Distributed system

Updated: 06/30/2019 by Computer Hope
Folding @ Home protein folding example

Alternatively called distributed computing, a distributed system is a collection of computers that act, work, and appear as one large computer. There are several distributed computing projects on the Internet that help work on complex problems by sharing the processing power of millions of different peoples computers. To participate and help these programs, often you only need to download a small program that is run whenever your computer is not being used. Below is a listing of these programs.

  • Folding@Home - Assist in understanding protein folding, misfolding, and related diseases. The image on this page is an example of a F@H protein being folded. Computer Hope has a Folding@Home team, which is ID# 67290. Computer Hope Folding@Home stats. Also, if you are interested you are welcome to join the F@H discussion in the forums.
  • GIMPS (Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search) - Project to help locate Mersenne primes.
  • LHC@Home - A platform to help CERN's Large Hadron Collider process information about fundamental physical particles.
  • SETI@home - Assist in the search for extraterrestrial life. Originally an independent project, it is now part of BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing), the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing.

Machine learning, Network terms, Render farm, Scalable architecture