I have a MacBook Pro purchased new in November 2007 (2.2GHz Core 2 Duo) running Leopard 10.5.2 and BOINC Manager 5.10.34. I don't participate in any BOINC project except SETI@home.

When I select any task, the "Show graphics" button does not enable. When I try to use the BOINC screensaver, it tells me that the project doesn't support graphics. And yet I've seen indications in other threads that I should in fact be able to see graphics. Can anyone suggest what I might need to do in order to use this screensaver or to at least see graphics on occasion when I'd like to view them?

= Steve =

---

I have a MacBook Pro purchased new in November 2007 (2.2GHz Core 2 Duo) running Leopard 10.5.2 and BOINC Manager 5.10.34. I don't participate in any BOINC project except SETI@home.

When I select any task, the "Show graphics" button does not enable. When I try to use the BOINC screensaver, it tells me that the project doesn't support graphics. And yet I've seen indications in other threads that I should in fact be able to see graphics. Can anyone suggest what I might need to do in order to use this screensaver or to at least see graphics on occasion when I'd like to view them?

= Steve =

Steve
I have recently ceased using SETI.
But have just found "Graphics Update for Leopard" by checking the system Software Update.
I suspect this may solve your problem, but have not tried running SETI screensaver to confirm this.
You, no doubt, know that the optimized applications do not support graphics?
Nevertheless, I find the "Cosmos" screensaver enabled by cursor in top left corner is far more appealing.
Keith

P.S. To enable "Show Graphics", make sure you have selected one of the tasks in the "Tasks" page of BOINC Manager. Apologies if this is something you already know. Keith

Steve
I have recently ceased using SETI.
But have just found "Graphics Update for Leopard" by checking the system Software Update.
I suspect this may solve your problem, but have not tried running SETI screensaver to confirm this.
You, no doubt, know that the optimized applications do not support graphics?
Nevertheless, I find the "Cosmos" screensaver enabled by cursor in top left corner is far more appealing.
Keith

P.S. To enable "Show Graphics", make sure you have selected one of the tasks in the "Tasks" page of BOINC Manager. Apologies if this is something you already know. Keith

I've had this problem ever since first setting up my MacBook Pro, and it persists after the recent update to 10.5.2 and the Leopard Graphics Update. But I'm still not able to see graphics by any means.

I have not, however, seen anything indicating that graphics are unavailable in the "optimized applications", nor am I certain what exactly this might mean. I am using BOINC software obtained via a download link on the main SETI@home web page. On this MacBook Pro, I installed BOINC Manager; on an iMac in-house which runs a web server and is up 24/7, I'm running a command-line client where I don't want or expect graphics.

= Steve =

---

Alex's optimized SETI applications do not support graphics. The SETI stock client should. Is there any chance you have installed Alex Kan's optimized SETI application?

---

Alex's optimized SETI applications do not support graphics. The SETI stock client should. Is there any chance you have installed Alex Kan's optimized SETI application?

No chance at all. I followed a download link on the main SETI@home web page and have installed the latest official release.

I have noticed, however, that the /Library/Application Support/BOINC Data folder contents include setiathome_5.28_powerpc-apple-darwin and that the actual SETI program being invoked by BOINC is apparently a PowerPC application. I'm wondering if perhaps there was something wrong with the way that I migrated my data over when I moved to this new MacBook Pro in November. Maybe my problem stems from this since the BOINC Manager program is universal but the SETI code itself is not. If this is possible, I haven't the faintest idea what steps I should take to have it corrected.

= Steve =

---

Alex's optimized SETI applications do not support graphics. The SETI stock client should. Is there any chance you have installed Alex Kan's optimized SETI application?

No chance at all. I followed a download link on the main SETI@home web page and have installed the latest official release.

I have noticed, however, that the /Library/Application Support/BOINC Data folder contents include setiathome_5.28_powerpc-apple-darwin and that the actual SETI program being invoked by BOINC is apparently a PowerPC application. I'm wondering if perhaps there was something wrong with the way that I migrated my data over when I moved to this new MacBook Pro in November. Maybe my problem stems from this since the BOINC Manager program is universal but the SETI code itself is not. If this is possible, I haven't the faintest idea what steps I should take to have it corrected.

= Steve =

Turns out that the trouble was indeed related to having the PowerPC version of the SETI app itself running. I aborted the two work units I had and reset the project. This time, it downloaded an "i386" version of the application instead and I can now see graphics and use the screensaver. Problem solved!

= Steve =

---

Glad to see your problem solved. Since you used Migration Assistant, it was completely logical to end up with the PPC version of the SETI client inside your Application Support BOINC folder. You seem to have dealt with you issue correctly, though.

It may be a good idea for the developers (anyone listening?) to add some code in BOINC in order to eliminate such issues; that is, force the BOINC client to double-check whether the project client is in par with the CPU platform. This could also be dealt with, by altering the stock SETI client so as it doesn't launch trough Rosetta, which would pop up some error message to the BOINC CC.

Mind you, though, that using an optimized SETI client would be much better in many ways, since it is a LOT faster that the stock one, meaning that science-wise there would be much more work done from your MB Pro. Unless, of course, you can't live without the screen saver, which I personally never use, since "screen savers" actually harm LCDs instead of "saving" them...

You should also have a look at the other threads in this forum, regarding heat issues, since it's not completely OK to run your MB Pro to its max all the time... You should either consider throttling BOINC, or optimizing your CPU using CoolBook.

---

Glad to see your problem solved. Since you used Migration Assistant, it was completely logical to end up with the PPC version of the SETI client inside your Application Support BOINC folder. You seem to have dealt with you issue correctly, though.

It may be a good idea for the developers (anyone listening?) to add some code in BOINC in order to eliminate such issues; that is, force the BOINC client to double-check whether the project client is in par with the CPU platform. This could also be dealt with, by altering the stock SETI client so as it doesn't launch trough Rosetta, which would pop up some error message to the BOINC CC.

Mind you, though, that using an optimized SETI client would be much better in many ways, since it is a LOT faster that the stock one, meaning that science-wise there would be much more work done from your MB Pro. Unless, of course, you can't live without the screen saver, which I personally never use, since "screen savers" actually harm LCDs instead of "saving" them...

You should also have a look at the other threads in this forum, regarding heat issues, since it's not completely OK to run your MB Pro to its max all the time... You should either consider throttling BOINC, or optimizing your CPU using CoolBook.

After reading this thread, I checked what version of SAH my new Mac Pro was running. It to is running 5.2.8. I reset and BOINC downloaded SAH 5.2.8_i686. Is this the Intel version of SAH?

---

Every time BOINC downloads a project client by itself it downloads the correct client, on par with the CPU.The i in 5.2.8_i686 stands for "intel". So you're on the project with two Mac Pros. Judging from your RAC, one of your Mac Pro is running (or was running until very recently) very slowly.

---

Every time BOINC downloads a project client by itself it downloads the correct client, on par with the CPU.The i in 5.2.8_i686 stands for "intel". ...

This is what I discovered for myself.

My problem wasn't caused by using Migration Assistant (I did my migration manually). But what I didn't know at the time was that the BOINC software wouldn't detect my use of a PPC SETI app on an Intel system and change for me. Had I know these details sooner, I could've set it to stop getting new work and then reset it while I had no work to do. I'd previously been using the BOINC Menubar program and didn't understand how BOINC Manager operated.

I don't really care about the screen saver one way or another, but just wanted the ability to see graphics on occasion (since the button was offered). But it appears that the Intel client has glitches when graphics do get displayed, as I've found the SETI programs in my Dock and ended up with a couple aborting for computing errors. So I'm going to avoid using the graphics for the most part, just to be safe. At least I'm using the correct client app, though.

= Steve =

---

I don't really care about the screen saver one way or another, but just wanted the ability to see graphics on occasion (since the button was offered). But it appears that the Intel client has glitches when graphics do get displayed, as I've found the SETI programs in my Dock and ended up with a couple aborting for computing errors. So I'm going to avoid using the graphics for the most part, just to be safe. At least I'm using the correct client app, though.

As I said earlier, once you don't care so much about the graphics, you could always opt for an optimized client, which is much faster than even the Intel one you're using right now. Optimized clients are coded by people outside the SETI group, but in close cooperation, still. For OS X and Intel CPUs, the optimized client is coded by Alex Kan, and it's a must-have, if you care more for the science and less for the graphic output. You can have a look here, following step 3 downwards, if you are interested in installing the optimized client on your Mac Pros. It will just take 5 minutes of your time on each machine, and you'll see your RAC doubling in a few days...

---