| Q:
What is SETI accelerator®? |
A:
SETI accelerator® is an add-on pci board designed for calculating workunits
supplied by the SETI@Home project of the University of Berkeley/ California. |
| Q:
How does it work? |
A:
It increases the number of work units your computer can crunch by simultaneously
processing up to 6 additional units while placing almost no extra load
on your mainboards processor. |
| Q:
Multiprocessing? |
A:
SETI accelerator® has up to 6 embedded processors installed on its
board. Each processor calculates one work unit in about 15 hours. That
raises your output to up to 6 units every 16 hours, plus the WU your computer
can handle in this time. It is like running two or more clients on a dual-processor
board.(Example: A PIII 500 will process a work unit in about 8 hours.This
adds up to 8 WU´s every 16 hours or about one WU every 2 hours!) |
| Q:
What types of processors are being used? |
A:
SETI accelerator® uses military surplus components.The chip used on
this board was used for target vector calculations in the terrain following
radar (TFR) component of the PR-964 Cruise Missile (NATO Codename SAMOWAR). |
| Q:
Why SETI@Home? |
A:
The processor was designed in sophisticated pipelining architecture to
achieve excellent processing performance. SETI@Home makes use of this architecture
in the fast fourier transformation (FFT) calculations for processing work
units.The board was originally designed as an experiment by a student of
computer science working in our company. |
| Q:
Is this the unauthorized patch Berkley is warning not to use? |
A:
No. This solution is strictly hardware based. It has a standard unmodified
linux text client implemented in the flash-rom of the chip. This memory
was mainly used to store target and routing information. Apart from the
basic drivers, the only software used is a batch-like procedure that assigns
the work units to the processor. It's like adding another computer with
each processor, without having to buy all the I/O and power supply components
which you don´t need for SETI@home.
The client must be downloaded from Berkeley's download area, it is not
part of the package due to copyright restrictions. Sorry for that misunderstanding. |
| Q:
How many versions of SETI accelerator® are available? |
A:
Currently two versions of SETI accelerator® are available. CA-01 has
one processor installed and is not upgradeable, while CA-06 holds up to
six processors. |
| Q:
Can I use more than one board in my computer? |
A:
No. Although the chip, due to its original usage, is designed as extremely
low power consuming, this would produce too much heat. Also the chip uses
a 3-digit binary to identify in the array, which would allow a maximum
of 8 chips on one computer. |
| Q:
Will there be an 8-processor board? |
A:
No. Solving the heat problem would be too costly and the board would need
an external power supply. When the board was designed one main objective
was cost effectiveness. |
| Q:
Will the clock frequency on my computer affect SETI accelerator®? |
A:
Yes. SETI accelerator® runs at 6.5 X PCI Bus clock frequency. At a
standard PCI Bus clock frequency of 33Mhz this means 214.5Mhz. SETI accelerator®
is tested with PCI Bus clock frequencies of up to 40Mhz. |
| Q:
Will all SETI@home files be stored on the board? |
A:
No. The client software and the necessary linux files are stored in the
chip´s flash rom. When running, the data files of the current work
unit will be stored in the chip´s onboard RAM. During the installation
process our software will create a folder containing the variable files
for each processor present and the saved work units. |
| Q:
On which computers will the board work? |
A:
Generally on all computers that have a free standard PCI slot. Drivers
and batch-procedures are available for PC´s running Windows(TM) 95/98/NT/2000
and linux. Macintosh drivers are in preparation. If your system is not
supported at present, let us know, and we will try to find a solution. |
| Q:
Do I have to buy a complete multiprocessor board? |
A:
No. We recommend you purchase the CA-06 board and equip it with the desired
number of processors you plan to run. The board is easily upgraded by simply
inserting additional chips into unused sockets. Jumpers will eventually
need to be repositioned (Instructions provided). |
| Q:
What if Berkley updates the SETI client? |
A:
Even after having updated their clients, Berkley will support the use of
the former versions for a period of time during which the client on the
chip can be updated by downloading a flash utility from our site. This
is like doing a BIOS-update and will require no special knowledge. The
updated client will have to be downloaded from the SETI@home homepage. |
| Q:
How and where can I buy the board? How is payment handled? |
A:
Currently you can only order SETI accelerator® via our website. It
will be delivered as COD (secure: you only pay for what you receive). Dealer
inquiries are welcome. Please mail us if you are interested in becoming
our business partner in your country. |
