SETI@home Weekly Update

14 April 2000 - Dan Knight

As part of Team Mac Observer, we've been following teams in our neighborhood closely for the past couple weeks - but SETI@home is a lot more than just staying in the Top 20.

My goal is to provide a weekly overview of the Top 20 teams, plus the next five teams that may be contending to join the Top 20 list.

1. Team Art Bell (12,494 members) has completed 894,233 work units in a total of 2,731 years and an average per unit of 26 hours, 45 minutes (curiously, the slowest average among the Top 100 teams). They are the undisputed leader among club teams.
2. Team Ars Technica Lamb Chop (where do they come up with these names?) has 1,992 members and has completed 672,713 work units. At 13 hours, 31 minutes per unit, they have contributed 1,038 years to SETI@home. They also have the best average time per unit of any team in the Top 25.
3. The top Mac team, Team MacAddict (3433 members) has competed 616,673 units in 1,042 years of CPU time, for an average of 14 hours, 48 minutes per work unit.
4. Team Slashdot (2,111 members) is a distant fourth with 336,111 units and 687 years of CPU time. Average per work unit is 17 hours, 54 minutes.
5. The Planetary Society (1,077 members) is closing on Team Slashdot. They've completed 327,256 units over 713 years of CPU time, for an average of 19 hours, 5 minutes per unit. They are averaging a few more units per day than Team Slashdot and should overtake them shortly.
6. With a name inspired by Monty Python's Flying Circus, The Knights Who Say Ni! (474 members) are moving up in the standings - they were #9 in late March, moved to #8 earlier this week, and recently passed SETI.Germany. With 289,322 work units, they average 14 hours, 48 minutes per unit and have donated 489 years of CPU time to SETI@home.
7. SETI.Germany was recently bumped back to #7 by The Knights. Their 1,142 members have completed 283,833 units over 500 years of CPU time, with an average completion time of 15 hours, 26 minutes per work unit.
8. The second highest Mac team is O'Grady's Go2Mac.com Team (1,280 members), with 249,932 units under their belt. Total CPU time is 477 years at an average of 16 hours, 34 minutes per unit.
9. I'm originally from Canada, so it's nice to see this team of Canucks (873 members) among the Top 10. To date they have finished 247,408 units using 471 years of CPU time, for an average of 16 hours, 40 minutes per unit.
10. Rounding out the Top 10 is Linux (394 members) at 223,727 units, 379 years, and 14 hours, 50 minutes per unit.
11. OS/2 Warp isn't dead, as these 584 users demonstrate. Together they've crunched 171,690 units using 394 years of CPU time. They are averaging 20 hours, 6 minutes per unit, the second slowest among the Top 15.
12. Team User Friendly (816 members) is composed of fans of the comic strip. They've completed 150,391 units in 345 years of computer time. Their average is 20 hours, 5 minutes per unit.
13. Joining Germany and Canada among the top SETI@home teams, Team NIPPON (535 members) does Japan proud with 146,833 units completed. They have contributed 249 years of CPU time and average 14 hours, 50 minutes per unit.
14. Next comes SETI Switzerland (340 members), which has finished 146,465 units over 253 years of computer time. They are averaging 15 hours, 8 minutes per unit.
15. The third national team in a row, SETI@Home Poland (300 members) stands at 135,377 units. Using 238 years of CPU time, they average 15 hours, 24 minutes per unit. Over the past week, they moved from #16 to #15.
16. FreeBSD (285 members), a freeware Unix, lives. They have done 134,802 units in 235 years of computer time. Their average is 15 hours, 15 minutes.
17. Team Lockergnome (1,313 members) has 123,161 units to their credit. Completed using 359 years of computer time, their average is 25 hours, 32 minutes per unit - one of the slowest times in the Top 100.
18. Team BeOS (547 members) has been at #18 for a while, except for a few days last week when Team Mac Observer overtook them. With 116,105 units over 214 years of CPU time, they are averaging 16 hours, 7 minutes per work unit.
19. The real climbers over the past few weeks have been SETI@Netherlands (340 members), the group that recently pushed Team Mac Observer down to #20. The Dutchmen have completed 114,135 units in 186 years of computer time, averaging a respectable 14 hours, 18 minutes per unit.
20. The third Mac team on the list is Team Mac Observer (488 members), which Low End Mac is supporting. I've contributed 720 work units to the team total of 110,578. This has used 193 years of CPU time, giving the team an average of 15 hours, 19 minutes per unit.

Just below the Top 20 we have:

• Yahoo SETI Club Team (289 members) with 107, 615 units. They do not appear to be a threat to any team in the Top 20.
• The Amateur Radio Operators (274 members) have joined forces to crunch 97,105 work units. They do not appear to be climbing in the standings.
• Quebec (374 members) has completed 95,400 units and could eventually pass the Amateur Radio Operators. This week, they passed the Maximum PC Team for #23.
• The Maximum PC Team (409 members) stands at 94,733 units. They do not seem to be moving fast enough to climb in the team standings.
• The same goes for #25, Team Yellow Dwarf (1998 members) at 93,600 units.

And below the Top 25, the following teams look interesting:

• Team AnandTech (287 members) is at #27 with 87,905 units to their credit. They have moved up from #31 over recent weeks and could pass FurSETI for #26 in the next week or two.
• That said, it doesn't appear Matrox Users (420 members, #28), at 87,711 units is going to take being passed by Team AnandTech lying down. The two teams have very similar stats on total units and units per day. They are also poised to get past FurSETI in the coming weeks.
• Coming out of nowhere, Scarfy (one person, two locations, #36) looks interesting. Since late March, they've moved up from #52. At somewhere around 2,000 units per day and an average of 6 hours, 1 minute per unit, this is a team to watch.
• Another new team with a stellar growth curve is Eccentrica Gallumbits (5 members, #39 this week). They entered the Top 100 just this week and have turned in as many as 14,500 units in a day. (The team name is a relatively obscure reference from Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.)

Well, that's how the competition looks this week on the SETI@home team page. Come back next Friday for an update. (And if you'd like to join a team, I'd like to see you join Team Mac Observer.)

Recent articles about SETI@home

• Team 6100 Update, 2001.12.20. We've completed over 500 units and donated over 5 years of CPU time to SETI@home since May 2000.
• Team 6100 @300 units, SETIonMac, 2001.08.14. Team using old Power Macs has passed the 300 unit mark running SETI@home.
• SETI@home monthly update, 2001.08.01. Sad news - Team Mac Observer has fallen to #26 in the team standings.
• A look at SETI Checker, 2000.04.25. This freeware program lets you follow your favorite SETI@home teams.

Links

• SETI Station, a site for Mac SETI@home enthusiasts. Includes full instructions for speeding things up with a RAM disk.
• SETI@home home page
• Results by CPU (PowerPC is #2 behind Intel)
• Results by OS (Mac OS trails Windows)
• Results by platform (Mac #2 behind Pentium/Windows)
• Top 200 teams
• How to join Team Mac Observer

back to SETIonMac index

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