Just listening to Perth Radio The SKA Consortium bidding for the SKA in Australia has just started up a Distributed Computing project .. BUT didnt go with BOINC client Have a JAVA based solution .. more than a bit disappointed

I guess you mean "theSkyNet". I'd post a URL, but it's down at the moment :)

I am signed up and have started crunching there though. Too early to say if it's better or worse than BOINC, but it does have the install-free option, just need a web browser which is quite an interesting twist.

Al.

Does it really matter at all that it does not use Boinc, no I think.
Its the perfect solution that EVERYONE can use, all it takes is a mouse click and away you go, the project also sounds cool (something that shouldnt be overlooked).

Then there is Boinc, it sounds naff as does cobblestones (why cobblestones, 'work units' were self explanatary).
It needs configuring and if your using a gpu that means an app info file has to be created as well.
A lot of newcomers will take one look and walk away, which probably explains why there are fewer people doing seti now than before.

And another thing, Boinc combined is totally meaningless anyway because as most know already some projects award crazy amounts of credit while others are more frugal.

I am totally commited to space related science projects and a major user of the Boinc platform only because I have grown with it.

As a team leader on a couple of projects it has been extremely difficult to attract new members, trust me I have tried, emailed hundreds of people, created sigs, flyers, wallpapers all to no avail.

The skynet got it right in my opinion.

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It needs configuring

Most programs need configuring. Your anti-virus needs configuring, your firewall needs configuring, your spreadsheet/text-editor program needs configuring, your browser needed configuring

Want to do anything with your operating system? Then you'll need to change things in the configuration panel. So don't post about configuration as being such a strange beast, when there's almost nothing out there that you run that doesn't need any changing of anything within it to make it work like you want it to.

What doesn't need configuring these days?

and if your using a gpu that means an app info file has to be created as well.

One does not need any anonymous platform (app_info.xml) file for the GPU. Any supported GPU can be used by BOINC as soon as the correct drivers are installed; then BOINC will detect the GPU and you can use it on those projects that have default GPU applications.

You only need an app_info.xml file if you plan to do things that aren't supported by default, like run multiple tasks on one GPU, or run an optimized application.

why cobblestones, 'work units' were self explanatory

A BOINC project gives you credit for the computations your computers perform for it. BOINC's unit of credit, the Cobblestone (named after Jeff Cobb of SETI@home), is 1/200 day of CPU time on a reference computer that does 1,000 MFLOPS based on the Whetstone benchmark. (Source: Computation Credit)

Why not work units? Because e.g. Seti's 'work units' are nothing compared to Climate Prediction.Net's 'work units'; the one's run in mere minutes to hours, the other's in weeks to months. At least the latest credits show how much work your CPU has done, whether or not they were done at Seti, Einstein, Milkyway, T4T, CPDN, Collatz, Rosetta, Spinhenge, Renderfarm, LHC, Yoyo, Pirates, ABC, Leiden, Poem, Cosmology, Docking, etc. etc.

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Most programs need configuring. Your anti-virus needs configuring, your firewall needs configuring, your spreadsheet/text-editor program needs configuring, your browser needed configuring

Yes but these are things one does not have a choice with and in any case I suspect most use thier pc's as they were configured by thier supplier.
But this is voluntary and should be much simplier than it is and you shouldnt have to install 3rd party software for it to be fully optimised (yes I know it isnt necessary), it should come like that as standard.

And that was my point, the skynet is simpilicty itself, one click, done.

By the way, no disrespect to Jeff Cobb was intended, the man is a star.

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I use a GPU for crunching GPUgrid and I don't have an app_info.xml.

theSkyNet doesn't use GPUs and it uses only 1 core on my i7. Mickeymouse.

I was speaking from my own experiences on Einstein, Milkyway and SETI and yes (as already pointed out) you dont need an app info but to get the best out of your system you do (if thats what you want).

I am aware of what resources the skynet uses but I would like to get back to the comment in the first post in this thread.

I just didnt understand why anyone would be dissapointed about the fact that they went with a Java platform and not Boinc.

Although I dont take part in the project, Folding@home does just fine without Boinc.

I'm just excited that I can now contribute even more to my passion - space sciences. And if Skynet gets even more people onboard then good for them.

Who knows, after trying skynet they might get a taste for more via Boinc.

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doesn't use multi-core, [snip] No help system/forums

FWIW, it can now do multi-core, you can choose how many cores you want to run it, and forums are on the way (yeah, yeah, I know).

Been playing with it today. Being able to run from a browser is really neat. OK, it's not configurable, there's no feedback etc, but the credit racked up and I got numerous 'Trophies' (badges in BOINC-world). Didn't seem to want to play nice on my Linux boxes and I couldn't be bothered to fiddle with it as it's still very beta.

Just sayin' :)

Al.

Joined up and processing..
linux (UBUNTU64) and XP and works nice alongside the boinc projects ..10 apps running concurrently
pleasantly surprised.
Forum is up and working
Joined the Boinc@Australia team
Theskynet
VIDEO

http://www.boinc-australia.net/

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http://www.boinc-australia.net/

???

Would have thought http://www.theskynet.org/index was more relevant ;)

Al.