I got a PS3 and I'm trying to setup Folding@Home, but how do you make your PS3 idle?

hiccupleftovers

hiccupleftovers

CAGiversary!
So yeah, I got one because from everything I read the system can upconvert DVds and rather than spend the money (and my other obligations that were tieing me down) on a lone upconvert player, I got one of these. Long story short, mine hasn't been doing too much at the moment. I already setup Folding@home, but I don't understand what they mean by the PS3 idling. Does that mean I can have it with the red light (not sure the term for that) or do I have to have actually turned on and wit the green light?

Oh, and I did get Tekken 5: DR, which is a blast to play even with the slow down and lag I've experience. Any CAGs that want to should add me. My PSN/gamertag is Hiccuple because someone already got Hiccup :cry:

Edit: Oh and one last quick question, What is the difference between regular and advanced folding? The answer might be in the thread above this one, but from I could garner is that thread is simply a lot of people saying they've joined the team and saying "I'm in".
 
From what I can tell, "idle" simply means "whenever your screen saver would turn on," which essentially means "when you're sitting on the XMB, doing nothing."

I haven't tested all means to find out when it would drop into screen saver mode yet (like if it's on a BR-disk game menu, or an PSN/demo menu, or if it's been left logged into the store or web browser...), but essentially it's supposed to be a catch-all for if you go away and don't log into the Folding app specifically before you do.


As for advanced mode, I'll let them speak:
Advanced Participation Mode: Advanced participation mode allows Stanford University to send simulations o f varying computational lengths to PS3 users. Because the simulations in this mode can take significantly lon ger, Advanced Mode is only recommended for contributors who run Folding@home for at least eight hours per day.
 
[quote name='cthellis']From what I can tell, "idle" simply means "whenever your screen saver would turn on," which essentially means "when you're sitting on the XMB, doing nothing."

I haven't tested all means to find out when it would drop into screen saver mode yet (like if it's on a BR-disk game menu, or an PSN/demo menu, or if it's been left logged into the store or web browser...), but essentially it's supposed to be a catch-all for if you go away and don't log into the Folding app specifically before you do.


As for advanced mode, I'll let them speak:
Advanced Participation Mode: Advanced participation mode allows Stanford University to send simulations o f varying computational lengths to PS3 users. Because the simulations in this mode can take significantly lon ger, Advanced Mode is only recommended for contributors who run Folding@home for at least eight hours per day.[/quote]

What about if you PS3 is in stanby/redlight mode?
 
[quote name='hiccupleftovers']What about if you PS3 is in stanby/redlight mode?[/quote]Whoa, you actually got one.

In redlight mode, the PS3 is off.

In order to fold, it has to be on.

Marten here (the leader in the cag team) has like 3 PS3s running 24/7. As long as your PS3 isn't in a confined spot, it's fine to leave on, and doesn't use that much power.

If you don't plan to use it much and have it fold for long periods of time, put it in advanced mode. It just processes different types of protiens, and I think you earn more points for them. Takes about the same amount of time as normal mode.
 
Yes, a PS3 with the red indicator light is effectively the same as the PS2; it is off, and just telling you that that's the status it's in. You're not bringing it back from "idle," you're powering it up to begin with.

The "idle" the PS3 has to be in versus the "screen saver" mode of the PS3 itself are slightly different (for instance, in the browser or online store, the PS3's screen saver can turn on, but it will not count as "idle" for the Folding app to auto-activate.) There is a screen saver mode for Folding itself, but that's there to turn off the funky little GUI so it can devote more processess to Folding and use less power. (A screensaver mode can now be activated via the Settings menu in the Folding@home appli cation, allowing PS3 users to consume slightly less power and to increase performance of protein-folding simu lations.)

Basically, though, it just means "don't be in anything but the main menu, and it will auto-launch." (Though I haven't tested if it still will if you're in all sub-menus yet.)
 
Thanks for the help guys. It's been great. I switched to advance mode and have gone through 5 work units so far. just doing my part I guess. I don't really have much for the system anyway since not much interested me. I have Resistance, which I still need to crack open, and Virtua Fighter 5 (a gift). I have Tekken 5 DR which has been pretty much my number one game I've played. I love the online, but sadly either I lag or the other person lags, or simply put, something lags and so i miss the timing. I still have a 50/50 record at least.

Anyway, a couple of new questions: Where can I find a good mic for voice chat (I can't believe one wasn't included like with the 360, but I guess that's Sony where they even stiffed me on component/HDMI cables) and how do you add friends? I can't believe that showing how to add friends isn't even in the manual.
 
[quote name='hiccupleftovers']Anyway, a couple of new questions: Where can I find a good mic for voice chat (I can't believe one wasn't included like with the 360, but I guess that's Sony where they even stiffed me on component/HDMI cables) and how do you add friends? I can't believe that showing how to add friends isn't even in the manual.[/quote]
You can use pretty much any USB or blutooth headset for the PS3, even the SOCOM one if it's still intact. Warhawk comes with a pretty good blutooth headset if you want a game to use it with.

To add a friend, just go to the friends list and scroll up to the "Add a Friend" option.
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']You can use pretty much any USB or blutooth headset for the PS3, even the SOCOM one if it's still intact. Warhawk comes with a pretty good blutooth headset if you want a game to use it with.

To add a friend, just go to the friends list and scroll up to the "Add a Friend" option.[/quote]

What about in-game? Say I'm playing Tekken 5 and I look up some guy's profile, is there any place where I can just say add to friends like on Live?
 
[quote name='hiccupleftovers']What about in-game? Say I'm playing Tekken 5 and I look up some guy's profile, is there any place where I can just say add to friends like on Live?[/quote]
I haven't played most of the PS3 games online, but I know that when I play people on Warhawk, they'll appear on the "recent players" list on the friends list, so you can add people from there. In game? Probably not until in-game XMB access is allowed in a future update, which they're supposedly working on. The only way it would is if the game's not using the XMB's friends list.
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']I haven't played most of the PS3 games online, but I know that when I play people on Warhawk, they'll appear on the "recent players" list on the friends list, so you can add people from there. In game? Probably not until in-game XMB access is allowed in a future update, which they're supposedly working on. The only way it would is if the game's not using the XMB's friends list.[/quote]

Not exactly sure what XMB is, but what I gather you're saying is that unless you do it from the dashboard after you've played someone, then there really isn't anyway to add them to your friend's list while you play them. Really sucks. In Live, you can do it in-game or even as you're playing someone and just add them through the menu by pressing the big middle Xbox button.
 
XMB is the acronym for the Cross Media Bar that was introduced with the PSP and brought over to the PS3. Essentially, the menu system.

At the moment, the XMB (which means, all the menu commands it has on it, like "Add Friend") is not available in every game (this is supposed to come into effect with the major 2.0 firmware update), so you can't just do a quick "add friend" command. You have to basically remember or write the guy's name down and add him/contact him outside of the game. This also makes it more difficult to get together with friends and hook up in the same games, but--again--is supposed to be one of the big things they're mixing in with the release of Home and the 2.0 firmware. At the moment, we suck up and deal.

As for headsets, I don't really know what's "best" or anything. You can probably look around at compatibility lists or whatever. I have a bluetooth set that I picked up on Woot a while back that SHOULD have gotten here by now, but... Heh.

I assume friend administration can be handled by the game itself, but it would have to be specifically programmed for, and at the moment I'm not sure what games have done so.
 
The Red light just means that the system is on "standby". In this mode, the PS3 is not doing anything, not folding or output any video signal. It's pretty much the same thing as off, but the power supply is active, readying for the system to be turned on. This is is common in high power electronics such as receivers, amps, active speakers/subwoofers, and some dvd players. It takes very little wattage to have any electronic equipment like the PS3 go on standby (like 1 or 2 watts). Standby is not the same as idling. Usually, when people talk about idle or idling, they are taking about the period when the computer is on and the CPU/GPU is at or near zero percent (not doing anything that requires processing).

If you are worried about power consumption, the PS3 does consume alot more the average computer (almost 200 watts when idling in the XMB). It takes up about 50% more wattage compared to my athlon64 gaming computer with geforce 7900gt, 2 harddrives, 5 fans.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top