A'ight, here goes, the mad quick version. Theres
this theory out there that says that the average CPU, not unlike the human
brain, only uses about 10% of its computing power most of the time.
And, if we were to add up all the extra (wasted) computer power of all
the regular computers in the whole world, it'd be far more powerful than
even the most powersul super computers in the world. So, a group
of folks at distributed.net are putting this theory to use. They
have designed a system to combine all the extra CPU cycles and put them
to use to all work on the same problem. The current problem is cracking
the RC5-64 (bit) encoding scheme, a challenge possed by RSA Data Security
that has a substantial monetary prize. The folks at distributed.net
have done all the brain-work necessary, writing all the software and designing
the software, all you have to do is install the client, and let it run
in the background, it has the lowest CPU priority class, so you wont even
know its there, but it'll be cracking keys in the background.
The project however, mostly to attract interest,
has turned into both an individual and a team competition. Though
I don't think we'll be able to compete with the computing megahouses, we
should be able to catch most HS, and even most college teams if we all
get involved. Now, to the important details, how to get involved...
Go to the Client
Selector at http://www.distributed.net/cgi/select.cgi,
and get the right client for your OS, i'm assuming most of you are win32,
if so, get the GUI client, its just better.
Ok, next, you have to configure the client, how
here's where you hafta choose, do you wanna do this the cool way, or the
lazy way. You can either register as an individual, and be able to
monitor your own stats and all that, or just latch on to someone who is
already registered. If you want to register as an individual, just
enter your actual email where it asks. If you don't want to, then
use the email of anyone currently registered (as of current, [email protected]
or [email protected]), and let them get credit for all your computers hard
work!
Ok, other important things to configure. Under
connection, set it to Modem Dialup Lurk Only, unless you know what you
are doing and think another option is better for you, which might be the
case. Leave Network alone. Under buffers, set RC5 in and out
to 500 each, leave DES alone. Leave Logs, Sound and CPU alone unless
you wanna do something wierd. Under Startup, IMPORTANT, make sure
launch at startup is checked! The whole idea is that this is always
running in the background and you dont have to remember to start it each
time. As for running invisible, thats up to you, if its your computer,
I would leave it off, so you can check the status, its pretty cool, does
neat graphs and stuff. If other people use the computer and might
mess with it, turn invisible on, you can monitor your stats from the web
page.
Now, MOST IMPORTANT THING, if you chose to use your
own email address, you will get an email from distributed.net, it will
be the only email you ever get, dont worry! But, it will have a link
to some web pages in it, and a password. THE NEXT DAY (it wont work
right away cuz the database isnt updated yet), go to the web link that
has the password in it, and it will have a little box that says "Team Affliation"
I&A's team number is 9627, make sure you do that right, NINE SIX TWO
SEVEN. And then you'll be put on the I&A Team and all your keys,
while they still count for you, will count for the I&A team as well.
If theres anything you dont understand, ask me,
look on the webpage (the FAQ answers most questions), or just try and figure
it out, its fairly simple. Send this to all the I&A people you
know, all three years, alumni, drop-outs, wanna-be's, posers, etc.
Put it on as many computers as you have access to that have access to the
'net. Oh, did I mention there's a thousand dollar prize if you get
the winning key? (though, with the odds in the trillions, you'll
need a good bit of luck)
jon