In article <T1098738901@djwhome.demon.co.uk>, david@djwhome.demon.co.uk 
says...

In article <vX8fd.122$4k7.61@newsfe1-gui.ntli.net>,
"Martin 53N 1W <ml_news@ddnospamddml1dd.co.uk.dd>" <> wrote:

Peter Smithson wrote:

Traditionaly,  computers execute an idle loop to keep them busy all the 
time anyway. Computers with power saving features (usually laptops) will 
work slightly harder since the power saving features will not work when 
running SETI@home."

Nice summary.

Not really.  It's basically still a gross oversimplification.

I think you're missing the purpose of the FAQ.  Have a look at the other 
answers - they are all very brief and non technical for normal people to 
understand.  Give your answer to Jo Bloggs and he'll give up after the 
first two sentences.  Even my programing collegues don't always know 
what CPU cache is never mind L1 L2 etc. - they don't need to know.  
Never mind a non technical person.

If someone knew enough about computers to understand your answer then I 
suspect they would already know the answer! 

The question was "Will running SETI@home put any additional strain on my 
computer?".   Your answer tells us things about L1 cache, PDP 11's and 
CPU temprature in BOIS mode but doesn't actually give a yes/maybe/no 
answer.

"More" does not equal "Better".  The hard thing is to make a short 
answer which provides the information normal users will want in an 
understandable form.  Sure it's not going to be 100% accurate but at the 
moment the FAQ entry doesn't even mention the concept of power saving 
which I think it should do as it's becoming increasingly popular.

Cheers

-- 
http://www.beluga.freeserve.co.uk