Become a Citizen Scientist

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Start contributing with the BOINC platform


Install the BOINC platform and start contributing to your chose project

BOINC is used by many volunteer computing projects. Some of these projects are based at universities and research labs, others are run by companies and individuals. You can use BOINC to participate in any number of these projects.

BOINC is a program that lets you donate your idle computer time to science projects like SETI@home, Climateprediction.net, Rosetta@home, World Community Grid, and many others.

  1. Download the BOINC Installer for your platform from here: http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download.php (if you want to learn more about how this works on different platforms, read the Installer wiki)
  2. Run the installer and follow the on screen instructions.
  3. Once BOINC is installed it will ask you to choose a project to support.
  4. Once you have chosen your project, you will be asked to register and create a new user account.
  5. BOINC will install the required software for your chosen project and you will begin contributing processing power. Note that you can contribute to many projects, and specify how much processing time you want to contribute to each.
  6. Note that regularly, the process running on your computer will request more data to process from the server of the project you chose, or upload results that your computer processed. 
  7. You can manage many aspects of how BOINC runs on your computer, for example setting it so that it runs only when your laptop is charging, throttling it so it does not make your fan turn on, and so on.
  8. Once you have started contributing, post a response to this task including a link to your profile page on the project site, which includes the BOINC credits you have achieved through your contribution (you can use Boincstats.com also).
  9. Check out the message boards. Join teams and learn about how they compete.  There is so much more to BOINC than just the processing!

Task Discussion


  • Rho said:

    I think it would be wonderful if the major Linux distributions chose BOINC software as part of a 'standard' install. If BOINC was also part of the standard software used in the education system I'm sure progress on all projects could increase substantially.

    on March 14, 2013, 6:44 a.m.

  • Grim said:

    It is quite difficut finding active projects.. but i have found a few i also dont feel good about posting my info online for all to see.

    on Sept. 6, 2012, 4:08 p.m.

  • skilletsnail said:

    I don't really like sharing all my information all over the internet so I'm not posting the website but I'm glad you posted this as a course on P2PU. I already had an account I had just been neglecting it.

    on July 7, 2012, 6:59 p.m.

    p3m4la5 said:

    I am agree with you. For me I will study it first before deciding.

    on Aug. 10, 2012, 10:39 a.m. in reply to skilletsnail

  • Stone said:

    I have been involved with BOINC for many years now - I first started prior to the development of BOINC when it was seti@home on March 30th 2001. Once seti@home was ported over to BOINC, I converted my PCs to run BOINC and have since participated in 78 BOINC projects (some are still active, and some retired). I run multiple PCs at my home, and I have several dedicated to just running BOINC projects 100% of the time. I am currently involved in 57 active BOINC projects.

    My newest project (I think) is the LHC T4T Test4Theory project (which is how I know Daniel) and I am enjoying the challenges of that project and the implications of what knowledge it will bring to us about the smallest known structures of our universe.

    I am always looking to see if there are new projects starting up that I can participate in. I enjoy getting in on the ground floor with some of these projects and helping to work out the bugs and issues that come with being involved in Alpha and Beta participation. I am also involved in several development projects to assist in the further development of those projects by testing out the coding for the developers.

    Stone

    on June 12, 2012, 3:51 p.m.

    Daniel Lombraña González said:

    Thanks for completing the challenge, Stone!

    on June 13, 2012, 4:04 a.m. in reply to Stone

  • KaMii said:

    http://boincstats.com/en/stats/-1/user/detail/2459507/

    Well I created a boincstats profile, then that failed to pull anything from my projects so I put my name in the search box and this came up.  not sure how to get my profile to link to my accounts, oh well I dont care.  ITs not posting anything from LHC or T4T, not sure why, I have credits in both.

    on June 10, 2012, 12:43 p.m.

    Daniel Lombraña González said:

    Well done! You have completed all the tasks!

    on June 11, 2012, 2:43 a.m. in reply to KaMii

  • Buzzy said:

    I prefer not to make my details available publically but I have accounts with many BOINC projects and am crunching as we speak. Very cool.

    on May 13, 2012, 5 a.m.

    Daniel Lombraña González said:

    No problem!

    on May 14, 2012, 2:24 a.m. in reply to Buzzy

    Buzzy said:

    Thanks. I should say for the record, though, that I have approaching 10 million credits across most of the current projects and a lot of retired ones, too.

    on May 15, 2012, 5:22 p.m. in reply to Daniel Lombraña González

    Daniel Lombraña González said:

    Wow! you are pro :D

    on May 21, 2012, 2:15 a.m. in reply to Buzzy

  • Denis Ruchnewitz said:

    Hi,

    Here ist the link to my profile: http://boincstats.com/search/all_projects.php?cpid=6ba7bd61fb752bb600b35792e25f56e1

    Lets start working ;-)

    on May 7, 2012, 12:06 p.m.

    Daniel Lombraña González said:

    You are participating in 4 projects, not bad at all!

    on May 9, 2012, 2:41 a.m. in reply to Denis Ruchnewitz

  • Charles Thomas said:

    Okay, I’m done.  I feel like this project wasn’t directed at me, but wanted to participate anyway!  I love Boinc, and I’m really excited by P2PU!  I have often felt that we as a society keep information locked up in silos, and it is places like P2PU that will change education towards a better future!

    Welcome to the new citizen scientist universe!

     http://www.allprojectstats.com/showuser.php?id=a871274a4a71e85c9b45f769affba73d

     

    Yours in service

    chuck

    on Feb. 21, 2012, 10:44 p.m.

  • Daniel Lombraña González said:

    In this link you can find my completed WU for the LHC@Home Test4Theory project. While not very active finishing WU, I use most of time in developing new features, giving support in the forums, etc.

    on Feb. 21, 2012, 10:33 a.m.