Hi.
I'm running Boinc on my Ubuntu desktop working on Seti@home units, and have been looking for the Boinc screen saver. I have read documentation that says it exists but don't know where to find it. I have installed the client using apt-get and don't believe the screen saver is installed on my system.

Is the screen saver included with the current Saucy Salamander package.

If not, can I get it, and if, so where from.

Thanks

Rob

Ubuntu package apparently doesn't include screensaver. I can't tell why not, you could try asking Ubuntu package maintainers.

The stock BOINC package that's available from this site does include screensaver. How to make it work with Ubuntu package... umm, that's a good question. This and this should get you started.

Ubuntu package apparently doesn't include screensaver. I can't tell why not, you could try asking Ubuntu package maintainers.

The stock BOINC package that's available from this site does include screensaver. How to make it work with Ubuntu package... umm, that's a good question. This and this should get you started.

These resolutions are designed/stated for Ubuntu 13.0.4; however, will these work for 12.0.4 as well??? I definitely would like to use the BOINC Screensaver for Linux.

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I took a chance, followed the directions to get XScreenSaver installed and running on Ubuntu Linux. It works on my Ubuntu 12.0.4.

I'm having a more difficult time with the second half; the BOINC ScreenSaver instructions... How do I access the .xscreensaver file to find "'programs' preference" to add the "GL: boincscr -root \n\" line???

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Well, thanks to Juha, BobCat13, and Gundolf, I got BOINC 7.2.33 with SETI running on my Ubuntu 12.0.4 32-Bit Linux system. All is working as planned; except, I still don't have BOINC Screen Saver running.

My last post in this Thread on Nov 22, 2013 was as far as I got with the Screen Saver setup.

I would still greatly appreciate any help I can get to successfully install the BOINC Screen Saver.

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I would still greatly appreciate any help I can get to successfully install the BOINC Screen Saver.

Are you speaking about the BOINC screensaver only? Because I suspect that you want to see the SETI@home screensaver (which is called by the BOINC one). However, I'm not sure that the S@H applications for linux include a graphics application at all. So, that would leave you with the BOINC screensaver only, which only shows statistics on the progress of the running tasks(s).

Gruß
Gundolf

I would still greatly appreciate any help I can get to successfully install the BOINC Screen Saver.

Are you speaking about the BOINC screensaver only? Because I suspect that you want to see the SETI@home screensaver (which is called by the BOINC one). However, I'm not sure that the S@H applications for linux include a graphics application at all. So, that would leave you with the BOINC screensaver only, which only shows statistics on the progress of the running tasks(s).

Gruß
Gundolf

Yes, my ultimate goal was to see the SETI@home Screen Saver run on this computer. Unfortunately, I picked the WRONG Distro of Linux to be doing this with! I've come to find out, (the hard way), that Ubuntu Linux, (as of Version 11.x.xx), has stripped out ALL Screen Savers, and installing the Gnome GUI ONLY gave me a blank black screen for a Screen Saver.

So, per the First Link in Juha's post in this Thread, I successfully uninstalled Gnome Screen Saver, and installed XScreenSaver; as the first step to getting BOINC Screen Saver installed.

Now, I need to do this:


With XScreenSaver now installed:

On Linux:

This is a XScreenSaver compatible BOINC screensaver for Unix/X11.

To use this screensaver, please add the following to the 'programs' preference in your .xscreensaver file:

GL: boincscr -root \n\


That's it!!! That's ALL I've been given by this link - (Juha's Second Link in his earlier Post):

Link to BOINC Screen Saver Install Instructions.

Unfortunately, in /usr/bin - (where XScreenSaver installed by default) - there is no ".xscreensaver" file; only "xscreensaver" file. I don't know how to "read", or "edit" this file!

...and, if there is NO SETI@home Screen Saver for Linux, I still, (after ALL of this), want to see what BOINC Screen Saver does...

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Ok.

0. If your distro's BOINC package doesn't come with boincscr download BOINC package from Berkeley and unpack it (make the file executable by editing it's properties->permissions and then run it.)
1. Get rid of gnome/kde/cinnamon/mate/???-screensaver. Either uninstall it or let xscreensaver kick it out in step 3.
2. Install xscreensaver.
3. Start XScreensaver Preferences, then close it. This makes xscreensaver write it's configuration file into your home directory. If XScreensaver asks for permission to stop other screensaver from running and start it's own daemon say yes.
4. Start a file manager and go to your home directory. If your file manager shows "shortcuts" the home directory is usually called "Home". The file manager may start in your home directory. If the file manager doesn't have shortcuts you need to find some other way to find your home directory. It is usually "/home/your_user_name".
5. xscreensaver's configuration file is hidden. Set your file manager to show hidden files. Usually something like View->Show hidden files.
6. Find the file called ".xscreensaver" and open it in text editor.
7. Find the part of the file that looks like the following:

textProgram:	fortune
textURL:	http://fridge.ubuntu.com/node/feed

programs:								      \
				maze -root				    \n\
- GL: 				superquadrics -root			    \n\
				attraction -root			    \n\

8. Change it to look like the following (the line with boincscr added). Note that in the lines that end in backslash the backslash must the last character (no spaces after backslash!):

textProgram:	fortune
textURL:	http://fridge.ubuntu.com/node/feed

programs:								      \
GL:				/home/juha/boinc/boincscr -root	-boinc_dir /home/juha/boinc	\n\
				maze -root				    \n\
- GL: 				superquadrics -root			    \n\
				attraction -root			    \n\

9. Adjust the path to boincscr as necessary. If you have it in /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin you can leave the path out. Likewise adjust the boinc_dir parameter as necessary. If you have BOINC's data in /var/lib/boinc-client you can leave the boinc_dir parameter out. Distro versions of BOINC usually use /var/lib/boinc-client as data directory. Tabs in (that part of) .xscreensaver are just for prettier formatting.
10. Save the file.
11. Start XScreensaver Preferences again and select Boincscr as your screensaver.
12. If the small preview screen shows error message go back to .xscreensaver and fix the paths.
13. If the small preview screen says "screensaver loading" and nothing else happens click preview-button. If you get an error message in the full-screen preview window go back to .xscreensaver and fix the paths.
14. If the small preview screen shows graphics or a graphics window pops up the screensaver is working.

Now even if you got all the way to step 14 that doesn't mean you'll get to enjoy the same screensavers as you'd get in Windows. There's three parts in this show.

The first part is the science application that produces some data that the next part can consume. The second part is graphics app. The graphics app takes whatever the science application produces and generates some exciting graphics. The third part is boincscr. Boincscr goes through the running tasks, picks a random tasks that comes with a graphics app, starts the graphics app and makes it draw to a full-screen window.

So in order to get the screensaver to show anything a few things are needed.
a. A project needs to have graphics apps for the science applications you interested in.
b. There needs to be a Linux version of that graphics app.
c. That graphics app needs to be compatible with your Linux distro.
d. Even if it's otherwise compatible you may need to install additional libraries.
e. The graphics app needs to be able to work with boincscr.

The best place to get some information of any particular project's graphics apps is obviously the project website or forum.

That said, I can tell you that:
-example_app/uppercase doesn't work with boincscr
-setiathome_v7 needs libraries that aren't installed by default in Ubuntu and once you install the libraries yourself you'll just find out that it doesn't work with boinscr
-astropulse_v6 needs just one additional library but that doesn't help much as it doesn't work with boincscr

For all the other projects you'll need to find out yourself whether they work or not.

Ok.

0. If your distro's BOINC package doesn't come with boincscr download BOINC package from Berkeley and unpack it (make the file executable by editing it's properties->permissions and then run it.)
1. Get rid of gnome/kde/cinnamon/mate/???-screensaver. Either uninstall it or let xscreensaver kick it out in step 3.
2. Install xscreensaver.
3. Start XScreensaver Preferences, then close it. This makes xscreensaver write it's configuration file into your home directory. If XScreensaver asks for permission to stop other screensaver from running and start it's own daemon say yes.
4. Start a file manager and go to your home directory. If your file manager shows "shortcuts" the home directory is usually called "Home". The file manager may start in your home directory. If the file manager doesn't have shortcuts you need to find some other way to find your home directory. It is usually "/home/your_user_name".
5. xscreensaver's configuration file is hidden. Set your file manager to show hidden files. Usually something like View->Show hidden files.
6. Find the file called ".xscreensaver" and open it in text editor.
7. Find the part of the file that looks like the following:

textProgram:	fortune
textURL:	http://fridge.ubuntu.com/node/feed

programs:								      \
				maze -root				    \n\
- GL: 				superquadrics -root			    \n\
				attraction -root			    \n\

8. Change it to look like the following (the line with boincscr added). Note that in the lines that end in backslash the backslash must the last character (no spaces after backslash!):

textProgram:	fortune
textURL:	http://fridge.ubuntu.com/node/feed

programs:								      \
GL:				/home/juha/boinc/boincscr -root	-boinc_dir /home/juha/boinc	\n\
				maze -root				    \n\
- GL: 				superquadrics -root			    \n\
				attraction -root			    \n\

9. Adjust the path to boincscr as necessary. If you have it in /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin you can leave the path out. Likewise adjust the boinc_dir parameter as necessary. If you have BOINC's data in /var/lib/boinc-client you can leave the boinc_dir parameter out. Distro versions of BOINC usually use /var/lib/boinc-client as data directory. Tabs in (that part of) .xscreensaver are just for prettier formatting.
10. Save the file.
11. Start XScreensaver Preferences again and select Boincscr as your screensaver.
12. If the small preview screen shows error message go back to .xscreensaver and fix the paths.
13. If the small preview screen says "screensaver loading" and nothing else happens click preview-button. If you get an error message in the full-screen preview window go back to .xscreensaver and fix the paths.
14. If the small preview screen shows graphics or a graphics window pops up the screensaver is working.

Now even if you got all the way to step 14 that doesn't mean you'll get to enjoy the same screensavers as you'd get in Windows. There's three parts in this show.

The first part is the science application that produces some data that the next part can consume. The second part is graphics app. The graphics app takes whatever the science application produces and generates some exciting graphics. The third part is boincscr. Boincscr goes through the running tasks, picks a random tasks that comes with a graphics app, starts the graphics app and makes it draw to a full-screen window.

So in order to get the screensaver to show anything a few things are needed.
a. A project needs to have graphics apps for the science applications you interested in.
b. There needs to be a Linux version of that graphics app.
c. That graphics app needs to be compatible with your Linux distro.
d. Even if it's otherwise compatible you may need to install additional libraries.
e. The graphics app needs to be able to work with boincscr.

The best place to get some information of any particular project's graphics apps is obviously the project website or forum.

That said, I can tell you that:
-example_app/uppercase doesn't work with boincscr
-setiathome_v7 needs libraries that aren't installed by default in Ubuntu and once you install the libraries yourself you'll just find out that it doesn't work with boinscr
-astropulse_v6 needs just one additional library but that doesn't help much as it doesn't work with boincscr

For all the other projects you'll need to find out yourself whether they work or not.

No matter how I try to edit the paths; I only get to Step 13, I get a black screen with white words in the center stating "loading screen saver", and then a yellow error message.

Currently, I have this: GL: /usr/bin/X11/boincscr -root /usr/bin/X11 \n\

I tried /home/timelord04/(etc. etc.) It refused to install BOINC Screen Saver that way.

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Oh dear.

No matter how I try to edit the paths; I only get to Step 13, I get a black screen with white words in the center stating "loading screen saver", and then a yellow error message.

When you are quoting error messages please try to repeat them exactly as they show on the screen. Here you probably meant "screensaver loading" which is what boincscr says. If you really got "loading screen saver" on your screen I have no idea where it came from.

Also, describing an error message as yellow doesn't help much. I have not heard of any program that uses the color of the error message to differentiate between different errors. It's the text in that message what counts. So the next time yo have some error message in front of you, please either copy+paste it or retype it exactly.

Currently, I have this: GL: /usr/bin/X11/boincscr -root /usr/bin/X11 \n\

I tried /home/timelord04/(etc. etc.) It refused to install BOINC Screen Saver that way.

Ok, when I said you can drop "-boinc_dir" if your BOINC's data directory is /var/lib/boinc-client I mistakenly assumed you would understand to drop also the path after it. My bad. Fixing that leaves us with:

GL:   /usr/bin/X11/boincscr  -root     \n\

You apparently copied boincscr to /usr/bin/X11? That directory is actually symbolic link to /usr/bin, which is in $PATH so we can drop the path completely:

GL:   boincscr  -root     \n\

Please verify that boincscr is really there. Open file manager and navigate to that directory (you can press Ctrl+L to get a line where you can type the path (another Ctrl+L switches back to icons)).

Then, assuming you really have boincscr itself working. My crystal ball shows that the yellow error message you got said something like "setigraphics_7.01_i686-pc-linux-gnu: error while loading shared libraries: libglut.so.3: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory". Remember when I said seti_v7 and ap_v6 need additional libraries? No? Well... that's ok, you're going to install them anyway now.

Install the following packages: freeglut3, libjpeg62 and libssl0.9.8 . The first two are needed for both seti_v7 and ap_v6, the third for seti_v7. You also need to run two commands for seti_v7:

sudo ln -s /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libssl.so.0.9.8 /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libssl.so.8
sudo ln -s /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libcrypto.so.0.9.8 /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libcrypto.so.8

If you now go to XScreensaver Preferences you should see what I meant with "setiathome_v7 [...] doesn't work with boinscr [...] astropulse_v6 [...] doesn't work with boincscr".

Oh dear.

No matter how I try to edit the paths; I only get to Step 13, I get a black screen with white words in the center stating "loading screen saver", and then a yellow error message.

When you are quoting error messages please try to repeat them exactly as they show on the screen. Here you probably meant "screensaver loading" which is what boincscr says. If you really got "loading screen saver" on your screen I have no idea where it came from.

Also, describing an error message as yellow doesn't help much. I have not heard of any program that uses the color of the error message to differentiate between different errors. It's the text in that message what counts. So the next time yo have some error message in front of you, please either copy+paste it or retype it exactly.

Currently, I have this: GL: /usr/bin/X11/boincscr -root /usr/bin/X11 \n\

I tried /home/timelord04/(etc. etc.) It refused to install BOINC Screen Saver that way.

Ok, when I said you can drop "-boinc_dir" if your BOINC's data directory is /var/lib/boinc-client I mistakenly assumed you would understand to drop also the path after it. My bad. Fixing that leaves us with:

GL:   /usr/bin/X11/boincscr  -root     \n\

You apparently copied boincscr to /usr/bin/X11? That directory is actually symbolic link to /usr/bin, which is in $PATH so we can drop the path completely:

GL:   boincscr  -root     \n\

Please verify that boincscr is really there. Open file manager and navigate to that directory (you can press Ctrl+L to get a line where you can type the path (another Ctrl+L switches back to icons)).

Then, assuming you really have boincscr itself working. My crystal ball shows that the yellow error message you got said something like "setigraphics_7.01_i686-pc-linux-gnu: error while loading shared libraries: libglut.so.3: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory". Remember when I said seti_v7 and ap_v6 need additional libraries? No? Well... that's ok, you're going to install them anyway now.

Install the following packages: freeglut3, libjpeg62 and libssl0.9.8 . The first two are needed for both seti_v7 and ap_v6, the third for seti_v7. You also need to run two commands for seti_v7:

sudo ln -s /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libssl.so.0.9.8 /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libssl.so.8
sudo ln -s /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libcrypto.so.0.9.8 /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libcrypto.so.8

If you now go to XScreensaver Preferences you should see what I meant with "setiathome_v7 [...] doesn't work with boinscr [...] astropulse_v6 [...] doesn't work with boincscr".

I re-edited the .xscreensaver file and took out the extra path information. Now it is just "GL: boincscr -root \n\"; and, yes, boincscr is in /usr/bin where I told linux to put it... The whole "X11" directory thing came about when reading something on XScreenSaver talking about "X11"... I saw the directory, looked inside, saw boinc, boinccmd, boincmgr, and, boincscr... I thought they were different files from the /usr/bin files; now, I know they're not, they are from /usr/bin.

Yes, you are right, it does say in white letters, in the center of the screen, "screensaver loading" - and, the error message is in fact:

"../../projects/setigraphics_7.01_i686-pc-linux-gnu: error while loading shared libraries: libglut.so.3: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory"

I have entered the two "sudo" command lines that you have listed here, and I still get:

"../../projects/setigraphics_7.01_i686-pc-linux-gnu: error while loading shared libraries: libglut.so.3: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory"

Now what???

[EDIT]

OOPS - I skipped something...

"Install the following packages: freeglut3, libjpeg62 and libssl0.9.8" How do I install these???

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OK, I used "sudo apt-get install" on all three libraries; they installed without error, and I still get:

"../../projects/setigraphics_7.01_i686-pc-linux-gnu: error while loading shared libraries: libglut.so.3: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory"

Now what???

[EDIT]

OOPS, I had to rerun your "ln" command lines again... Once I did that, it started working!!! :-)

Under XScreenSaver --> Preferences, I hit "Preview", the whole screen went black, and in white letters in the center of the screen was "screensaver loading" - but waiting three minutes, nothing seems to load...

Yet, in BOINC Manager, Show Graphics - NOW WORKS!!! It NEVER worked before!!! Now, I can see the graphics through BOINC Manager... So, the Screen Saver should work, right???

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Sorry to post this off topic, I probably should do this in a private message, but I am sure I am not the only person wondering this, and it is a rather big annoyance, thus here goes: pray tell, why do you quote whole big posts and then answer them, without culling the quoted post, or answer in-line to parts of the post?

Do you know how difficult this makes it to scroll through this thread on a smaller monitor, or a small handheld device? And even then, why use the Quote button? The Reply button comes first. Plus the person posting just prior to the post you just quoted in total should know what he or she wrote, so it's completely useless to quote the whole damn thing.

It's surely not the first time you did it in this thread, or on any forums (I saw this one in this thread and this one at Seti on my Samsung Gio, which has a really tiny display size).

You do know that when you Reply to the person, that his post sits under the answer window? That you can scroll down to check what you answer to?
You also know that even if you must Quote all, to be able to scroll up&down while writing an answer, that after you do so and before you hit submit, you can delete the whole part in the quote tags?

---

Because, I'm in the habit of hitting Quote from using the SETI Cafe... Sorry for the inconvenience...

Now Back To Topic:

Juha,

I set BOINC Screen Saver to launch after one minute. I walked away from the computer for about ten minutes. When I came back, the screen still said, "screensaver loading". So, I woke it up, and running behind it was a small window of the SETI Screen Saver that after 5 seconds disappeared.

So, it does work, it's just not being brought to the front screen on Screen Saver Mode.

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I set BOINC Screen Saver to launch after one minute. I walked away from the computer for about ten minutes. When I came back, the screen still said, "screensaver loading". So, I woke it up, and running behind it was a small window of the SETI Screen Saver that after 5 seconds disappeared.

So, it does work, it's just not being brought to the front screen on Screen Saver Mode.

Repeating myself:

If you now go to XScreensaver Preferences you should see what I meant with "setiathome_v7 [...] doesn't work with boinscr [...] astropulse_v6 [...] doesn't work with boincscr".

Preferences or preview or not-preview, makes no difference.

The screensaver source code says it "has been successfully tested with Einstein@Home and climateprediction.net". That was years ago, I don't know it that's true anymore.

Thank you, Juha, for everything. You've been a GREAT help. :-)

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