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Newspaper articles and radio programs on QMC@HOME:
A news blog (also) about QMC@HOME:
http://www.altes-beckhaus.com/blog/
BOINCcast Podcasts about QMC@HOME (german language only):
QMC@HOME screensaver (11/05/06)
QMC@HOME update (06/14/06)
QMC@HOME in general (04/01/06)
More on: http://boinccast.podspot.de/
Heiko Dolle, Leonardo (Moderation Marija C. Bakker), WDR5, 02/22/2007:
Download MP3 file here.
(program in german language only)
Nachrichten aus der Chemie, Jan 2007:
Julia Barth, Westblick (Moderation Irene Geuer), WDR5, 09/13/2006:
Download MP3 file here.
(program in german language only)
Science Grid, 08/30/2006:
http://www.interactions.org/sgtw/2006/0830/
Rafael Heiling, WAZ, 08/03/2006:
Divided Computing is Doubled Power
University of Münster has started a project to which everybody can contribute - provided that one has a PC with internet connection. The researchers require as much computing power as possible for their calculations in chemistry.
By Rafael Heiling (translated by Gunnar Kaestle)
Together we are strong, this is also valid for computers. Therefore, University of Münster has started a major project. To calculate the charateristics of molecules, researchers at the chair of theoretical organic chemistry need a lot of computing power. Much more is needed than available at the University. The team now looks for additional computers to help Everybody can join in who has an internet connection and runs Linux or Windows as an operating System.
Those who want to contribute to computing capacity only need to download a small program from the university's website. It's simple to install - it's like a screen saver. The application automatically downloads workunits (about one megabyte of data) from the university's server as soon as an internet connection is established. If the computer is not in use by it's owner, the application begins its tasks. Once finished, the results are sent back and new workunits will be fetched. The whole process is known as 'Public Resource Computing' (PRC).
'You don't need to be online all the time', Martin Korth points out, whose PhD-thesis is about this project. During the calculation itself no internet connection is required. 'It is possible to adjust the setting so that the computer does the numbercrunching e.g. only during the evening.'
The scientists use PRC to enhance a method used in theoretical chemistry. It is called 'Quantum Monte Carlo' and is based on 'diced' randomly generated numbers. According to Korth this method is well suited to calculate the structure of large molecules, as it is much faster than present procedures.
The problem is that QMC-results always have an error. Korth and his supervisor Prof. Stefan Grimme now want to calculate the error's magnitude in order to minimise it as much as possible afterwards.
For this task you need high computing capacity. Almost 10,000 user with 17,000 PCs have registered, Korth reports. The main advantage of distributed computing is that it is quite inexpensive. The new supercomputer in Munich's Leibniz Center accounts for 26 trillion operations (26 Tera-flops) per second and costs more than 30 million Euros, says Korth. 'We score 2.6 Tera-flops and cost only a thousandth part of that sum.'
Joachim Budde, WELT KOMPAKT NRW, 06/29/2006: