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SETI@home is a scientific
experiment that uses Internet connected computers in the Search
for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). You can participate by
running a free program that downloads and analyses radio telescope
data.
Okay so that's what they tell
us. What's it really mean?
SETI is a distributed computing
project. A radio telescope at Aceribo in Puerto Rico
collects noise signals from outer space, 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week. The theory is that an intelligent life form somewhere
out there beyond the "final frontier" may be sending out
signals, either intentionally or not (in much the same way that
all the various transmissions we make dissipate out into space as
well as reaching their intended destinations down here).
These signals would display some regularity and therefore stand
out from all the white noise that's out there anyway.
So you just collect up the
received noise signals from space and analyse them until you find
a regular signal, and then you've got evidence of ET, right?
Well, almost.....there is an awful lot of data to process, and
that's where you (and over two million other SETI users) come in.
The good people at SETI devised
a little number crunching application for you to download.
Once you've got the app installed SETI will send you a small
parcel of raw data (known as a work unit) over the Net. Your
PC processes the data, and it goes back to SETI in exchange for
another work unit.
That's SETI in a nutshell.
You can find out more at the SETI
website, or read more about my experiences with it below.
What's in it for you?
Several things in fact.
Undying fame if it's your PC that finally picks up a signal from
ET; a rather pretty screen saver (although this will seriously
slow down your data processing times); the knowledge that you're
part of probably the biggest distributed computing project there
is; a good stability test if you've overclocked
your PC; and the chance to join the RipNet
SETI team! To name but a few.....
The applications
There are basically two ways of
running SETI on your PC:
1. The GUI -
graphical user interface
This works as a screen saver and
shows a graphical representation of what the program is doing.
Looks nice but wastes about 40% of your processing power on
generating the graphics. If pictures are your thing you can
download the GUI here.
2. The CLI -
command line interface
By far the better way to crunch
SETI work units, in my humble opinion! The app just
quietly gets on with it's business in the background, no fancy
graphics. A number of different versions exist, probably
best to try a couple before you decide which is best for you.
See them all here.
I use SetiStash
personally. Easy to configure and has given me no problems
at all. And if you're running a dual processor system (more
details on RipNet's dual CPU page) you
can run one instance of SETI on each chip - which is nice.
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