I find the new screen saver graphics ugly and very slow, might it be possible to put something more like the old client's graphics on this client? Or could we just go back to the old client? I realize my Athon 2200+ and my Matrox G450 aren't state of the art, but they aren't that slow either so why should the graphics run so slow?

Please don't tell me to adjust the settings on the website. I don't any inclination to mess around with all that crap (if I even knew what half of it was) nor can I find any way to execute an update command on the client.

I don't have an answer to your question, but i do agree with you. Something dose need to be done to the screen saver part of the program. Compared to the old version of seti, the bonic screen saver need major inprovements. For example, the text is not very readable with the graph moving all the time, and the graph its self is not very clear. I;m sure there's mor then can do with thta part of thre program to make it look more presentable. I know bonic is still in the early stages of life. But i hope there are major revisions on it..

> I don't have an answer to your question, but i do agree with you. Something
> dose need to be done to the screen saver part of the program. Compared to the
> old version of seti, the bonic screen saver need major inprovements. For
> example, the text is not very readable with the graph moving all the time, and
> the graph its self is not very clear. I;m sure there's mor then can do with
> thta part of thre program to make it look more presentable. I know bonic is
> still in the early stages of life. But i hope there are major revisions on
> it..
>
Work continues.

jm7

It is possible to change much of the screen saver through the web interface. Unfortunately, that is the only place. If you want to stop movement, use the custom settings for the screen saver, and set the horizontal and vertical range to 0.

Assuming that you are using the Windows GUI interface, the update is available on the projects tab by right clicking on the project.
jm7

Folks,

Issue #1)
The screen saver isn't perfect - however from a functionality stand-point it is 1000 times better than the SAH Classic version. A screensaver is designed to prevent a -static- image from being burned into your monitor. Granted with the higher number of LCD monitors, this is no longer a problem - but with the older CRT style and even more so with the new Plasma ones a static image WILL burn into your screen. The movement of the graphics helps to prevent this.

Issue #2)
SAH runs MUCH faster when your CPU isn't trying to display the graphics on the screen. Simply set your screensaver to come on after 15 min of inactivity then to go to a blank screen after 30. This way, you get the "pretty pictures" for 15 minutes then your computer can devote all its power to number crunching.

Here's the way to justify improved graphics in the screen saver:

I agree, the technical purpose of ths screen saver is to stop images from burning into the monitor. I would submit that in these days, this technical value falls far, far behind the users experience of the graphic itself. I can't tell you the number of times I've had people comment on my screen saver, I particularly enjoy the imagery, separate from the actual computational work being performed.

If the graphics are not pleasing, I simply won't use it - the user needs to get benefit out of running the BOINC or any other screensaver, and I can assure you the majority of your potential users don't care 1/100 as much about the science as the project team does.

Simply stated: Make it pretty if you want to get your computational work done for free - even if it costs a few cycles, cause you won't get any cycles if it's not pleasing to the user.

RE: Background image - This should really be in the background not attached to the "3D cube", this would enable one to have nice supernova/nebula backgrounds with seti stats on top.. much nicer IMHO..

Go SETI!

> If the graphics are not pleasing, I simply won't use it - the user needs to
> get benefit out of running the BOINC or any other screensaver, and I can
> assure you the majority of your potential users don't care 1/100 as much about
> the science as the project team does.

My problem with the new graphics is that the Freq-Time-Power graph appears to have nothing at all to do with what is being calculated. Once you find out how to interpret the F-T-P graph (in the classic version), it can be interesting to watch, while the new version is about as interesting as watching static on my TV. It's pretty but meaningless, but if I wanted that, there are other screen savers that are prettier and more interesting.

At least the new version still has the Data Analysis part, which does reflect real work.

Since BOINC allows variations of the screen saver, I would love to see one for "nerds" like me: informative and computationally cheap, even if it is ugly. You may be surprised at how many people will use it over the prettier ones.

I don’t have an answer, but I agree that the crummy "fake-me-out" cheap 3d tacky poor quality "want-to-be" graphics are pathetic. The fake 3d-ness of the new one is not impressive, the movement and hard to read fonts are not cutting it for me. The stars are annoying. I like how the old graph was angled and the boarders were flat and looked professional. I also liked the help on the old one when you hit f1. I really like the old one in all aspects. The server is always working unlike the new one. The graph is more pleasing to the eye, and more clear and detailed. The progress bar has little parts of the bar for every percent. I’m moving back to the old. And that’s just just a few of my complaints.