Posts by Steve Hawker*

1) Message boards : Questions and problems : Ubuntu 16.04 and BOINC dont get on. (Message 71490)
Posted 11 Aug 2016 by Steve Hawker*
Post:
If you are still having problmens

set the event log option coproc_debug.
describe GPU make and model you are running
Post the first 40-50 lines of the event log

Good luck.

My GPU is (usually) reported as: AMD AMD Radeon HD 7870/7950/7970/R9 280X series (Tahiti) (3072MB) driver: 1.4.1848 OpenCL: 1.2

Log contents:

Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:06 PM PDT | | Starting BOINC client version 7.6.31 for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:06 PM PDT | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task, coproc_debug
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:06 PM PDT | | Libraries: libcurl/7.47.0 OpenSSL/1.0.2g zlib/1.2.8 libidn/1.32 librtmp/2.3
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:06 PM PDT | | Data directory: /var/lib/boinc-client
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:06 PM PDT | | [coproc] launching child process at /usr/bin/boinc
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:06 PM PDT | | [coproc] relative to directory /
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:06 PM PDT | | [coproc] with data directory /var/lib/boinc-client
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:06 PM PDT | | [coproc] NVIDIA: libcuda.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:06 PM PDT | | [coproc] ATI: libaticalrt.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:06 PM PDT | | [coproc] clGetPlatformIDs() failed to return any OpenCL platforms
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:06 PM PDT | | No usable GPUs found
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:06 PM PDT | | app version refers to missing GPU type ATI
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:06 PM PDT | Albert@Home | Application uses missing ATI GPU
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:06 PM PDT | | app version refers to missing GPU type NVIDIA
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:06 PM PDT | Asteroids@home | Application uses missing NVIDIA GPU

<snip> lots of these so removing for easier reading

Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | | app version refers to missing GPU type ATI
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | SETI@home Beta Test | Application uses missing ATI GPU
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | | app version refers to missing GPU type ATI
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | SETI@home Beta Test | Application uses missing ATI GPU
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | | Host name: Galactica
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | | Processor: 4 AuthenticAMD AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 965 Processor [Family 16 Model 4 Stepping 3]
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | | Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc extd_apicid pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt hw_pstate vmmcall npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | | OS: Linux: 4.4.0-34-generic
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | | Memory: 7.79 GB physical, 8.00 GB virtual
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | | Disk: 285.41 GB total, 230.32 GB free
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | | Local time is UTC -7 hours
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | | VirtualBox version: 5.0.24_Ubuntur108355
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | ATLAS@home | Found app_config.xml
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | Bitcoin Utopia | Found app_config.xml

<snip> lots of these so removing for easier reading

Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | vLHCathome-dev | Found app_config.xml
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | World Community Grid | Found app_config.xml
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | | Config: GUI RPCs allowed from:
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | | Config: report completed tasks immediately
Thu 11 Aug 2016 01:25:48 PM PDT | | Config: use all coprocessors
2) Message boards : Questions and problems : Ubuntu 16.04 and BOINC dont get on. (Message 71489)
Posted 11 Aug 2016 by Steve Hawker*
Post:
The version maintained by LocutusofBorg/Gianfranco Costamagna (Debian package maintainer) works fine for me on Ubuntu 16.04LTS [4.6.4 kernel], now v7.6.32 I think.

source: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/boinc
packages compiled: https://launchpad.net/~costamagnagianfranco/+archive/ubuntu/boinc

Add the ppa and forward on you are auto updated when there's a new build, if you want to.

Edit: It can happen on Linux that the GPU drivers are not loaded fast enough for BOINC to recognize the GPU first time... run the sudo boinc-client restart command in terminal.

So as normal with Linux magic spells, I'm confused.

I tried to add the source to the list of "Other Software" but for whatever reason the Add button stays greyed out. If I edit an existing PPA, same thing.

When I look at the source it says 7.6.31 is the latest for Xerial Xerus (aka 16.04) and indeed, this is what I have and of course my AMD GPU is not recognised. I've tried the restart but that didn't help.

[edit] figured out how to add the PPA. I'll be trying it... [/edit]

Thanks!!

S.
3) Message boards : Questions and problems : [Discussion] 4th Generation BOINC credit system (Message 69508)
Posted 7 May 2016 by Steve Hawker*
Post:
Not quite there yet, i'm still not seeing something, why is "WCG Points" system better than BOINC NewCredit system? Multiplying NewCredit by 7 doesn't not make it better or worse.

What i notice is different on WCG forums (i am not a regular reader or visitor) is no display of RAC, Points nor Totalcredit - only a) number of forum posts and b) badges. These badges seem to be given based on core-hours.

Please ignore the WCG points, they are irrelevant to my point.

I am comparing two systems: WCG's hours and CreditNew's credits. My complaint with CreditNew is that it is inconsistent and I think that is well established and recognised. As I said, and you just alluded to, the WCG currency is hours. So I'm saying that WCG system is 100% consistent in that hours crunched are always the hours awarded, whereas you are unable to predict how much credit you'll be getting with CreditNew. Imagine if your employer chose CreditNew as your wage system...

Your concern with comparing slow machines with fast machines is valid if your focus is on earning credits and not hours. I have already said that this is a problem but only if you're focused on earning credits.

Converting WCG points to BOINC credits is a red herring. It exists purely so that crunchers can include WCG in the BOINC system. I don't care if it's 7:1 or 70:1. What I care about is that it was 7:1 yesterday, 7:1 today and will be 7:1 tomorrow. If the conversion used a CreditNew calculation, you would have no idea what you'd be getting in the future, based on what you're getting now.

I'm not concerned at all with forunms or badges at the moment.

Maybe we just need to ignore badges and credits, and worry about more important stuff!

Well you can reduce any endeavour in that way. But while we're crunching, a LOT of people want the credit system. Many are concerned with pure credit totals, some like to achieve milestones, some like to collect badges while others like to accrue hours. Whatever your concern, it all makes crunching more interesting and keeps people involved.
4) Message boards : Questions and problems : [Discussion] 4th Generation BOINC credit system (Message 69502)
Posted 7 May 2016 by Steve Hawker*
Post:
Steve Hawker* wrote:
Credits are supposed to recognize contributions and frankly WCG's simplistic core-hours beats CreditNew hands down. 1 core-hour is always 1 core-hour.

Are referring here to the "Total Run Time" statistic published on WCG?

I'm not sure i understand how WCG point system is "better" or "different" - I think they just using the number 7 to convert credits to points - see WCG FAQ or am i missing something?


My point is that on WCG, crunching for one hour gets you one hour added to your total. This was true 10 years ago, is true now, will be true in 2026. Hours are the currency at WCG not BOINC credits

WCG's conversion from their points to BOINC credits is 7:1 and I don't have a problem with that because it's ALWAYS 7:1.

CreditNew does not pay the same credit for the same WU last month as it does today, nor next month.

It is that lack of consistency from using CreditNew that damages a project's credibility. It is WCG's consistency that makes it better than CreditNew.

Did I explain it better this time?
5) Message boards : Questions and problems : [Discussion] 4th Generation BOINC credit system (Message 69497)
Posted 7 May 2016 by Steve Hawker*
Post:
I truly do not care what BOINC credit measures. It matters not one jot.

What does matter and this is where CreditNew fails spectacularly is that two essentially identical WUs receive essentially identical credit and this applies to yesterday's WUs, today's WUs and tomorrow's WUs. All too often we see credits falling or plummeting while the work done remains constant. It's no wonder it was renamed CreditRandom.

Credits are supposed to recognize contributions and frankly WCG's simplistic core-hours beats CreditNew hands down. 1 core-hour is always 1 core-hour. However this system rewards clunkers and hyper-crunchers alike.

I'm all for letting the projects set a fixed value per WU. Highly similar WUs will get the same reward and faster machines will get higher RACs. Critics may complain that this destroys cross-project comparisons but when has that ever been realistic. Let the admins do what they feel is right for their projects. On projects that do this, users self-regulate anyway and it's common to see comments supporting a "fair" rate. Fears of runaway credit inflation are groundless.

If BOINC had never tried to be all things to all small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri, then the FLOPS vs ASIC BitcoinUtopia fiasco would never have occurred. BU could just say x credits per share and have done with it. Instead we get into a "my machine does more FLOPS so give me 2 gazillion points" style pissing contest.

Fixed rate, let the market decide.

I am utterly uninterested in any possible side effect this has for GridCoin. As GridCoin is a profit-seeking venture, the BOINC credit system has no responsibility, ethically or morally, to change its system(s) to suit the needs of GridCoin.

If calling it "credits" has financial implications, change it to "points".

If this all means a new release of BOINC server s/w, can you somehow make it a mandatory core function to provide a forum on every project. Thanks!
6) Message boards : Projects : SETI might be a was of CPU time (Message 68084)
Posted 2 Mar 2016 by Steve Hawker*
Post:
Dissension bothers you? I thought my comments were to invoke other path or ides-- free speech. Just because you do not like my opinion does not mean I am being a trouble maker. You sound like a typical arrogant PhD that if you are countered, you take it personally.


Dissension is fine, when it comes with reasoned argument and not just flapping arms and wailing.

Your entire flap-wail has no substance and you don't like it when that's pointed out. You're claiming that SETI has it wrong but you can't give any scientific basis or analysis to support your nonsense.

Your entire position is akin to someone claiming that Hollywood has it all wrong because they aren't using all the colours and there might be new colours out there just waiting to be discovered. You also claim Hollywood is arrogant and demean their academic qualifications as worthless but you have neither the wit nor wisdom to extend their knowledge - you just want to flap and wail. When asked what these new colours are or where they can be found, you just repeat your baseless assertion that the experts have it wrong.

If anyone is arrogant, it's you. You think you're smarter than the real scientists because you discovered a few interesting words which you wield with no true understanding. You've done no study on the subject. It's so much easier to criticise than contribute. You scoff at the suggestion that you get some education, no doubt because you reject "modern science". That's arrogant.

I still think and believe SETI is searching the wrong medium and I simply suggested a different medium.


No, you didn't and we're still waiting for you to name that medium. Go on, where else should they be searching?
7) Message boards : Projects : SETI might be a was of CPU time (Message 68053)
Posted 29 Feb 2016 by Steve Hawker*
Post:
SETI assumes that "intelligent" life communicates using the electromagnetic spectrum. SETI searches using radio telescopes to "listen" for narrow bandwidth radio transmissions. Do you really think that if humans are stuck in the electromagnetic medium (EM)... that every life form in the universe is also stuck in EM medium?

Have the people at SETI ever considered that other transmission mediums might also be used rather than EM?

So what medium do you think we should be monitoring?


Evidence exists that Aliens who have abducted or communicated with humans do so using telepathy

Claims by deluded people do not equal evidence.


To communicate long distances through space, there may be a "side-band" in the gravitation waves that allow transmission WE CANNOT DETECT.

I'm sorry but this shows a distinct lack of understanding of basic physics. A sideband is a result of modulating a carrier wave. If you can detect a carrier wave, you can always detect the sidebands.

This is aside from the preposterous notion that an ETI would have the technology to manipulate gravitational waves and choose that instead of just popping over for a cup of tea.


Anybody can find patterns in random noise, publish a paper, and call it evidence.

Which will then be destroyed by any half-competent amateur reviewer with basic maths and physics knowledge, possibly armed with just a dictionary. Bear in mind that reputable journals use extremely competent professionals with multiple advanced degrees in the subject.


It's documented that Aliens can travel from point A to B without too much delay

Take the tin foil hat off and read a book on physics. Try something by Michio Kaku or Brian Cox. If it gets to the point that you start to think it's all a cover-up or a conspiracy to hide "the truth", try something more appropriate for your comprehension level. I suggest The Cat in the Hat, Postman Pat or Bob the Builder.

btw, I can travel from point A to Point B without too much delay so long as my wife is ready on time.
8) Message boards : Questions and problems : BOINC 7.2.42 and app_config.xml (Message 55195)
Posted 31 Jul 2014 by Steve Hawker*
Post:
Due to the memory requirements of the project ATLAS@Home, I wish to limit the number of CPU tasks that run concurrently.

I am running BOINC 7.2.42 on a MacBook, 64-bit, with 8GB RAM. The CPU reports as an 8-core CPU.

I have created the following app_config.xml file and stored it in the project folder:

<app_config>
<app>
<name>ATLAS</name>
<max_concurrent>2</max_concurrent>
</app>
</app_config>

{please note there is a new line after the last tag}

When BOINC starts it sees the app_config file and yet more than 2 tasks run at the same time. I have tried other numbers (from 0.25 to 4), with and without the extra line at the end, to no avail. I have exited BOINC and restarted. I have not re-fetched a fresh batch of WUs at any time.

Here is the log:

Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | cc_config.xml not found - using defaults
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | Starting BOINC client version 7.2.42 for x86_64-apple-darwin
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | Libraries: libcurl/7.26.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1e zlib/1.2.5 c-ares/1.9.1
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | Data directory: /Library/Application Support/BOINC Data
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | OpenCL: AMD/ATI GPU 0: ATI Radeon HD 6750M (driver version 1.2 (Jun 10 2014 22:41:22), device version OpenCL 1.2, 1024MB, 1024MB available, 288 GFLOPS peak)
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | OpenCL CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2720QM CPU @ 2.20GHz (OpenCL driver vendor: Apple, driver version 1.1, device version OpenCL 1.2)
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | Host name: colonial-one.att.net
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | Processor: 8 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2720QM CPU @ 2.20GHz [x86 Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7]
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clfsh ds acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss htt tm pbe pni pclmulqdq dtes64 mon dscpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 tpr pdcm sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic popcnt aes pcid xsave osxsave tsctmr avx
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | OS: Mac OS X 10.9.4 (Darwin 13.3.0)
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | Memory: 8.00 GB physical, 575.89 GB virtual
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | Disk: 697.84 GB total, 575.65 GB free
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | Local time is UTC -7 hours
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | VirtualBox version: 4.3.12
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | ATLAS@home | Found app_config.xml
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | ATLAS@home | URL http://atlasathome.cern.ch/; Computer ID 3068; resource share 100
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | rosetta@home | URL http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/; Computer ID 1573977; resource share 100
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | Einstein@Home | URL http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/; Computer ID 11470275; resource share 100
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | VirtualLHC@home | URL http://lhcathome2.cern.ch/vLHCathome/; Computer ID 74650; resource share 100
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | LHC@home 1.0 | URL http://lhcathomeclassic.cern.ch/sixtrack/; Computer ID 10010461; resource share 100
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | NumberFields@home | URL http://numberfields.asu.edu/NumberFields/; Computer ID 19646; resource share 100
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | Quake-Catcher Network EMSC / CSEM | URL http://qcn.emsc-csem.org/sensor/; Computer ID 156; resource share 0
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | Quake-Catcher Network | URL http://qcn.stanford.edu/sensor/; Computer ID 21124; resource share 0
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | ralph@home | URL http://ralph.bakerlab.org/; Computer ID 32886; resource share 100
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | WUProp@Home | URL http://wuprop.boinc-af.org/; Computer ID 71907; resource share 100
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | Enigma@Home | URL http://www.enigmaathome.net/; Computer ID 132812; resource share 0
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | La Red Atrapa Sismos | URL http://www.ras.unam.mx/sensor/; Computer ID 1237; resource share 0
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | General prefs: from http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ (last modified 23-Jun-2014 19:55:15)
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | Host location: none
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | General prefs: using your defaults
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | Reading preferences override file
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | Preferences:
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | max memory usage when active: 6553.60MB
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | max memory usage when idle: 7372.80MB
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | max disk usage: 100.00GB
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | (to change preferences, visit a project web site or select Preferences in the Manager)
Thu Jul 31 16:16:24 2014 | | Not using a proxy
Thu Jul 31 16:16:26 2014 | Quake-Catcher Network EMSC / CSEM | Fetching scheduler list
Thu Jul 31 16:16:30 2014 | Quake-Catcher Network EMSC / CSEM | [error] No scheduler URLs found in master file
Thu Jul 31 16:16:43 2014 | Quake-Catcher Network | update requested by user
Thu Jul 31 16:16:45 2014 | Quake-Catcher Network | Sending scheduler request: Requested by user.
Thu Jul 31 16:16:45 2014 | Quake-Catcher Network | Reporting 1 completed tasks
Thu Jul 31 16:16:45 2014 | Quake-Catcher Network | Not requesting tasks: non CPU intensive
Thu Jul 31 16:16:48 2014 | Quake-Catcher Network | Scheduler request completed
Thu Jul 31 16:16:48 2014 | Quake-Catcher Network | Project has no tasks available


Do you need more information to help me fix this?
9) Message boards : Questions and problems : boinc "not requesting tasks: don't need" even with NO tasks currently running and idle CPU (Message 54920)
Posted 16 Jul 2014 by Steve Hawker*
Post:

6/24/2014 1:28:03 PM | Constellation | Sending scheduler request: Requested by user.



stop clicking on update on the project
let the client work it out.
seen this before
after a time the client will ask for work and get it.


I am running 2 projects and 2 NCI projects.
BOINC 7.2.42 on Win XP

Of the 2 projects, one spits out about 1 WU per hour. The other has tens of thousands of WUs available at all times.

I got the dreaded Not Requesting Tasks: Not Needed message (on both projects AND one of the NCI projects) so I came here for a fix. I read this message and figured it seemed reasonable and made sense given the way BOINC "works".

After a 3 day weekend, during which not a single WU was downloaded on any project, I have given up on 7.2.42 and have rolled back to 7.0.64. I am getting all the work my little laptop can crunch.

There's a bug in 7.2.42 but I am not sure anyone else is seeing it. I've also had this exact problem on a MacBook and solved that by rolling back to 7.0.65.
10) Message boards : Questions and problems : No more running tasks; reason hard to find (Message 46825)
Posted 16 Dec 2012 by Steve Hawker*
Post:
Steve Hawker* wrote:
"Task <task name> exited with zero status but no 'finished' file"
I'm then warned I may need to reset the project. However, all these tasks restarted automatically and completed and earned credit. I still do not know why this warning was given, nor why I should reset the project, especially as work restarted and completed successfully.

Yep, that can happen. The science application lost contact with the BOINC client or vice versa, and each time that happens, BOINC will print that message.

It can have been that your anti virus or other anti-malware program was in the way and actively scanning the science application. Therefore we advise to exclude the BOINC Data directory and every file and sub-directory in it in your anti-virus and other anti-malware programs and to only scan these directories by hand after you suspended BOINC, or stopped it.


I don't have anti-virus. I have a Mac. Never needed any.

Perhaps the message appeared because my router dropped the internet connection? In which case, why don't I see this message every time that happens? I do get the standard message about not being able to connect to the internet but I've only ever seen this zero status message once (well, eight times at once because my CPU has 8 cores)
11) Message boards : Questions and problems : No more running tasks; reason hard to find (Message 46824)
Posted 16 Dec 2012 by Steve Hawker*
Post:
"This computer has reached a limit on tasks in progress"
I understand what this means but it doesn't tell me why it was displayed. Is there a setting I can adjust? Is there anything I can do about it at all? Where can I go to see what this limit is? Having said that, in every occurrence the application then downloaded a new task and immediately started it so the warning was pointless at best.

Limits are set into place by projects to stop your computer from downloading full caches and then returning only erroneous work. There's no use in your computer getting 10+10 days of cache when all it returns is garbage. So with every erroneous task your limit per CPU per day goes down by a task, up until the point where your computer can only download 1 task per CPU (core) or GPU per day. The rest of that day you will see that error.

What can you do about it? Check why your computer is returning only erroneous work. Clean it, give it better drivers, check that hardware is still intact, etc. When your computer starts returning correct work again, the cache limit will double with each correctly returned task.

Some projects have a maximum of amounts of tasks you can download at the same time, such as Milkyway, it only allows 6 tasks to be downloaded at a time. You will get this same message when your computer requests more work, but it still has the 6 tasks in cache, or at least not reported.


Not exactly sure what you mean by erroneous work but at the time I got that message the only "erroneous" work I generated was a bunch of WUs that I aborted because the project that sent it estimated run times that forced those WUs to run immediately at high priority forcing another project to suspend its WUs and that second project was set up without checkpointing so I lost days of crunching. Not wishing to lose any more days of crunching I aborted the offenders.

Not to make a big deal but I currently have 8 Milkyway WUs that were sent at the same time and I've already crunched at least one that came in with those. Just FYI.
12) Message boards : Questions and problems : No more running tasks; reason hard to find (Message 46823)
Posted 16 Dec 2012 by Steve Hawker*
Post:
To see the current list of projects with priorities, enable the <work_fetch_debug> flag in the client configuration file cc_config.xml


I do not have a cc_config file. But it's interesting to see that the priorities are available and therefore BOINC manager is able to retrieve them and then display them.
13) Message boards : Questions and problems : No more running tasks; reason hard to find (Message 46822)
Posted 16 Dec 2012 by Steve Hawker*
Post:
Ageless wrote a lot of stuff so let's break this down into manageable pieces...

Yet again you expect someone else to make it explained easier.


Yes I do. And, this is going to shock you, I am not alone in this respect. There are over 2 million users of BOINC - do you seriously expect them all to have computer science degrees and/or an in-depth understanding of BOINC at a technical level? BOINC does a spectacularly poor job of explaining itself to non-technical people who only want to know how the system works so they can understand and enjoy using the system the way they want to use it.

Is it really such a hardship to explain how the system works?


It's computer jargon that probably cannot be explained easier.


So what you're saying is "Ooooh, it's computer magic that mere mortals cannot understand..."

There is no such thing. There are people who don't want to explain things but there's no such thing as an unexplainable concept.
14) Message boards : Questions and problems : No more running tasks; reason hard to find (Message 46820)
Posted 16 Dec 2012 by Steve Hawker*
Post:
If you want 'more obvious' messages, then please tell how. Give examples of what you think is a better warning. Perhaps that the developers can then add it.

Instead you now complain about it and expect someone else to solve it and come up with a better way of communicating the problem to the user.


OK, here goes:

"Not requesting tasks: project is not highest priority".
Aside from the missing words which I believe should be "... according to BOINC manager and nothing to do with Resource Share settings", it would be helpful and useful to users to have a method for seeing the current list and some data that helps the user understand why a particular project has a particular priority (according to BOINC manager). How about listing the project priority on the Projects tab?

"Not requesting tasks: scheduler RPC backoff".
I have no suggestion for this because I have no clue what it means. Is it something I can do something about? Or is it a failure at the server end? I'm 100% confident the developers can find a more useful and less jargonistic message.

"This computer has reached a limit on tasks in progress"
I understand what this means but it doesn't tell me why it was displayed. Is there a setting I can adjust? Is there anything I can do about it at all? Where can I go to see what this limit is? Having said that, in every occurrence the application then downloaded a new task and immediately started it so the warning was pointless at best.

"Task <task name> exited with zero status but no 'finished' file"
I'm then warned I may need to reset the project. However, all these tasks restarted automatically and completed and earned credit. I still do not know why this warning was given, nor why I should reset the project, especially as work restarted and completed successfully.

Please let me know if I need to expand on any point here. More than happy to help make the BOINC experience user-friendly to the max.

Thanks!!




Copyright © 2024 University of California.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.