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BOINC may sound like an onomatopoeic word, but it's none of that. It is the acronym for Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing. The intent of BOINC is to make it possible for researchers to tap into the enormous processing power of personal computers around the world. It was originally developed to support the SETI@home project before it became useful as a platform for other distributed applications in areas as diverse as mathematics, medicine, molecular biology, climatology, and astrophysics. The BOINC project started in February 2002.
If you have a soft spot for altruism and social activism, you may want to give it a try—and you may well do since Linux, Free Software and Ubuntu are akin in altruism, social activism and co-operation for the betterment of society.
BOINC adds up the processing power of thousands of computers of volunteers around the world to help process incredible amounts of data required to accomplish various scientific research projects. It is said that there are over half a million volunteers to date – which amounts to several petabytes of processing power (one petabyte equals 1000 terabytes). It is not that those institutes and universities don't have supercomputers to do the job—it's rather that the extra processing power from volunteers makes it faster. Some projects, though, rely mostly on volunteer aid. The amount of data to be analyzed is simply monumental. In brief, BOINC is software that can profit from the unused CPU and GPU cycles on a computer to do scientific computing.
The Boinc manager is fairly intuitive, and easy to use and understand. Should you find BOINC too demanding or intrusive on your system, the BOINC manager will help you configure the way your computer processes the information. Your first task will be downloaded to your computer – which can take days or weeks to complete processing – depending If you ever decide to uninstall BOINC, it is best to do it with Synaptic as it will totally clean every trace of the application including the files that the program has analyzed. Your account and preferences will remain in the BOINC server in case you wish to reinstall in a different computer; just enter your e-mail and password. You canalso install BOINC in more than one computer using the same account. on the way youconfigure the manager and the time your computer is on. You can choose to have BOINC working only when your computer is idle. You can also choose more than one academic project. The manager will alternate processing each one every 60 minutes. The manager also informs you how much yourprojects have advanced and how much is left to be done.
If you ever decide to uninstall BOINC, it is best to do it with Synaptic as it will totally clean every trace of the application including the files that the program has analyzed. Your account and preferences will remain in the BOINC server in case you wish to reinstall in a different computer; just enter your e-mail and password. You can also install BOINC in more than one computer using the same account.
It is best to download the BOINC manager from the Ubuntu software center (GUI). What you download is the 7.0.27 default version, which is not the latest and it seems to be 32-bit. Don't download just the core application because you'll have to do everything from the terminal (CLI). You can visit the BOINC website where you can find the instructions to download the newest 7.0.65 version (64-bit). The instructions are terribly convoluted, especially for non-geeks and newbies. The old version seems to work alright in Ubuntu 12.04 for 32-bit systems (at least for the SETI@homeproject). If your system is 64-bit, then download the 'precise- backports' version which is 7.0.65, and the newest. Backports are adaptations of newer versions of standalone applications for old releases of Ubuntu – in this case, the Precise Pangolin release (12.04). To download it, go to the scroll bar in the upper right of the BOINC download page in the Ubuntu Software Center and click the arrow.
The first time you open the application, you will see a dialog window that will request from you to choose your project(s). Next, you will be asked to open an account with your email address and a password. Finally, the manager window will appear. Wait a few minutes for the server to download the first package of information to be processed by your system. You may see the 'Notices' button twinkling in red. More likely than not, it will tell you that there is a new version to be downloaded. It will direct you to the BOINC Web page. Notice that what you download is not a .deb file which you would install in a jiffy by double-clicking on it. The file is called boinc_7.0.65_x86_64- pc-linux-gnu.sh which can be opened only if you have previously installed GNU Emacs 23. Even then you will have to be quite geeky to know how to install BOINC with it. Don't be deterred or frustrated. You can still use the version you downloaded from the Ubuntu software center if your system is 32-bit.
On the manager window, you will also see a button called 'Project Web Pages'. That's the button you will use most. It contains the following links: Home Page, Forums, Help, You Account, Your Preferences, Your Results, Your Computer(s), Your System. You should first go straight to the 'Preferences' link where you will be able to configure how you want BOINC to behave. Search for the sign in blue that says 'Edit your preference' at the bottom of the preferences Web page. The Forums are also great to visit. It strengthens your sense of community in the BOINC ecosystem very much – as we are used to do in the Ubuntu forums.
There are two annoying glitches you may want to know beforehand—or are they default features of the program? Firstly, the icons on the launcher and on the dock (if any) are impossible to close. Secondly, the manager window closes alright, but every time you close any other window, the manager window suddenly pops up. And not a glitch, but a feature: BOINC will begin working automatically on startup.
Of all the scientific projects you can choose from (apparently 30 of them), I decided to give SETI@home a try (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). The SETI@home project gathers the information from a large array of radio antennas in New Mexico which in turn has to be analyzed for signals from outer space in search for intelligent life. The SETI@home project has been on formany years and nothing has been found as yet, but it takes a leap of faith to keep trying—and so they do. It thrills me to think that they may one day succeed.
In case that you become an incorrigible fan of the SETI@home project, the following link will take you to a SETI@home site with a myriad of downloadable screensavers, banners, logos, even music (MP3) inspired in the SETI@home project to spur your imagination and enthusiasm. The SETI@home site is: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/in dex.php BOINC is at: boinc.berkeley.edu/index.php Should you be curious to learn more, there is a good article on the SETI@home project in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SETI You will find an extensive article on BOINC in Wikipedia: wikipedia.org/wiki/BOINC