# How many SETI@Home Users are here? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 31, 2000, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980 "2000-05-31T04:17:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2000, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/41 "2000-06-06T23:47:57Z")
Okay, y’all. SO I downloaded the stuff, but the exe file has been stuck on “doing baseline smoothing.” for half an hour now. Are we talking about a massive baseline or is something messed up? Help! I want to join the search for my sister’s relatives soon! Patrick ---
**Author:** ![HaploXL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@HaploXL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HaploXL)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2000, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/42 "2000-06-06T23:49:59Z")
Ok you jsut got another numbre cruncher. ---
**Author:** ![Gatsby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@Gatsby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatsby)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2000, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/43 "2000-06-07T07:23:32Z")
Cool, Straight Dopers have more than doubled in the past few days!!! **23! Woohoo!** [Join Staight Dopers now!](http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/cgi?cmd=team_lookup&name=Straight+Dopers) **Geobabe:** Being on a network itself shouldn’t significantly slow processing down. Are you on a laptop with battery only maybe? **iampunha:** Check out this program: (freeware) [SETI Spy](http://pages.tca.net/roelof/setispy/) to get a better idea of your progress while you’re crunching the text client. As above, you guys kick ass! Get more people interested! ---
**Author:** ![esswedl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@esswedl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/esswedl)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2000, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/44 "2000-06-07T18:16:59Z")
Okay, I joined up and brought along my 27 units. _who has a fast computer_ **Djscherr** and **Nick George** both have average processing times of just under 10 hours. _who has a slow computer_ I wouldn’t worry about skewing the results, **tbea925** –your 63 hours per unit is nothing next to the 131+ hours of **bambeck**. Geez, that must be running on an abacus. Do you get the feeling that there are a lot of people out there who sign up for SETI@home, then don’t use it (or find that they are unable to use it)? I have only a measly 27 units, yet I am in the 75th percentile of users. ---
**Author:** ![Buddy\_Holly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Buddy\_Holly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buddy_Holly)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2000, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/45 "2000-06-07T21:47:16Z")
Hey yo, my 54 units just became yours. Oh, and I just passed the 1000 hour mark last night. It was quite an experience, kind of like watching the odometer in your car turn over or something. Seriously, anyone who hasn’t should sign up for this, it doesn’t cost anything, and even if you don’t think they’ll ever find anything at least you’re trying to help. Plus, it’s a good excuse to leave your computer on for hours at a time without feeling guilty about wasting power. So get moving! ---
**Author:** ![DJScherr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@DJScherr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJScherr)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2000, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/46 "2000-06-07T22:02:16Z")
Yeah I have a decent speed computer PII450 here at work running it graphical and minimized. And I just started my pII450 at home using the text based one. I also have five computers just sitting around my house that I might enter in too (one is a PII450 just haven’t put effort into getting it to run, one is a p200, p133, p90 and 486-25) THat last one would REALLY skew my time. But it IS for a good cause. Dave ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2000, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/47 "2000-06-07T22:11:53Z")
I’ll add all the stuff I’ve crunched to the Straight Dope team, once I’ve gotten the password sent back to me. ---
**Author:** ![Lampare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/0ea827/32.png) [@Lampare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lampare)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2000, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/48 "2000-06-07T22:54:53Z")
I’ll toss my 300+ work units into the pot tomorrow when I get to work (can’t remember my password…I’ve got it written down at work). I’m running on a PII450 right now, but I’ll soon be switching over to a PIII700. I was a member of the Art Bell affinity group, but since he threw in the towel on broadcasting I figure I owe him and his crackpot cadre precious little loyalty. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/49 "2000-06-08T01:17:28Z")
I can’t believe that I missed this thread until now. I’ve got about 525 units to my credit from about 1.5 years of CPU time (I found out only recently about setting the ‘screen to blank’ to zero minutes. Since then, my average is about 8 hours on computer # 1 and about 16 hours on my other one). I’d love to join the SD team but already belong to another one. I have no loyalty to it, though. Joined on a whim. Quite arbitrary. No connection. So, does anyone know I can unjoin my current team and cross-over onto the SD team? ---
**Author:** ![tbea925](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@tbea925](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tbea925)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/50 "2000-06-08T01:28:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > > So, does anyone know I can unjoin my current team and cross-over onto the SD team? > \*\* Basically, Karl, it should be just like joining a team in the first place, just select “join” from the page. Your data units that you’ve already crunched will stay with the old team, though. Any data units crunched in the future will go to the new team. ---
**Author:** ![Oblio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c4cdca/32.png) [@Oblio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblio)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/51 "2000-06-08T01:51:03Z")
Try these [Speedup tips](http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/docs/seti_tips.html) for SETI@home. I shaved several hours of my unit time. There are some other optimization links and tips at [SetiSpy site](http://pages.tca.net/roelof/setispy/#Tips), which is another good program to complement SETI. Adding my 205 to the pile … ---
**Author:** ![Oblio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c4cdca/32.png) [@Oblio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblio)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/52 "2000-06-08T01:55:26Z")
[Speedup tips](http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/docs/seti_tips.html) for SETI@home [SetiSpy site](http://pages.tca.net/roelof/setispy/#Tips) Making note to use preview after any post with vB codes ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/53 "2000-06-08T04:13:28Z")
Evidently I was using a version of the seti@home prog that just didn’t work. SO I got another one and I am not at roughly .5% after 12 minutes. That translates to about 44.5 hours per unit. I should get at most 30 hours per unit when I go back to school in a few months. I have a T1 line there and more time and a better PC . . . you get the idea. Anyway, this is very cool. Patrick ---
**Author:** ![Kuma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a587f6/32.png) [@Kuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuma)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/54 "2000-06-08T05:23:02Z")
Hey guys, I just jumped in from the lurker horde to get in on this neat idea. My 20 packets are added to the group now; hope it helps! Right now I have an AMD K-6 333 (overclocked 300) with 64 megs RAM. I know it’s weak, but things are looking up! My NEW Athlon 1Ghz with 512 megs RAM and all the good stuff should arrive shortly and help the group out a bit. This will be a great benchmark for my new system; finally a REAL WORLD gauntlet to run 'er through! ---
**Author:** ![Jvanhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jvanhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jvanhorn)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/55 "2000-06-08T09:51:59Z")
(sniff) Just a P166 here, but I’ve got 64MB ram and lots of HD space, and doing my part. If it’s going to be on anyway… ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/56 "2000-06-08T13:20:49Z")
Delurking to say that I’ve added my 150 units. My previous system was abysmally slow–average of over 56 hours per unit. That should change soon–I’ve now got two machines running it that should average about 13 hours per unit (PII 366 MHz Win98 & PII 400MHz NT). I hope to soon add another machine running under Linux. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/57 "2000-06-08T13:32:22Z")
Those speedup tips? They work. Using them, I’ve gone from about 40 hours per work packet down to 16, on a cacheless celeron 300. I’m thinking about getting myself a PIII600, though. Heh heh heh! ---
**Author:** ![Lupin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@Lupin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lupin)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/58 "2000-06-09T03:58:08Z")
Wow! I changed over to the text version a day or so ago, and what an improvement! I’m also using SETIWatch to keep track of the data units logged and I’m getting anywhere from 8:31 hours to 8:21 hours for the last 5 units. On a 500 mhz machine running NT, I even leave it on all day while I’m working, and I use a pretty piggish graphics package all day, (Alias/Wavefronts MAYA, if yer wonderin) and it doesnt seem to slow things down to much. I recommend changing over to it if you havent already. The graphics arent as nice, but I think its a small exchange for the speed increase. 8) Lupin (Jon McB) (I feel so productive for not doing anything… heh) ---
**Author:** ![Gatsby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@Gatsby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatsby)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/59 "2000-06-09T07:41:45Z")
**David B** : Thanks for the link on the SD homepage. We went from 11 to 39 members in a few days. I was wondering why for a minute, until I checked out the homepage. (A humble suggestion: A full time link on the homepage would probably add lots of members to the team. I would be happy to hand the team off to the staff. Or keep them, whichever. I know you guys are busy.) **KarlGauss** (and tbea, and anyone else interested): The rules do say that you leave your old work units to your old team. However, this has never been implemented. If you want to join [The Straight Dopers](http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/cgi?cmd=team_lookup&name=Straight+Dopers), rest assured, your work units will carry over to the team. **esswedl** : You are absolutely correct. SETI@home recently passed 2,000,000 users. Less than half have provided results from _even one_ work unit. Anyway, thanks to the 38 who have joined, especially those new to the project. If anyone has any questions about the SETI@Home project or client that you don’t want to post here, please use the email address in my profile. Or check out the [SETI@Home](http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/) homepage. Also, please encourage people you know to join the project, even if they don’t join the team. **Go Dopers!** ---
**Author:** ![Geobabe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/geobabe/32/3908_2.png) [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2000, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980/60 "2000-07-03T04:25:16Z")
This thread got waaaay down there…it needs a bump. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seti-home-users-are-here/20980.md?page=4)