When I have questions or problems, I expect to find an FAQ, not a 1,000+ message help forum that can't even be searched and is filled with useless answers like "this has been answered here before".

Just converted over from SETI. There are NO instructions beyond starting BOINC. There is no "here is how SETI will run now that you have switched" document. There is not even an FAQ. Click on help and you come here.

I postulate that 90% of the posts in this forum are variants of "WTF?" I have a PhD from MIT (part of the effort leading to a Nobel Prize this year) and BOINC's interface is utterly confusing to me. There is no way that a semi- or barely computer literate person is going to run this software or participate unless there are instructions or an interface that makes intuitive sense to a new or casual user.

Whoever set this thing up needs to go recruit some AOL users to sign up and do the installation. Observe them and say nothing. Only then will you understand why it confuses people.

Off to figure out why I have 7 items in my work queue, 5 of which are idle and 2 of which are running - and why the one has twice as much progress in the same CPU time. And why, even though I changed nothing, I no longer have a faceless SETI icon in my Dock that was there when I started writing this post.

You can have the greatest software in the worlds, but if nobody understands it then nobody is going to use it.

If you found lots of useless answers, did you find one that referred to a "wiki"? The WIKI will give you more explanations than you have time to read...

Also, I notice your times are around 11,000 seconds per WU. If you want to improve that and get times that are around 5,000 seconds, or better, go to here and download the one labeled "BOINC Manager superbench 2.0 M" and install it. While you are at that site, scroll down to the optimized SETI client and click the link "G4 / G5 Please see web page". At the web page, click on the appropriate client to download it. Installation instructions are available by following the links. Just as a reference point for you, my 1.6GHz PowerBook G4 on OS 10.3.9 completes a SETI WU in around 6,000 seconds using these optimized clients.

If you have any questions, please ask.
C

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Join Team MacNN

I agree completely with Rob Toreki and disagree entirely with the first responseby C. I, too, have a Ph.D. (in math) and am very confused on how to do a basic Seti install. No information anywhere on what it should look like when installed. I glanced at Wiki and, yes, far too much information and not Seti-specific. There is indeed a crying need for a set of clear, step-by-step set of instructions, FAQs, and support for setup and optimizing.

For example, I THOUGHT I had the Boinc version of Seti installed and running these past 6 months. I'm even receiving BOINC credits. But, I don't have the BOINC screensaver in Preferences as mentioned in one of these threads as one of the things I should have after accomplishing a "normal" install. And, I get daily messages from Seti telling me I better switch from classic to BOINC. Thus, I have no idea of what is actually going to happen to my Seti setup on the day after classic disappears. No place to get answers. No place to get help except at the mercy of this forum.

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Bud Simrin

There is indeed a crying need for a set of clear, step-by-step set of instructions, FAQs, and support for setup and optimizing.

You won't find anyone to argue with you on that point. The only excuse is a lack of resources to do it.

For example, I THOUGHT I had the Boinc version of Seti installed and running these past 6 months. I'm even receiving BOINC credits. But, I don't have the BOINC screensaver in Preferences as mentioned in one of these threads as one of the things I should have after accomplishing a "normal" install. And, I get daily messages from Seti telling me I better switch from classic to BOINC. Thus, I have no idea of what is actually going to happen to my Seti setup on the day after classic disappears. No place to get answers. No place to get help except at the mercy of this forum.

I'm not sure why you don't have the screensaver, but I'd be happy to work with you to resolve it. I _may_ miss a response posted here, but if you open a thread in Number Crunching called "Mac Screensaver", I and others will be right on it. The first suggestion would be to upgrade from Version 4.4.3, which you are currently running, to Version 5.2.x - the older version should have had the screensaver, but the upgrade process should install the new one anyway.

I checked your account, and you do indeed have Classic and BOINC accounts "linked" correctly. You should have received only one email from the project about BOINC, unless you had multiple Classic accounts. When Classic closes, the remainder of any work units done there, under the account linked to this one anyway, will be added to the count on the "Your Account" page.

EDIT:: I just saw your posting in another thread, and will try to give additional information there...

[quote]There is indeed a crying need for a set of clear, step-by-step set of instructions, FAQs, and support for setup and optimizing.

You won't find anyone to argue with you on that point. The only excuse is a lack of resources to do it.

For example, I THOUGHT I had the Boinc version of Seti installed and running these past 6 months. I'm even receiving BOINC credits. But, I don't have the BOINC screensaver in Preferences as mentioned in one of these threads as one of the things I should have after accomplishing a "normal" install. And, I get daily messages from Seti telling me I better switch from classic to BOINC. Thus, I have no idea of what is actually going to happen to my Seti setup on the day after classic disappears. No place to get answers. No place to get help except at the mercy of this forum.

>>I'm not sure why you don't have the screensaver, but I'd be happy to work with you to resolve it. The first suggestion would be to upgrade from Version 4.4.3, which you are currently running, to Version 5.2.x - the older version should have had the screensaver, but the upgrade process should install the new one anyway.

I did the upgrade to 5.2.8 and indeed it installed the screensaver. Interestingly, it did not seem to uninstall ver 4.4.3. That is, I now have icons for both a Boinc 5.2.8 BOINC Manager and a 4.4.3 BOINC Menubar simultaneously in the FINDER menu bar. Status under 5.2.8 BOINC manager is "Scheduler request pending" so I guess that means I just wait a while. I presume this means Seti or BOINC will be taking some action and that once the status changes that I will be able to see my account settings and status and change things as necessary?

>>I checked your account, and you do indeed have Classic and BOINC accounts "linked" correctly. You should have received only one email from the project

As I now understand it, I have been using classic Seti which is probably why I get the daily email reminders. The screensaver I have been using is the classic S@hScreenSaver though it is not located in the Screensaver folder within Library but rather separately within Library. I plan to delete it once I get past "scheduler pending". I also now know to get rid of SETI@home_Data, SETI@home Preferences, SETI@Home_OSX.app, SETI@home_OSX.pkg, and also Seti from the Startup Items.

Your help and all the help in these threads is MUCH appreciated. I DO wish to share my computer for BOINC projects.

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Bud Simrin

I did the upgrade to 5.2.8 and indeed it installed the screensaver. Interestingly, it did not uninstall ver 4.4.3. I have both now simultaneously in the FINDER menu bar.

That scares me... I now see that you have two (identical...) computers attached, one created today, that has no work. The fact that they are both on the same account means that this _is_ fixable, you installed the new version correctly.

I am not sure how to tell you to fix this.

The Menubar version appears to install in the "user local" Library, while the Full GUI version installs in the root-level Library. I would guess that running both at once is not a good idea. If you can use System Preferences "Accounts" to turn _off_ running BOINC at startup, and move the BOINC Data folder out of the user-level Library, and reboot, that SHOULD leave you running V5.2.8 (assuming you didn't install it as Menubar...) only when you launch BOINC Manager. Then you can control-click it in the Dock and say "Open at Login". If all works, then you can trash the BOINC Data folder you removed, there will be a working one in the root-level Library/Application Support.

If you have problems, again, please post in Number Crunching to make sure I see it. If I have to, I can get the old Menubar from the dev site and install it, then install 5.2.8 Full GUI, and see exactly what goes where, so we can get your machine set up correctly.