Panther Software and Research Company

Panther Software and Research Company / psr.com

Located in South Carolina (U.S.), the company mainly does software R&D (i.e., "services", not "retail products"). For now, we have chosen to use this web page to assist other worthwhile and interesting projects.

Volunteer opportunities

Distributed computing projects

Many of the distributed computing projects mentioned below use Berkeley's BOINC application management software. Projects benefit from having a standardized way of managing work units among a large number of computers. Volunteers have the ability to participate in multiple projects if they wish, and can limit run times, resource use, etc. BOINC software is available for MS Windows/x86, Mac OS X (PPC and Intel), Linux/x86, and Solaris/SPARC, but each individual project has its own limitations on which platforms it supports.

One of the newer projects is from Intelligence Realm. They aim to create an artificial intelligence by reverse engineering neurons, then creating a distributed computation simulating billions of neurons. [As of 05/2009, they had project software for MS Windows/x86, Linux/x86, Mac OS X 10.3/PPC, and Mac OS X 10.4/x86.]

There are also many other distributed computing projects looking for volunteers.

SETI: SETI@home can still use volunteers. Arecibo's new, more sensitive receivers and better frequency coverage are generating more data than the equipment used before 2008.
Avian flu: The Drug Design and Optimization Lab (www.D2OL.com) of The Rothberg Institute for Childhood Diseases (a non-profit research institute) is searching for drugs that will help. [They have software for MS Windows, Apple Macintosh, Solaris, and Linux systems, either with or without a Java Virtual Machine.]
The All-sky pulsar search, named Einstein@Home, uses BOINC, and is searching for proof of gravity waves. [E@H software is available for all the BOINC platforms listed above.]
AIDS: FightAIDS@Home is now run by The (non-profit) Scripps Research Institute. [The project uses the World Community Grid and has software for MS Windows, Mac OS/X, and Linux/Intel.]
Mersenne.org is the home for GIMPS, the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search. The 45th and 46th known Mersenne primes were discovered just two weeks apart (August 23 and September 6, 2008) by GIMPS volunteers, winning the Electronic Frontier Foundation's $100,000 award for discovery of the first 10 million digit prime number.
For a good list of other projects, check http://www.distributedcomputing.info/projects.html. Another good list may be found by following the "other projects" link at the bottom of the mersenne.org home page.
Openmacgrid allows users running Apple's Mac OS X 10.4 or later to donate their computer's spare CPU cycles with no software installation needed (since the Grid software comes with the O/S).

Non-computer opportunities in the U.S.

www.volunteermatch.org has been named as one of the best Activist sites for matching people willing to volunteer with organizations looking for volunteers. Enter your Zip code and/or interests and get a list of organizations near you.

Also: 06/2009 at Groklaw.net: The Case Against Software Patents - Red Hat's EPO-G3/08 Amicus Brief

Many other companies, universities, and organizations around the world have the acronym P.S.R. and/or have an Internet domain name containing the string "psr". None of them have any affiliation with psr.com, which is solely in the U.S. For their domain names (if they have one), please refer to their publications or advertising.