtual wrote:

How exactly do you 'pool' your computer resources, and does it affect performance? And what is the "Segfault7"? Is/Are he/she/it/they from a different site, or something else entirely?

We're all folding for the Tech Report team (2630), but the guys who are folding for UGN are all folding under the same username, essentially creating a subteam. If someone without access to a bunch of hardware wants to be competitive in the points races within the team, folding for UGN is a way to be part of the top folders on the team.

Folding under your own username or under UGN doesn't affect performance. The client runs at idle priority, and it runs exactly the same whether you're reporting points under your own username or under UGN.

Segfault7 is the points leader on team 2630.

Right, like Haggis says! Join the fight!!

The competition is all in good fun, because it's all for a good cause.

A URL is worth a thousand words: http://kakaostats.com/t.php?t=2630

I see.....sounds interesting, so how do I join this witch hunt??

It's easy. The first entry on the UGN Census thread has a "How to" guide with links to other guides. The "Welcome to Team 2630" thread also has a "How To" guide for installing the Linux folding client. The "Easy SMP client Installation" thread also has a "How To" guide.

Jump in and give it a whirl. You'll have fun! You can ask for help in the forum or send PMs for private consultaion if you prefer. Happy folding!!

So, do I need to install stuff from all four of those links? I'm pretty new to computer lingo in the first place...I have a Windows OS, so do I need all the Linux stuff for the Client app to work?

MotoGateVirtual wrote:

So, do I need to install stuff from all four of those links? I'm pretty new to computer lingo in the first place...I have a Windows OS, so do I need all the Linux stuff for the Client app to work?

No, you choose what to install depending on your computer hardware+software configuration and what kind of contribution you want (like whether you want to do this 24x7), then we can suggest which Folding client to use.

Flying Fox wrote:

MotoGateVirtual wrote:

So, do I need to install stuff from all four of those links? I'm pretty new to computer lingo in the first place...I have a Windows OS, so do I need all the Linux stuff for the Client app to work?

No, you choose what to install depending on your computer hardware+software configuration and what kind of contribution you want (like whether you want to do this 24x7), then we can suggest which Folding client to use.

Tell us your computer specs (cpu, memory & video card) and we will make a recommnedation!

Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.00GHz, 512MB RAM....not sure on the video card, I'm on my work PC, and I can't access all of the info for the computer, not that I know of anyways, I can't find any other info anywhere on the computer, and I don't think it would allow me to enter the BIOS or any other system config on this PC...

MotoGateVirtual wrote:

Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.00GHz, 512MB RAM....not sure on the video card, I'm on my work PC, and I can't access all of the info for the computer, not that I know of anyways, I can't find any other info anywhere on the computer, and I don't think it would allow me to enter the BIOS or any other system config on this PC...

If you are planning on using your work PC to fold, you need to get permission form your employer and IT department if applicable. This is a very strict rule. No stealth folding on company owned PCs.

What does the term 'folding' mean here (in non-computer lingo)? I'm a little "lost in translation"...

MotoGateVirtual wrote:

What does the term 'folding' mean here (in non-computer lingo)? I'm a little "lost in translation"...

Read the first few paragraphs of this. It was mentioned before so I guess you didn't read anyways?

MotoGateVirtual wrote:

What does the term 'folding' mean here (in non-computer lingo)? I'm a little "lost in translation"...

I'll field that one. "Folding" isn't so much computer lingo as biologist lingo. Proteins are large biological models, made of amino acids, which act as catalysts in many biological reactions, provide structure for most animal bodies, etc. These large molecules actually depend on their 3D shape in order to function. They fold back on themselves in what can be rather complicated ways obeying some basic rules of molecular interaction which are largely based on the side chains on the individual amino acids and their properties (charged, hydrophobic, hydrophillic, nonpolar).

If a protein folds incorrectly (because of some problem with the process of folding or because of a substitution of one amino acid for another), then this can cause problems in the body including some diseases. (Proteins get their amino acid sequence from DNA through the processes known as transciption and translation. This is sometimes called the central dogma of molecular biology.)

The TR team, and others, donate space computer processor cycles to help in a distributed computing effort to try to examine how folding works and how certain proteins -- or often parts of proteins -- can misfold under certain modeled conditions. By working to crack this mystery, the scientists that the "Folders" help gain data which may one day help cure a number of different diseases.

http://folding.stanford.edu/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_folding

[SDG]Mantis wrote:

MotoGateVirtual wrote:

What does the term 'folding' mean here (in non-computer lingo)? I'm a little "lost in translation"...

I'll field that one. "Folding" isn't so much computer lingo as biologist lingo. Proteins are large biological models, made of amino acids, which act as catalysts in many biological reactions, provide structure for most animal bodies, etc. These large molecules actually depend on their 3D shape in order to function. They fold back on themselves in what can be rather complicated ways obeying some basic rules of molecular interaction which are largely based on the side chains on the individual amino acids and their properties (charged, hydrophobic, hydrophillic, nonpolar).

If a protein folds incorrectly (because of some problem with the process of folding or because of a substitution of one amino acid for another), then this can cause problems in the body including some diseases. (Proteins get their amino acid sequence from DNA through the processes known as transciption and translation. This is sometimes called the central dogma of molecular biology.)

The TR team, and others, donate space computer processor cycles to help in a distributed computing effort to try to examine how folding works and how certain proteins -- or often parts of proteins -- can misfold under certain modeled conditions. By working to crack this mystery, the scientists that the "Folders" help gain data which may one day help cure a number of different diseases.

http://folding.stanford.edu/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_folding

Thanks Mantis! I couldn't have said it better myself.

Thanks for all the info guys, that's pretty cool. When I get my home PC running soon, I'll be glad to join the frey. Until then, I don't know what help I can be if I can't use my work PC. I work for a rather large company, and IT sucks to deal with, so I'll probably opt out of the race for now. But thanks again for everything.

MotoGateVirtual wrote:

Thanks for all the info guys, that's pretty cool. When I get my home PC running soon, I'll be glad to join the frey. Until then, I don't know what help I can be if I can't use my work PC. I work for a rather large company, and IT sucks to deal with, so I'll probably opt out of the race for now. But thanks again for everything.

Stay active in the forum. We like having you around.

jeffry55 wrote:

MotoGateVirtual wrote:

Thanks for all the info guys, that's pretty cool. When I get my home PC running soon, I'll be glad to join the frey. Until then, I don't know what help I can be if I can't use my work PC. I work for a rather large company, and IT sucks to deal with, so I'll probably opt out of the race for now. But thanks again for everything.

Stay active in the forum. We like having you around.

Also: read some more, be informed, and spread the word.