a lefty’s log

the radio station i listen to at work broadcasts the bbc world service overnight from 1am to 5am. on mondays at 3am eastern (us) time, i get to hear a really neat program called go digital.

as part of a special energy conservation theme this week, the program focused on energy conservation and computing. there were two interesting questions to consider:

1. when should we turn off our computers?
2. what if there were fewer computers?

about that second item

as i gushed some time ago, i’m all about the open source. you give me a product, show me the source, and let me tinker with it to figure out how works, all for free?! that’s just the coolest thing! for folks in educational environments, in libraries, or small offices, one of the slickest ideas around is thin client computing.

Nivo thin client aims to bring computing to developing nations
The idea of a thin client — a smaller, less powerful machine that relies on a central server for processing duties — is an old concept, but recent advances may have perhaps made them user-friendly enough for the average user. Because they provide the ability to effectively share a single workstation among multiple users, not-for-profit UK developers Ndiyo are looking at using them to bring more affordable computing to the developing world. They’ve designed a small (12 x 8 x 2cm), sub-$200 thin client box called Nivo that runs on open source software and has ports for ethernet, keyboard, mouse, monitor and power. A school or cybercafe would be able to set up a single beefy server, a switch, and a couple of dozen Nivo boxes and be able to provide enough computing power for a group of users at a fraction of the price. Plus, small business and schools would save on maintenance costs off the top. There may not exist a single solution to narrowing the digital divide, but this does seem like an actually promising effort.

engadget website

imagine, a monitor, keyboard and mouse that exists completely remotely from the computer upon which it controls. imagine several users on that machine with similar kvm setups. how many, three? five? 20? all on one machine, at the same time, editing documents, browsing the internet, composing email, all at the price (and maintenance) of one pc. what a killer idea! all of it brought to you via the multi-user power of linux, of course.

do an internet search to find out more.

about turning off the machine

another suggestion in the story was to turn off our machines when we’re not using them. while on the per-user level, our computers use up the same energy as about a few lightbulbs, on the scale of millions of computers, even at the rate of just 2 or 3 lightbulbs each; that’s a lot of energy being used for nothing. (let alone all the extra energy being used to cool off that heat via continuous air conditioning.)

while there is much to be said about easing the energy load — and u.s.’s obesity crisis — by turning off our computers and going outside to play, there is much just as much to be said about keeping them on while we’re outside to have them do some work. and i’ve already said it.

as previously posted, grid computing is a great way to put those unused computing cycles to work when you forget to power down your compy:

donate without dollars, (you barely have to lift a finger)

— help find a cure
donate unused computer cycles to solving the problem of hiv/aids by joining the “FightAIDS@Home” distributed computing project. only mswindows machines (grrr.) can join the FightAIDS@Home effort. if you have linux, like i do, you can join a larger project, the Human Proteome Folding Project. mswindows users can choose between the two or perform both. in order to use the linux project, you should be fairly familiar with the command line.

lefty’s log post 35

here’s a shot of that project in action on my win98 print server pc:

i don’t have any cool pics of it in action on the linux machine, cuz it’s all text, but it’s working.

hey, why don’t you join in on the action? you can join my team, join another team, make your own team or go it alone.

here’s the info to join my team:

Encourage your friends and colleagues to help your team!

* If they already participate in the World Community Grid, then copy and paste the web address below and send it to them in an email. All they need to do to join your team is click on the web address and then click on the join now button on the page that appears.
* If they have not yet joined World Community Grid, then let them know that they will first need to download the agent and register with the World Community Grid by going to http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org. Once they have completed the download and registration process, they can click on the web address below and join your team.

http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/team/viewTeamInfo.do?teamId=V49BZGBSP1

from the world community grid website

(in the interest of full disclosure: the team of which i am a member is in conjunction with the website http://www.guys4men.com/ a dating service for men. it is the site through which i found my beau, but may not be right for all internet users. the website is rated at least “r” by movie standards, and quite honestly, might not be your cuppa tea. you have been forewarned.)

that’s enough gushing for one day.

now turn off that machine, or not, and go outside and play! (but if you decide not to, at least turn off your monitor, because, you know, every little bit helps.)