I'm a part of the Boinc proyect, and a big fan. Recently I installed Ubuntu 12.10 and have experienced a lot of problems and miss a number of features that are available in the Windows 7 version.

Firstly a tought I had installed Boinc incorrectly, but it seems that this is the correct way: http://askubuntu.com/questions/223842/what-is-the-correct-way-of-installing-boinc-software-in-ubuntu-12-10

I have the 7.0.27 version installed because the are no repositories in Quantal for the 7.028 version

The features I miss are:

1. A screensaver when the PC is suspended
2. The option that Boinc runs at startup
3. It seems that in Windows Boinc only works when the PC isn't running and in Ubuntu it seems that it works all the time
4. A systray icon of Boinc

Are all of them missing or is it me that can't get them to work?

Please excuse my english, thanks for your time and your answears

Greetings

BOINC versions built by repository maintainers can lack certain features, that's not something that Berkeley is responsible for, but the repository maintainers.

BOINC built by Berkeley will not have all the features a Windows built version has either, as you cannot compare Linux with Windows. Linux will do things differently from how Windows does them.

Now then, as for your details:

1. A screensaver when the PC is suspended

There is an X11 screen saver available for Linux, however it isn't always built from source. See screensaver_x11.cpp for more information (can be opened with a text editor.)

2. The option that Boinc runs at startup

Please read http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Installing_BOINC_on_Ubuntu, more specifically http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Stop_or_start_BOINC_daemon_after_boot.

3. It seems that in Windows Boinc only works when the PC isn't running and in Ubuntu it seems that it works all the time

Must be some settings you (don't) have then, as I just set (local) preferences to:
- Not use computer while in use.
- Only do work between 21:00-22:00 this Saturday.

Which gives:

at 01 Dec 2012 06:02:01 PM CET |  | General prefs: using your defaults
Sat 01 Dec 2012 06:02:01 PM CET |  | Reading preferences override file
Sat 01 Dec 2012 06:02:01 PM CET |  | Preferences:
Sat 01 Dec 2012 06:02:01 PM CET |  | max memory usage when active: 3559.46MB
Sat 01 Dec 2012 06:02:01 PM CET |  | max memory usage when idle: 3559.46MB
Sat 01 Dec 2012 06:02:01 PM CET |  | max disk usage: 5.00GB
Sat 01 Dec 2012 06:02:01 PM CET |  | don't compute while active
Sat 01 Dec 2012 06:02:01 PM CET |  | don't use GPU while active
Sat 01 Dec 2012 06:02:01 PM CET |  | suspend work if non-BOINC CPU load exceeds 25 %
Sat 01 Dec 2012 06:02:01 PM CET |  | max download rate: 1024000 bytes/sec
Sat 01 Dec 2012 06:02:01 PM CET |  | max upload rate: 1024000 bytes/sec
Sat 01 Dec 2012 06:02:01 PM CET |  | (to change preferences, visit the web site of an attached project, or select Preferences in the Manager)
Sat 01 Dec 2012 06:02:01 PM CET |  | Suspending computation - computer is in use
Sat 01 Dec 2012 06:02:01 PM CET |  | Suspending network activity - computer is in use

That's with Ubuntu 12.04 running in a VM.

4. A systray icon of Boinc

Did you run ./run_manager ? As that'll show an icon of BOINC in the Launcher bar. Like so:

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Thanks for your answear Ageles!

It seems I have a couple of confussions.

1. Apparently it is different that the Boinc client is running from the Boinc manager is running I tried "/etc/init.d/boinc-client status" and it said the Boinc client is running, wich means it start at boot. Does that mean that I'm transfering my computer power to the proyect even if the Boinc manager isn't open? If the client is running does it follow the preferens of the Boinc manager? For ex. that it only starts a minute after the pc is suspoded over a minute?

2. I can make the Boinc manager start contributing to the proyect after 1 minute of iddle, but does that mean the Boinc is running even when my pc is sleeping or suspended? Because when I put my password the Boinc manager shows the proyect running suspended because my PC is active.

3. Is there an icon or applet, not for the launcher, but for the systray? (where the wifi, battery and volume setting are, up and to the right corner)

Thanks again!

Does that mean that I'm transfering my computer power to the proyect even if the Boinc manager isn't open? If the client is running does it follow the preferens of the Boinc manager? For ex. that it only starts a minute after the pc is suspoded over a minute?

BOINC consists of two main parts, a client doing all the scheduling, downloading/uploading/reporting etc. and a GUI called BOINC Manager. The client can run perfectly fine without the GUI. Any preferences you set, be it through the project web site or the BOINC Manager (Advanced) preferences will be used by the client.

..but does that mean the Boinc is running even when my pc is sleeping or suspended?

When the computer is sleeping or hibernating, it has saved all programs into virtual memory or written to disk and has effectively powered down. No programs run at this point, including BOINC.

3. Is there an icon or applet, not for the launcher, but for the systray? (where the wifi, battery and volume setting are, up and to the right corner)

No.

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I hope I'm not highjacking this thread. But I recently converted a new (to me) computer to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and installed BOINC 7.0.27, the then current manager. Now, 7.0.28 is the current manager and I'd like to install it over .27, but apparently my expertise is insufficient to do so. I have the massive boinc_7.0.28_i686-pc-linux-gnu.sh, but I'm not sure how to run it, or from where. I also have a BOINC folder in my ~/home/downloads folder and I think I should probably move it somewhere before enabling and executing the shell script.

I'd also like to make sure I have the correct version of the BOINC Manager. I believe I'm running a 32 bit version of Ubuntu, but I'm not sure how to determine that.

I've now sort of looked at the shell script (with gedit, but I exited when it complained about the contents) and it looks like the script may well generate files on it own. Could it have generated the BOINC folder I mentioned above?

Thanks for your support.

Ross

It sounds to me like you installed BOINC first from repositories and are now trying to use the Berkeley installer. I wouldn't do it, as both install BOINC to different places (blame the repository guys, really).

See The Berkeley Installer and Installing BOINC on Ubuntu for the differences.

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Ross,

I am running ubuntu 12.04 and have installed BOINC w/o issues. I did it differenty then you did. I used the built in "ubuntu software center" app (NOT the Update Manager) and asked it to look for BOINC. It found two packages and I selected install on each of them. Do look closely at the packages to be sure that there are not duplicates of 32 bit vs. 64 bit. You do not want 32 bit on 64 bit machines because of library issues. This is fairly direct and should work without issues.

Also if you "uname -im" from the command line it should give you something like "x86_64 x86_64" showing you are running 64 bit. If you are running 64 bit and you download some other package it might be written for 32 bit and the libraries it needs will most likely not be installed on your 64 bit machine.

There can be other issues so you might want to check a write up I did on my website for Fedora. It might help you after you get it up and running but have other issues. The link is: http://www.usefulramblings.org/?page_id=3082

Hope this helps,

Ron

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