Pirates@Home: Difference between revisions
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'''[https://pirates.boincsynergy.ca/ Pirates@Home]''' was a volunteer distributed computing project built on the [[Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing]] (BOINC) platform. It was never intended as a scientific research project in its own right; instead, it served as an important and cheerful test-bed for the development of the BOINC software ecosystem, beginning in 2004.<ref name="boincwiki">[[BOINC Wiki]]. [https://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Pirates@Home ''Pirates@Home'']. University of California, Berkeley. Last edited 22 July 2022. Retrieved 2026-05-01.</ref> Notably, it played a foundational role in the creation of [[Einstein@Home]], one of the most successful BOINC projects ever launched, and later helped develop BOINC's social software tools.<ref name="myers-mediawiki">Eric Myers. [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Eric_Myers User:Eric Myers]. MediaWiki.org. Retrieved 2026-05-01.</ref> Its playful pirate theme was a deliberate signal to participants that this was ''not'' a serious scientific computing project but a platform for experimentation and fun.<ref name="pirates2005">Pirates@Home Mission 1 Archive (24 June 2005). [https://pirates.boincsynergy.ca/2005/ Pirates@Home]. BOINC Synergy. Retrieved 2026-05-01.</ref> | '''[https://pirates.boincsynergy.ca/ Pirates@Home]''' was a volunteer distributed computing project built on the [[Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing]] (BOINC) platform. It was never intended as a scientific research project in its own right; instead, it served as an important and cheerful test-bed for the development of the BOINC software ecosystem, beginning in 2004.<ref name="boincwiki">[[BOINC Wiki]]. [https://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Pirates@Home ''Pirates@Home'']. University of California, Berkeley. Last edited 22 July 2022. Retrieved 2026-05-01.</ref> Notably, it played a foundational role in the creation of [[Einstein@Home]], one of the most successful BOINC projects ever launched, and later helped develop BOINC's social software tools.<ref name="myers-mediawiki">Eric Myers. [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Eric_Myers User:Eric Myers]. MediaWiki.org. Retrieved 2026-05-01.</ref> Its playful pirate theme was a deliberate signal to participants that this was ''not'' a serious scientific computing project but a platform for experimentation and fun.<ref name="pirates2005">Pirates@Home Mission 1 Archive (24 June 2005). [https://pirates.boincsynergy.ca/2005/ Pirates@Home]. BOINC Synergy. Retrieved 2026-05-01.</ref> | ||
[[File: | [[File:Pirates@Home screensaver Scroll 4.53.gif|thumb|Pirates@Home screensaver Scroll 4.53]] | ||
== Background == | == Background == | ||
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=== The Starsphere screensaver === | === The Starsphere screensaver === | ||
[[File:Pirates@Home screensaver Sextant 4.91.gif|thumb|Sextant 4.91 - Einstein@Home Starsphere screensaver development]] | |||
One of the most significant achievements of Mission 1 was the development of the '''Starsphere''' screensaver for Einstein@Home. Pirates@Home served as the live testing environment for this 3D screensaver, which was authored by Bruce Allen and David Hammer of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Eric Myers of Vassar College.<ref name="starsphere">Bruce Allen, David Hammer, Eric Myers. [https://pirates.boincsynergy.ca/starsphere.php The Einstein@Home Starsphere Screensaver]. Pirates@Home Archive. BOINC Synergy. 15 February 2005. Retrieved 2026-05-01.</ref> | One of the most significant achievements of Mission 1 was the development of the '''Starsphere''' screensaver for Einstein@Home. Pirates@Home served as the live testing environment for this 3D screensaver, which was authored by Bruce Allen and David Hammer of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Eric Myers of Vassar College.<ref name="starsphere">Bruce Allen, David Hammer, Eric Myers. [https://pirates.boincsynergy.ca/starsphere.php The Einstein@Home Starsphere Screensaver]. Pirates@Home Archive. BOINC Synergy. 15 February 2005. Retrieved 2026-05-01.</ref> | ||
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New account creation during this phase required an invitation code, a feature specifically being tested for potential use in I2U2.<ref name="aug2006">Pirates@Home (August 2006 archive). [https://pirates.boincsynergy.ca/2006-aug/ Pirates@Home]. BOINC Synergy. Retrieved 2026-05-01.</ref> | New account creation during this phase required an invitation code, a feature specifically being tested for potential use in I2U2.<ref name="aug2006">Pirates@Home (August 2006 archive). [https://pirates.boincsynergy.ca/2006-aug/ Pirates@Home]. BOINC Synergy. Retrieved 2026-05-01.</ref> | ||
=== Primates@Home (April Fools 2008) === | === Primates@Home (April Fools 2008) === | ||
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== Technical details == | == Technical details == | ||
[[File:BOINC logo.png|right|frameless|150x150px]] | |||
The Pirates@Home server was initially configured on a Red Hat 7.3 machine, upgraded to Fedora Core 3 and then Fedora Core 4 over the course of its operation.<ref name="spyhill-create" /> The project ran on the standard BOINC software stack with a MySQL backend. The BOINC Synergy project catalogue lists it as running on Windows, Linux, and macOS client platforms.<ref name="boinc-projects-list" /> | The Pirates@Home server was initially configured on a Red Hat 7.3 machine, upgraded to Fedora Core 3 and then Fedora Core 4 over the course of its operation.<ref name="spyhill-create" /> The project ran on the standard BOINC software stack with a MySQL backend. The BOINC Synergy project catalogue lists it as running on Windows, Linux, and macOS client platforms.<ref name="boinc-projects-list" /> | ||