I have just upgraded to OS X 10.4.2 and installed the Boinc software, however, when the screensaver engages all that goes across the black screen is the message, "BOINC is idle". Could someone explain what is going on here? Thank you.

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Your problem is due to a difference in the the way the SETI screensaver now works with the SETI application.

In the "classic" SETI it was the screensaver that forced the app to run. In the BOINC version the screensaver connects to BOINC which then determines what's happening. If you have set BOINC to disable SETI processing while you are using your computer (normal choice unless you have a very fast machine and can afford to process all the time) then then screensaver will always report that BOINC is disabled. After a few minutes of idle time (3 min typical) BOINC will start processing and you might see the results in the screensaver. But ... if you've set the screensaver to go black after 1 minute then you won't see the graphics because by the they'll be blacked out.

Catch-22. I'm not thrilled with this new version at all.

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Your problem is due to a difference in the the way the SETI screensaver now works with the SETI application.

In the "classic" SETI it was the screensaver that forced the app to run. In the BOINC version the screensaver connects to BOINC which then determines what's happening. If you have set BOINC to disable SETI processing while you are using your computer (normal choice unless you have a very fast machine and can afford to process all the time) then then screensaver will always report that BOINC is disabled. After a few minutes of idle time (3 min typical) BOINC will start processing and you might see the results in the screensaver. But ... if you've set the screensaver to go black after 1 minute then you won't see the graphics because by the they'll be blacked out.

Catch-22. I'm not thrilled with this new version at all.

There is a serious issue here with BOINC and SETI disregarding your preference to work only when the computer is idle. When I resume working on the computer after the screensaver had been activated SETI@home continues to run in the background even though my preference had been set to run only when idle. I can see this easily using the Activity Monitor application in OS X. This is completely unacceptable. I am disabling the screen saver until this issue is resolved. I am running OS X v10.4.2 on a dual 2GHz Power Mac G5 with 2GB of DDR memory. I have no intention of having SETI@home eat up all of my CPU power in the background. The BOINC/SETI combo should respect my preferences.

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I have since found that you need to log out and then back in for the screen saver to respect your preferences. This should be made clear in the documentation when you install BOINC/SETI. They do appear to be respecting my preferences now.

Your problem is due to a difference in the the way the SETI screensaver now works with the SETI application.

In the "classic" SETI it was the screensaver that forced the app to run. In the BOINC version the screensaver connects to BOINC which then determines what's happening. If you have set BOINC to disable SETI processing while you are using your computer (normal choice unless you have a very fast machine and can afford to process all the time) then then screensaver will always report that BOINC is disabled. After a few minutes of idle time (3 min typical) BOINC will start processing and you might see the results in the screensaver. But ... if you've set the screensaver to go black after 1 minute then you won't see the graphics because by the they'll be blacked out.

Catch-22. I'm not thrilled with this new version at all.

There is a serious issue here with BOINC and SETI disregarding your preference to work only when the computer is idle. When I resume working on the computer after the screensaver had been activated SETI@home continues to run in the background even though my preference had been set to run only when idle. I can see this easily using the Activity Monitor application in OS X. This is completely unacceptable. I am disabling the screen saver until this issue is resolved. I am running OS X v10.4.2 on a dual 2GHz Power Mac G5 with 2GB of DDR memory. I have no intention of having SETI@home eat up all of my CPU power in the background. The BOINC/SETI combo should respect my preferences.

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