I would like BOINC to not use my GPU while I'm watching a movie. The current definition of "in use" only looks at keyboard and mouse activity.
As you know, the movie players can keep the screen saver from kicking in, so there is some mechanism available that should also be able to keep BOINC GPU processing from kicking in.
Do you think you can make that happen in some upcoming version? Something like "Do not use GPU while a movie player is running"?

Well, to be precise, what I'm after is really a more accurate definition of the "computer is in use" condition. So I'm not really looking for a new option, but for a better definition of "computer is in use", one that would take into account the fact that when you are watching a movie, the computer is actually in use, even if there are no mouse or keyboard events.

This is a question of user friendliness in BOINC. I am a computer engineer, I can always modify cc_config, but to the average user it may not make sense to see the GPU start up three minutes into the movie, even if the "use GPU while computer is in use" is unchecked. Because the computer, literally, is in use.

Well, to be precise, what I'm after is really a more accurate definition of the "computer is in use" condition. So I'm not really looking for a new option, but for a better definition of "computer is in use", one that would take into account the fact that when you are watching a movie, the computer is actually in use, even if there are no mouse or keyboard events.

This is a question of user friendliness in BOINC. I am a computer engineer, I can always modify cc_config, but to the average user it may not make sense to see the GPU start up three minutes into the movie, even if the "use GPU while computer is in use" is unchecked. Because the computer, literally, is in use.

Boinc is dependent on the OS to tell it the computer is busy. AFAIK the only feedback available of the system being in use is the keyboard and mouse detection.

Then again, I've seen the MS screensaver kick in while watching a movie and at other times, the monitor just doesn't go to power save mode.

Well, to be precise, what I'm after is really a more accurate definition of the "computer is in use" condition. So I'm not really looking for a new option, but for a better definition of "computer is in use", one that would take into account the fact that when you are watching a movie, the computer is actually in use, even if there are no mouse or keyboard events.

This is a question of user friendliness in BOINC. I am a computer engineer, I can always modify cc_config, but to the average user it may not make sense to see the GPU start up three minutes into the movie, even if the "use GPU while computer is in use" is unchecked. Because the computer, literally, is in use.

It's hard to come up with a definition that works in all cases, and even harder to implement such a definition in code.

If the computer has a webserver running, and someone accesses it, isn't he "using" the server remotely? Should BOINC stop?

Here's a recursive definition that will make your head explode: I consider CPU usage to be "computer in use". So when BOINC is running, the computer is in use. If I set it not to run when the computer is in use, it would stop. If it stops, the CPU is not in use, so it would start. And the paradox would destroy the universe, or if we're lucky, only our galaxy.

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