In September 2006 , news agencies reported that Sony ’s forthcomingPlayStationwasn’t just for fun and games . Sony and Stanford University ’s Folding@home projection had make adistributed computingapplication for the plot cabinet . With Folding@home , PlayStation 3 owners will be able to donate their console ' processing baron to scientific research .
data processor users may already be conversant with distributed computing . Distributed computing applications break vast processing tasks into smaller chunk . fortune of nursing home computing machine then process the datum simultaneously . One such coating , SETI@home , became a popular screensaver after its debut in 1999 . SETI@home allows unused computers to work information from radio scope .
Folding@home is similar to SETI@ nursing home , and it allows scientists to studyprotein folding , or protein assembly . Incorrectly - fold proteins can stimulate serious unwellness , so scientists trust to simulate exactly how the process takes place . One data processor ’s processing exponent is n’t enough to embolden the folding process , but a distributed computing system of rules can finally recreate a fold from kickoff to end . These simulation may facilitate doctors discover how to treat or prevent diseases likecancer , Parkinson ’s disease and Alzheimer ’s disease .
In addition to running on abode computers , Folding@home can run on the PlayStation 3 . honest-to-god cabinet would n’t be of much use for this form of number - crunching : Many have comparatively picayune processing power and no mesh connection . The PlayStation 3 , though , is designed for fast - paced , naturalistic games that people can encounter online . The features that make it secure for these games will also make it good for processing Folding@home datum :
If 10,000 PlayStation 3 drug user download and usance Folding@home , the system will be able to calculate on the petaflop scale . In other wrangle , it will be able to make 1,000 trillion calculations per second .
After the PlayStation 3 hits the market , hoi polloi will be able-bodied to download the Folding@home software for gratis . Once set up , it will :
Folding@home and other distributed computing applications work only when a computing machine is on and unused . People who require to use their consoles to break away Folding@home will require to leave them on when not in utilization .
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