Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Last updated: 6/7/06

 
1.0 Avatars
1.1 - Avatar Restrictions
1.2 - Avatar Content
1.3 - Fixing Uploaded Avatars
1.4 - How Do I Resize My Avatar
1.5 - Linked Avatars

 

2.0 Signatures
2.1 - Signature Restrictions
2.2 - Signature Content

 

3.0 Community
3.1 - What is the NCAA Network
3.2 - What is the NCAAbbs LUG
3.3 - What is Folding@NCAAbbs
3.3.1 - How do I install Folding@Home
3.3.2 - Are there any drawbacks to using Folding@Home
3.3.3 - Can I run Folding@Home on more than one machine
3.3.4 - Are there any stats I can see for my machine(s)
3.3.5 - When will I show up on the stat pages
3.4 - Does NCAAbbs have a Frappr map
3.5 - What is the Dev Team?
3.5.1 - What skills are needed to join the Dev Team
3.5.2 - How can I join the Dev Team
3.6 - What are the Crappies
3.7 - What is the Spin Room War Department

 

 

 

 

1.1 - Avatar Restrictions
Maximum size: 75 KB
Maximum Dimensions: 100x100 pixels
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1.2 - Avatar Content
You are to follow the AUP regarding your avatar. Pornography, copyright infringement, etc is not acceptable.
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1.3 - Fixing Uploaded Avatars
1) Upload the avatar.
2) Go back to your profile
3a) FireFox: Right click, choose "Copy Image Location"
3b) MSIE and all others: Right click on your avatar, where it is displayed. Go to properties. Copy the URL of the avatar. It should look something like this:
http://www.ncaabbs.com/forums/ncaa/phpbb/images/avatars/uploads/17601931943b215ef88bff.gif
4) Go to your profile ON A DIFFRENT BOARD. For example, if you uploaded on CUSAbbs. Go to MACbbs, then go to your profile.
5) Scroll down to the avatar area in your profile.
6) Paste this URL into the blank next to "Link to off-site Avatar"
7) Hit submit.
8) Tah dah. You're done. It should now work on all forums.
This is done because there is a glitch in how we've gotten multiple phpBB installs to behave as one. When you upload your avatar, it only uploads to one phpBB. All the other forums cannot see it. If you try to change your avatar on the same phpBB you uploaded it on, it will delete your uploaded avatar. Thus you have to "trick" phpBB by uploading it in one place and changing it in another.
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1.4 - How Do I Resize My Avatar
If you're a total newbie, try Pix Resizer. It's for Windows, and free. Link: Pix Resizer
Other free tools include:
GIMP (Linux, Mac, Windows)
KolourPaint (Linux)
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1.5 - Linked Avatars
You are to have some common courtesy when using a linked avatar. This means no large size avatars. Some people do still use dial up you know. Use your own judgement, but anything over 150 KB is probably too much.
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Signature Restrictions
Signatures are to be of "reasonable" size. People don't want to scroll through eight miles of signature to read a thread. If your sig has reached 1/3 of a page or larger at 1024x768 resolution, it's flagrantly large and should be altered or it might be removed without warning.
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Signature Content
You are to follow the AUP regarding your signature. Pornography, copyright infringement, etc is not acceptable.
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3.1 - What is the NCAA Network
The NCAA Network is a network of college sports related sites ran by either NCAAbbs administration or Dev Team members. It aims to be a complete end-all Network for all college sports related content, and currently includes message boards (NCAAbbs), a Wiki (NCAAWiki), and a news/historical/editorial site (NCAA Palace).
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3.2 - What is the NCAAbbs LUG
It is the NCAAbbs Linux Users Group, a group of members that use the free and open source Linux operating system, and encourage the spread of Linux as well as help each other with any problems members might have.
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3.3 - What is Folding@NCAAbbs
Folding@NCAAbbs is a team of NCAAbbs who participate in Folding@Home. Folding@Home is a distributed computing project from Stanford University. It uses your computer's unused processing power to analyze how specific proteins fold. Since protein misfolding is believed to be the cause of cancer, SARS, mad cow disease, and other diseases... it is hoped this research can be used to find a cure to all protein misfolding related diseases. Team Folding@NCAAbbs is currently ranked in the Top 350 out of more than 30,000 teams worldwide.
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3.3.1 - How Do I Install Folding@Home
Windows 2000/XP - GUI
Simply download and install the program at this link: F@H Client 5.03
When you run the program for the first time, you will be prompted for your username and team number. For your username, put in anything relatively unique. For your team number, use 33100

Windows 98/ME - GUI
Simply download and install the program at this link: F@H Client 4.00
When you run the program for the first time, you will be prompted for your username and team number. For your username, put in anything relatively unique. For your team number, use 33100

Windows NT/2000/XP - Command Line Only (aka "No-nonsense")
This program is more difficult to install and use, and provides no eye candy for you to watch your machine working. However, it is faster than the GUI clients.
Download the client here: F@H Client 5.04beta
Now open up a DOS prompt (Start --> Run --> "cmd" (enter)
Type in: FAH504-Console.exe -config
You will be prompted for your username and team number. For your username, put in anything relatively unique. For your team number, use 33100
Now to run the client, type in: FAH504-Console.exe
To run the client as a service (and thus it will run even while other users are logged in) type in: FAH504-Console.exe -service

Gentoo Linux
Folding@Home is already in portage. To install: emerge foldingathome
To configure the client: cd /opt/foldingathome ; ./initfolding
To start/stop/restart the client: /etc/init.d/foldingathome start(stop/restart)
To have the client start at boot: rc-update add foldingathome default

Linux in general
Run the following commands on command line:
mkdir foldingathome
cd foldingathome
wget http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/release/FAH504-Linux.exe
./FAH504-Linux.exe
You will now be prompted for your username and team number. For your username, put in anything relatively unique. For your team number, use 33100

Macintosh - Console
Download the client: F@H 5.02
This will download a file called FAH5.02-CLI.dmg to your Desktop. Double click on that to mount FAH4-CLI, and copy "fah4" to your Desktop. You can now trash the disk image.
Open up a Terminal window and cd into the Desktop directory. To do this, type
cd Desktop/
./fah502
You will be asked a series of questions to set up the configuration. The first of these will be what username you want to use. Put in something unique-ish. For team number, put in 33100
The application will download the scientific core (may take a few minutes) and then get to work. If you would like to hide the terminal, just choose Hide Terminal from the Terminal menu.
If you want, you can have Folding@home start up automatically each time you start Mac OS X. Just open the System Preferences, click Login (it's listed in the first row), click the Login Items tab that appears, click the Add button, select the Folding@home application, and click Open.

Macintosh - GUI
Download, Install, and run the client: F@H 5.02
You will be prompted for your username and team number. For username, put in something unique-ish. For team number, put in 33100
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3.3.2 - Are there any drawbacks to using Folding@Home
Yes. Folding@Home uses all your processor's idle power. This means at any given moment, your processor is 100% busy, working on your tasks and then using whatever is leftover for Folding@Home. This produces a few side effects, including:
- More heat. The more work your processor does, the hotter it gets. This could be a problem for people who are using a laptop and don't want scorched legs. This also leads to decreased battery life if you're unplugged on a laptop, though Folding@Home has the ability (in Windows GUI client only) to pause when your laptop is on battery power. If your system is overclocked, you will DEFINITELY want to make sure your system is adequately cooled, as overclocking already puts a greatly increased thermal load on your machine's cooling system. For your average person who has their computer in a well ventilated area (not stashed in a closet or something) this shouldn't be a problem.
- While Folding@Home only uses up the processing power you do not use, this could still slow down your system if you are on older hardware, especially if your machine has minimal amounts of RAM in it.
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3.3.3 - Can I run Folding@Home on more than one machine
Absolutely. Just use the same username and team number (33100)
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3.3.4 - Are there any stats I can see for my machine(s)
Absolutely. ExtremeOverclocking Stats | Stanford Stats
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3.3.5 - When will I show up on the stat pages
After you have completed your first work unit (which takes about 24-48 hours on recent machines, and up to a week on older machines.)
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3.4 - Does NCAAbbs have a Frappr map
Yes, right here.
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3.5 - What is the Dev Team
The Dev Team is a group of volunteer board members who help design, create, update, and maintain various aspects of NCAAbbs.
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3.5.1 - What skills are needed to join the Dev Team
Handy things to know: HTML, CSS, Flash, Python, PHP, Linux, BASH Scripting, Apache, MySQL, Graphical Editing.
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3.5.2 - How can I join the Dev Team
PM georgia_tech_swagger, and be sure to include your credentials.
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3.6 - What are the Crappies
C.R.A.P. - Community Regular Awards Presentation (aka Crappies)
It is a series of awards given to members for various things. Winners are determined by the majority vote winner, where the voters are the members of NCAAbbs.
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3.7 - What is the Spin Room War Department
Ask Graybeard, if ye man enough to plunder the seven seas.
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NCAAbbs is an independent fan site and is in no way affiliated to the NCAA or any of the schools and conferences it represents