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<title>Spare Cycles Needed for Promoting Linux Issue 21</title>
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<H4>
&quot;Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>&quot;
</H4>

<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--===================================================================-->

<center>
<H2>Spare Cycles Needed for Promoting Linux</H2>
<H4>By Bill Duncan,
<a href="mailto:bduncan@teamlinux.org">bduncan@teamlinux.org</a></H4>
</center>
<P><HR><P>

Ever wish you could do more to promote Linux and yet you never seem to
have enough time?  Now for a few pennies worth of electricity per day you
can put your Linux machine to work promoting Linux!

<P>
There are a number of distributed computing projects in progress or being
organized, and Linux Advocacy teams are one method available to us which
can help raise the visibility of Linux.
What I'd like to describe in this article is one such effort
<!-- which we are involved in, -->
called the

<A HREF="http://www.rsa.com/rsalabs/97challenge/">RSA Data Security
Secret-Key Challenge</A>.

<P>
                    This article will describe
<A HREF="#WHAT">    what the project is</A>;
<A HREF="#WHY">     why we are doing this and
                    how it might benefit Linux</A> and
<A HREF="#HOW">     how to get started</A>.
                    There is also a section on
<A HREF="#WHO">     who is involved</A>;
<A HREF="#LINKS">   other links for further information</A> and
<A HREF="#WHEN">    when to get involved</A>
                    at the end.

<!--  ------------------------------------- not enuf time to do this...
      There is also an FAQ and Glossary
      in a section at the end.
      -------------------------------------
-->


<A NAME="WHAT">
<P><HR NOSHADE SIZE=2><P><!-- ---------------------------------------------- -->
<H2>What?</H2></A>
<P><HR NOSHADE SIZE=2><P>
The 
  <A HREF="http://www.rsa.com/rsalabs/97challenge/">Secret-Key Challenge</A>
is a contest sponsored by
  <A HREF="http://www.rsa.com/">RSA Data Security</A>
which is being used primarily to further research into the strength of
encryption standards.  The DES challenge was won back in June.  RSA is
offering a $10,000US prize to the winning team which breaks the
<B>RC5-32/12/7</B> challenge which uses a 56 bit key.  The challenge has
been running since January 28th, 1997.

<P>
The status of the various challenges can be seen
  <A HREF="http://www.rsa.com/rsalabs/97challenge/html/status.html">here</A>.
The method being used for <I>cracking the code</I> by the various groups
is a <I>brute force</I> check of the entire <B>2^56</B> keyspace.

<P>
To give you an idea of the magnitude of the problem, consider that a
single fast Pentium Pro based system would take in excess of 4000 years
to run through the entire keyspace.  A 200 Mhz Pentium would take about
9000 years.



<A NAME="WHY">
<P><HR NOSHADE SIZE=2><P><!-- ---------------------------------------------- -->
<H2>Why?</H2></A>
<P><HR NOSHADE SIZE=2><P>
<H3>Promoting Linux</H3>
<P>
<B><I>Promoting Linux</I></B> is the main reason we are participating in
this effort.  We would like to raise public awareness of Linux, and this seems
like one of many good avenues for doing it.  It is a relatively easy and fun
way to get a large number of Linux users involved in a publicity effort.

<P>
Linux is in one of those &quot;<I>chicken-and-egg</I>&quot; situations at the
moment.  We need to make more software companies aware that Linux is a
market force to be recconned with.  With more software, it will be easier to
convince more users, which will convince more companies etc.  A snowball
effect is what we need to break off the plateau we're on.

<P>
There are many operating system advocacy groups participating in the effort.
One of the strongest ones at the moment is Apple.  It seems like they've
been putting all their available systems into the effort and are currently
ranked number one in the Bovine effort.  This is the one to beat!

The other Linux advocacy group
<A HREF="http://www.linuxnet.org/">linux@linuxnet.org</A> is in second
place on Bovine, but they do not seem to have a presence in the Cyberian
effort.

The group we are involved with,
<A HREF="http://www.teamlinux.org/">rc5@teamlinux.org</A>
is moving up from behind very quickly on Bovine,
and are consistantly in the Top 20 teams on Cyberian for the key rates.

<P>
Naturally we hope that you'll consider the team which we are involved with,
but both Linux teams have similar goals and reasons for being, and either
team would be a good choice.

<P>
<H3>Helping to Change Encryption Restrictions</H3><!-- ------------------- -->
<P>
To prove that 56-bit encryption is insufficient.  It is high time for the U.S.
government to rethink the current encryption export policies and standards.

<P>
Stronger encryption is readily available and the belief that
&quot;<I>bad-guys</I>&quot; might restrict themselves to using
encryption that could be tapped by the government does not make sense.

<P>
<H3>Having Fun!</H3><!-- ------------------------------ -->
<P>
It is fun to watch your system work on the project, see the results and get into
mild competitions with other teams.  Your system is probably idle most of the
time and it is satisfying to know that all of the
&quot;<I>idle-cycles</I>&quot;
can now be put to productive use!

<P>
Most groups and teams have some methods available for looking at the statistics.
Check into these sites on a regular basis, and see how well your team is doing!

The competitive aspect can spur growth as it motivates people to get other
people involved.  This is good!

<A NAME="HOW">
<P><HR NOSHADE SIZE=2><P><!-- ---------------------------------------------- -->
<H2>How?</H2></A>
<P><HR NOSHADE SIZE=2><P>

There are three overall efforts working on the RSA RC5 Challenge that we
know of.
Each one has different client programs to run and different procedures
to follow.
They also each have their own pros and cons.

Each overall effort is also divided up into &quot;<I>teams</I>&quot;.
We believe
that only the first two groups have active Linux Advocacy groups,
but we may be
mistaken.  (The third group had a team called <B>Linux!</B>, but did not have
a web address or a way to contact them which we could see.)

<UL>
  <LI><A HREF="http://rc5.distributed.net/">The Bovine RC5 Cracking
         Effort Headquarters</A>
  <LI><A HREF="http://www.cyberian.org/">The Cyberian
         RC5-56 Project CommCentre</A>
  <LI><A HREF="http://www.rc5.cs.wisc.edu/">Infinite Monkeys RC5
         Coordinated Attack</A>
</UL>

You will need to pick a team.  Either of the Linux teams will make a good
choice and both teams have instructions for setting up which you can read
on their respective Websites.  See the
<A HREF="#WHO">section below</A>
for more of a description on both teams.

<P>
The team we are involved with,
  <A HREF="http://www.teamlinux.org/"><I>Team&nbsp;Linux</I></A>,
has members involved with both
  <A HREF="http://rc5.distributed.net/">Bovine</A> and
  <A HREF="http://www.cyberian.org/">Cyberian</A>,
so we will describe both here.

<P>
We will also assume that you are using a Linux machine, although
we (Team&nbsp;Linux)
don't restrict you to using Linux.  Our feeling on the matter is that the
other machines on our team are &quot;<I>Linux Sympathasizers</I>&quot;
or &quot;<I>Linux Wannabee</I>&quot; machines!&nbsp;&nbsp;<TT>;-)</TT>

<P>
All groups work on the basis of <I>keyservers</I> handing out work for the
distributed systems, or <I>client systems</I> (that's you and me) to work on.
There is very little network traffic to do this.  Basically the keyservers
hand out a range of keys to work on.  Your system then checks each key by
brute force and contacts the keyserver again when it needs more work to do.
The programs work at very low priority <I>(nice-level)</I> so that
you shouldn't notice any change in interactive sessions,
effectively only using &quot;<I>idle cycles</I>&quot;.
The client system also tells the server which range it has checked so that
the numbers can show up in your team's statistics.  <I>(This is the fun part.)</I>


<P>
The following will not be an exhaustive description of either system but will
give you a few pointers on setting up.  For more information, see your team's
Web pages.  Hopefully, this get you started and show you how easy it is.

<P><HR NOSHADE><P>
<H3>Bovine   Clients</H3>

<P>
The
  <A HREF="http://rc5.distributed.net/">Bovine</A>
effort has a lot going for it.  They are well organized; have fast
client programs for a number of platforms; have checked a larger portion
of the key space and will be giving away a larger portion of the winnings
(should they win).  They have stated that they will give $8000US of the
winnings to
  <A HREF="http://promo.net/pg/">Project Gutenberg</A>
which is a very worthwhile cause.  They are keeping $1000US and will
give $1000US to the winning team.

<P>
Both Linux teams will be giving all the prize money away.
The <I>linux@linuxnet.org</I> group will be donating the money to
  <A HREF="http://www.li.org/">Linux International</A>,
while the <I>Team&nbsp;Linux</I> group is leaving it to members to vote on,
and may well end up doing the same.  <I>Team&nbsp;Linux</I> is also in
discussions with several other companies about additional sponsorship
for a worthy Linux cause.  We will have an announcement about this soon.


<P>
Both
  <A HREF="http://www.linuxnet.org/">linux@linuxnet.org</A>
and the team we are involved with,
  <A HREF="http://www.teamlinux.org/">Team&nbsp;Linux</A>
(with an email of <A HREF="mailto:crusader@mo.net">crusader@mo.net</A>)
are represented in this group.  You may pick either team if you
choose to use the Bovine system.


<P>
The first thing to do is to get a copy of the
<A HREF="http://rc5.distributed.net/rc5v2-clients.html">client program</A>
and unpack the archive into an empty directory.  At the time of this
writing, the latest version was <B>v2 build 4</B> and the Linux archive
contains:

<BLOCKQUOTE><PRE><TT>

-rwxrwxr-x bovine/rc5   292892 Aug  7 05:06 1997 rc5v2b4/rc5v2
-rw-rw-r-- bovine/rc5     2085 Aug  6 22:11 1997 rc5v2b4/README.TXT

</TT></PRE></BLOCKQUOTE>

<P>
You'll notice that the files are containted in a subdirectory relative to
where you unpack them.  So if you unpack in your home directory you will
create a subdirectory called <B>rc5v2b4</B> containing the files.
(I also create a symlink [symbolic link]
here, to make typing easier.  Pick a name which is easier
to type such as <I>bovine</I>. You can then use this as an alias.)

<BLOCKQUOTE><PRE><TT>
ln  -s  rc5v2b4  bovine
</TT></PRE></BLOCKQUOTE>



<P>
<A HREF="http://rc5.distributed.net/">The Bovine</A> system uses one program
which both does the key checking and also maintains a <I>cache</I> of keys,
contacting a keyserver when it needs more work, and checking in the finished blocks.


<P>
Configuring the Bovine client involves running the client program with the
<B>-config</B> option.  You will then be presented with a menu, which should
be similar to the one reproduced here:


<BLOCKQUOTE><PRE><TT>

CLIENT CONFIG MENU
------------------
1)  Email to report as [default:rc5@distributed.net] ==> rc5@distributed.net
2)  Blocks to Buffer [default:5] ==> 5
3)  Blocks to complete in run [default:0] ==> 0
4)  Hours to complete in a run [default:0] ==> 0
5)  Keys per timeslice - for Macs etc [default:65536] ==> 65536
6)  Level of niceness to run at [default:0] ==> 0
7)  File to log to [default:] ==> 
8)  Network communication mode [default:1] ==> 1
14)  Optimize performance for CPU type [default:-1] ==> -1
0)  Quit and Save

</TT></PRE></BLOCKQUOTE>

<P>
The important one to change is &quot;<B>1</B>&quot;.  This email address you
add here determines which team your blocks will be counted for.  This is
case sensitive, and does not tolerate typos, so be careful when typing this
in and double check.

<P>
Press the &quot;<B>1</B>&quot; key, followed by the &quot;<B>Enter</B>&quot; key
and you will be presented with the following prompt:

<BLOCKQUOTE><PRE><TT>

Email to report as (64 characters max) [rc5@distributed.net] --&gt;

</TT></PRE></BLOCKQUOTE>

<P>
If you decide to count your blocks for
<A HREF="http://www.linuxnet.org/"><B>linux@linuxnet.org</B></A> then enter it here.

<P>
If you decide to work with
<A HREF="http://www.teamlinux.org/">Team&nbsp;Linux</A> then you need to enter
<A HREF="mailto:crusader@mo.net"><B>crusader@mo.net</B></A>.
(The reason we don't use
<A HREF="mailto:rc5@teamlinux.org">rc5@teamlinux.org</A> on Bovine is that
we received our <I>teamlinux.org</I>
domain after actually starting the effort.
The Bovine group was unwilling to move our stats to the new email address
so we had to keep the old one to maintain our block counts.
The <A HREF="mailto:crusader@mo.net">crusader@mo.net</A> email
address actually belongs to Eric P. Anderson, who started Team&nbsp;Linux.)

<P>
<CENTER>
<H4>Fine Tuning</H4>
</CENTER>

<P>
If you are only connected to the net part time, you should
consider buffering a larger number of blocks.  Assuming that you connect once
per day, you'll need to get at least a day's worth and maybe a bit more,
for good measure.
(The limit is 200 on the latest clients I think.)  If you are connected
to the 'Net full time, then you can leave this at the default setting.

<P>
I also suggest that you define a log file, perhaps
   &nbsp;&nbsp;<TT>/var/tmp/bovine.log</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;
might be a good choice.
This is all you really need to define unless you have specific
needs, such as getting around a firewall.
(These subjects are beyond the scope of this
article, and you should consult the
<A HREF="http://rc5.distributed.net/FAQ/rc5v2-help.html">Bovine Client
Documentation</A>
for more help if you run into difficulties.  They also maintain several
<A HREF="http://cwww.llamas.net/~chipper/mail.html">mailing lists</A>
where you might find additional help.)

<P>
At this point, save the setup by pressing the &quot;<B>0</B>&quot; key,
and you should be ready to test it out.
The configuration file which is saved is called <B>rc5v2.ini</B>,
and is placed in the current directory.

<P>
Test it out!  Type the name of the program and watch it go!
(We usually leave it running with a spare xterm or on one of the text consoles.
One nice thing about the Bovine client is that it gives you feedback on how
far through each block it is.)

<P><HR NOSHADE><P>
<H3>Cyberian Clients</H3>

<P>
Personally, we find the
<A HREF="http://www.cyberian.org/">Cyberian Effort</A> more satisfying, although
it is not without its problems.  They have been going through some difficulties
on their server in the last week while one of the key developers was away in China.
(This should be cleared up by the time you read this.)  They also only have one
server whereas Bovine have many, so Cyberian are currently more prone to having
problems.
Lastly, they have not been working as long as Bovine, so have not checked
as much of the keyspace.

<P>
On the positive side, Cyberian have far better stats which make them much more
fun to be involved with.  Currently, the Bovine stats are only updated once per
day and do not give you access to your individual numbers.  The Cyberian stats
are updated every 10 minutes or so and gives you a list of all of the team
members as well as your overall team statistics.

<P>
This is a great boon for people getting involved as they can see themselves
up on the board within minutes!  Cyberian also has many more categories of
numbers and graphs to delight the people involved.

<P>
Lastly, the Bovine effort is offering $1000US to the winning team, while
the Cyberian effort is offering <B>$5000US</B>.  This would mean more money for
a worthwhile Linux effort, should one of the Linux teams win.
Note that the Bovine group is giving the bulk of the money to a worthwhile
cause, it's just not a Linux cause.)

<P>
At the time of this writing, we believe that the only Linux advocacy group
here is
  <A HREF="http://www.teamlinux.org/">Team&nbsp;Linux</A>.
The email address they are using here is:
  <A HREF="mailto:rc5@teamlinux.org"><B>rc5@teamlinux.org</B></A>.

<P>
First, you need to
  <A HREF="http://www.cyberian.org/download.html">download
  their client program</A>.
Pick the appropriate one for your architecture.  We assume that most of us will
be using the &quot;<I>Client v3.04 for Linux [X86]</I>&quot; although others
are available.

<P>
This tar archive will unpack in your current directory so you should make a
directory for it: <I>$HOME/cyberian</I>, for example, then change to
that directory.

<P>
Unpacking with <TT>tar tvzf  Linux-x86.bin304.tgz</TT>
will give you the following
files:

<BLOCKQUOTE><TT><PRE>
-rwxrwxr-x tic0/tic0     20315 Jul 25 15:08 1997 rc5client
-rwxrwxr-x tic0/tic0     18093 Jul 25 15:08 1997 sa_simple
</PRE></TT></BLOCKQUOTE>

<P>
The Cyberian system uses these two programs:
one <I>(rc5client)</I> which checks the keys and
the other <I>(sa_simple)</I> which maintains the
cache and contacts the server when necessary.
Both programs will list the available options
if you run the program with &quot;<B>-\?</B>&quot;.
(The backslash may be necessary to escape
the question mark on some shells.)


<P>
You will need to contact the server to load the initial cache of blocks
at this point.  For now, run

<BLOCKQUOTE><TT><PRE>
sa_simple  -1
</PRE></TT></BLOCKQUOTE>

<P>
If everything works OK, you should see a message saying that the server has
been contacted and that your cache has been loaded.
If the program has difficulty contacting the server, you will see repeated
messages to that effect.  If this condition lasts more than ten minutes or
so, then there may be a problem.
See the <A HREF="http://www.cyberian.org/">Cyberian</A> or
<A HREF="http://www.teamlinux.org/">Team&nbsp;Linux</A>
Websites for more details.
It may be a networking issue, or it may be that their server is still having
some problems.

<P>

The Cyberian system does not use configuration files, nor does it create
logfiles; so all options must be supplied on the command line.
(We like to use logfiles to maintain a record of what was done and
to see what it is doing occasionally.)
You can automate this by creating a shell script such as the following:

<!--  +++++ display +++++ -->

<BLOCKQUOTE><TT><PRE>

#!/bin/sh
#
# Run the Cyberian client programs:
# (This version is for part-time connections, full-time connections don't
# use the -1 option on sa_simple, or the -q option on rc5client)
#

MY_EMAIL=yourname@yourdomain   # Change This!!!
TEAM="rc5@teamlinux.org"
LOW_WATER_MARK=500
HIGH_WATER_MARK=1000

export TEAM HIGH_WATER_MARK LOW_WATER_MARK MY_EMAIL

sa_simple  -1  -l $LOW_WATER_MARK  -h $HIGH_WATER_MARK > /var/tmp/sa_simple.log 2>&1 &

rc5client  -t $TEAM -e $MY_EMAIL -N -q -n19            > /var/tmp/rc5client.log 2>&1 &

</PRE></TT></BLOCKQUOTE>

<!--  +++++ end of display +++++ -->

<P>
With a shell script such as this you can find out what is happening at any
time by doing a<BR>
&quot;<B>tail -f  /var/tmp/rc5client.log</B>&quot; or<BR>
&quot;<B>tail -f  /var/tmp/sa_simple.log</B>&quot;.<BR>
(In fact, we just leave a few xterms running with a tiny font,
so we can keep an eye on them while doing other things.)

<P>
Assuming that everything is running OK, you can start seeing your own email
address in your team's statistics in a very short period of time.  After a
few hours of processing, make a connection to the net again (if you are dialing
in part time), and run  <TT>sa_simple -1</TT> by itself.  After the server has
acknowledged your blocks, you should be able to do a search and see your email
address show up
<A HREF="http://www.cyberian.org/search.html">here</A> in about 15 minutes!

<P>
Another nice feature which we like about Cyberian is the ability to see what
is left in the cache.  This is very useful for users with part-time connections.
The following is a script we use to summarize what is in the cache.  You can use
this as is, or even modify it to give you estimates of the number of hours left.
If you have trouble cutting and pasting from here, you can find it on the
<A HREF="http://www.teamlinux.org/">Team&nbsp;Linux site</A>.

<!--  +++++ display +++++ -->

<BLOCKQUOTE><TT><PRE>

#!/bin/sh
#
# @(#) cache.sh - summarize rc5 cache information dump
# Author:  Bill Duncan, bduncan@teamlinux.org
#
# Note:  make sure rc5client is in your PATH.  I assume current directory.

PATH=$PATH:

rc5client -d |
awk '
  BEGIN {
    F = "%-6s %4d %s\n"
  }
  FNR == 1 { next }
  NF &gt; 0 {
  time = $2
    $1 = $2 = ""
  s = sprintf("%6s~%s", time, $0)
    a[ s ]++
  }
  END {
    for (i in a) {
      split(i, b, "~")
      printf F, b[1], a[i], b[2]
      total += a[i]
      if (i ~ /COMPLETED/)
        done    += a[i]
      else
        notdone += a[i]
    }
  # sort these lines to the end
  printf "~\n"
  printf F, "~", done,    "  DONE"
  printf F, "~", notdone, "  NOT DONE"
  printf F, "~", total,   "  TOTAL IN CACHE"
  }'  |
sort  | sed 's/^~/ /'


</PRE></TT></BLOCKQUOTE>

<!--  +++++ end of display +++++ -->

<P>
This script will give you a display such as the following:


<!--  +++++ display +++++ -->

<BLOCKQUOTE><TT><PRE>
122:59   27   COMPLETED REPORTING
125:47  101   COMPLETED REPORTING
137:15   93   COMPLETED
137:15  125   COMPLETED REPORTING
150:26    1   RESERVED
150:26    4

          5   NOT DONE
        346   DONE
        351   TOTAL IN CACHE

</PRE></TT></BLOCKQUOTE>

<!--  +++++ end of display +++++ -->

<P>
This display tells us that we need to connect to the server soon
as we only have 5 blocks to go before running out!  The numbers down
the left column are the number of hours and minutes left before that
block expires.  The middle column is the number of blocks with that
specific expiry.  The rest of the line is a status, with &quot;RESERVED&quot;
being the block currently being worked on and no status means that the
group has not been started yet.


<A NAME="STATS">
<P><HR NOSHADE SIZE=2><P><!-- ---------------------------------------------- -->
<H2>Stats, Numbers and Graphs</H2></A>
<P><HR NOSHADE SIZE=2><P>

As we have mentioned elsewhere, the Cyberian group pay more attention to the
statistics and graphs, which we tend to think are more fun for people.

<P>
Both groups tend to pay alot of attention to the blocks already completed.

This is like saying that someone has bought 10,000 losing lottery tickets
vs. someone else who has only bought 10.
The prize is not given to the group with the most losing tickets!
Both teams have an equal chance of buying the next winning lottery ticket!!

<P>
More important is <B><I>the current rate</I></B> at which the
<I>tickets</I> are being bought, or in our case, the rate at which
<I>key&nbsp;blocks</I> are being checked.

<P>
If you compare teams on that basis, it gives a more realistic relative
probability on which team will find the secret key and win the prize money.

<P>
Having said all that, watching the numbers and the graphs, and comparing
your team's numbers with other teams is all part of the fun.

<P>
The
  <A HREF="http://rc5stats.distributed.net/emtop100.idc">Bovine stats</A>
recently had an overhaul but is still only updated once per day.
For example: only team statistics are shown,
without mentioning individual efforts.

<P>
The
  <A HREF="http://www.cyberian.org/stats/statistix.html">Cyberian stats</A>
and their
  <A HREF="http://www.cyberian.org/search.html">search facility</A>
are a joy to use.  They provide almost instant feedback for anyone
getting involved as you can usually find your entries within minutes
of contacting the server.  You can also see how your contribution has
helped the overall team effort.



<A NAME="WHO">
<P><HR NOSHADE SIZE=2><P><!-- ---------------------------------------------- -->
<H2>Who?</H2></A>
<P><HR NOSHADE SIZE=2><P>

<H3>So Where do I Sign Up?</H3>
<P>
Why two teams?  Why don't we just join up with the other team, and combine our
numbers?  We've been asked this probably the most since Eric Anderson started
Team&nbsp;Linux.

<P>
The reason is that we feel that &quot;<I>friendly</I>&quot; rivalry will benefit
both teams and help get people excited about getting involved.  The benefit
to Linux will hopefully be greater participation and better visibility.

<P>
Both teams have the same main goals in mind with promoting Linux the highest
on the list.  However, we both have different ways of going about this.

<P>
The <A HREF="http://www.linuxnet.org/">linux@linuxnet.org</A> team has plenty
going for it.  It's been around a lot longer and has accumulated a much larger
total number of blocks checked.  They have openly stated that they will donate
the entire $1000 to Linux International if they win.  They seem to have two
sets of Web pages and you can access the second set
<A HREF="http://www.baycis.com/~nickkral/linux/rc5.html">here</A>.

<P>
The <A HREF="http://www.teamlinux.org/">Team&nbsp;Linux</A> group have stated
that they will donate all of any prize money or other revenue directly to a
Linux group of the members' choosing.  Any administrative costs will be paid for
out of our own pocket.  Since Team&nbsp;Linux is also involved in the Cyberian
effort, the prize money may very well be $5000US for Team&nbsp;Linux,
or $1000US if the key is found through the Bovine effort.

<P>
Team&nbsp;Linux is also in discussion with several companies about up-ing
the anti, possibly by having them match the prize money available,
or perhaps some other method which does not rely on chance nearly as much.
We should have an announcement on this soon.

<P>
We would like to encourage you to get involved in either team
and compete in the spirit of Linux, for the benefit of Linux.
As long as the competition remains friendly, it will be healthy and help out.


<A NAME="LINKS">
<P><HR NOSHADE SIZE=2><P><!-- ---------------------------------------------- -->
<H2>The Future of Distributed Computing</H2></A>
<P><HR NOSHADE SIZE=2><P>

Getting tens of thousands of computers working on a common problem is an
awesome technical accomplishment.

It is made all the more interesting by the fact that
the computers are spread out world-wide, some of them
available full-time, some not,
with different hardware and operating systems.

Having them all owned by different people and organizations, each with their
own agenda and motivations adds yet another dimension to the task.


<P>
Some papers and sites on the topic of distributed systems and related
subjects which we've found:

<BLOCKQUOTE>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.cs.wisc.edu/condor/">Condor</A> is a project at
    <A HREF="http://www.wisc.edu/">University of Wisconsin-Madison</A>
    which has been going on for about 10 years.  They have published a number of
    <A HREF="http://www.cs.wisc.edu/condor/publications.html">interesting papers</A>
    on what they call
    <A HREF="http://www.cs.wisc.edu/condor/research.html">High Throughput
    Computing (HTC)</A>.
    They are the movers and shakers for the third group working on
    the RSA Challenge called
    <A HREF="http://www.rc5.cs.wisc.edu/">Infinite Monkeys</A>.<P>

<LI><A HREF="http://www.yahoo.com/">Yahoo</A>
    have a whole section devoted to
    <A HREF="http://www.yahoo.com/Science/Computer_Science/Distributed_Computing/">distributed computing</A>.
    There is a good collection of material here, with many universities being
    represented.<P>

<LI><A HREF="http://www.mersenne.org/prime.htm">The GREAT Internet
    Mersenne Prime Search</A> is another way to use those spare cycles.<P>

<LI><A HREF="http://members.aol.com/golomb20/index.html">In Search Of The
    Optimal 20 & 21 Mark Golomb Rulers</A><P>

<LI><A HREF="http://www.bigscience.com/setiathome.html">SETI@home</A> is
    an effort to use spare cycles in the
    Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).  It looks like this might
    ramp up to be a <I>very big thing</I> by next Spring.  They are looking to
    put hundreds of thousands of machines to work.  <I>Let's make sure they do
    a Linux client program!</I>
    <P>

<LI>As we all know, lots of cool research has come from the folks at
    <A HREF="http://www.parc.xerox.com/parc-go.html">Xerox PARC</A>
    <I>(Palo Alto Research Center)</I>, including probably the first
    windowing environment.  It's not surprising to find that they have
    <A HREF="ftp://parcftp.xerox.com/pub/dynamics/multiagent.html">a
    number of papers</A> on the subject.  There is one which looks particularly
    interesting in a section called <B>allocating time on idle computers</B>:
  <I>C. A. Waldspurger et al.,
    Spawn: A Distributed Computational Economy, 1992</I>.
    Unfortunately, it has been taken off-line.  I seem to recall something like
    this published some years ago,
    possibly in <A HREF="http://www.byte.com/">Byte</A>,
    although no reference could be found.<P>

    While researching the Xerox PARC site, we came across a section called the
    <A HREF="http://www.parc.xerox.com/spl/groups/dynamics/">Dynamics of
    Computation Area</A>.  <B>You have to see this</B>,
    if for no other reason, to see
    the graphic depicting many <I>small distributed efforts</I> overtaking one
    <I>large effort</I>!!

</UL>
</BLOCKQUOTE>


<A NAME="WHEN">
<P><HR NOSHADE SIZE=2><P><!-- ---------------------------------------------- -->
<H2>When?</H2></A>
<P><HR NOSHADE SIZE=2><P>

<BLOCKQUOTE>

<B>Do it</B> <FONT SIZE=+1><I><B>now!!</B></I></FONT>

<P>
It's easy.  You'll have plenty of help.  And once you are set up,
you can let your system do the rest!


</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1997, Bill Duncan<BR> 
Published in Issue 21 of the Linux Gazette, September 1997</H5></center>

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