I decided it's time to try Astropulse 6 so when I installed the Lunatics apps I checked off AP6 and went into my seti@home preferences and said yes to AP 6.

And nothing happened. Seti status says that there are AP6 units available. But my Application details doesn't list any AP6 apps. Yet my app_info.xml has a slew of AP6 apps according to CPU/GPU platform and plan_class.

So what am I missing? Is there some kind of debug output I can get generated to show if everything is OK at the client level? Was there something I was suppose to do to kickstart the AP6 at the server level other than saying yes to AP6 units?

---

"Life is just nature's way of keeping meat fresh." - The Doctor

I decided it's time to try Astropulse 6 so when I installed the Lunatics apps I checked off AP6 and went into my seti@home preferences and said yes to AP 6.

And nothing happened. Seti status says that there are AP6 units available. But my Application details doesn't list any AP6 apps. Yet my app_info.xml has a slew of AP6 apps according to CPU/GPU platform and plan_class.

So what am I missing? Is there some kind of debug output I can get generated to show if everything is OK at the client level? Was there something I was suppose to do to kickstart the AP6 at the server level other than saying yes to AP6 units?

Be patient give it a while like 2hrs then see

---

It's been 11 hours. The V7 units showed up right away.

"Yeah, yeah, patience. How long will that take?"
BOOT TO THE HEAD

---

"Life is just nature's way of keeping meat fresh." - The Doctor

Set your preferences to ask for only CPU Astropulses, bang on the update a few times to make sure it's asking for CPU tasks, wait five minutes, and bang on the update button again. What does it say after a little banging?

It's been 11 hours. The V7 units showed up right away.

"Yeah, yeah, patience. How long will that take?"
BOOT TO THE HEAD

ops sorry thought you just unpdated ..i'll crawl back down my hole now sorry

---

It's been 11 hours. The V7 units showed up right away.

"Yeah, yeah, patience. How long will that take?"
BOOT TO THE HEAD

ops sorry thought you just unpdated ..i'll crawl back down my hole now sorry

The patience line and boot to the head comment wasn't directed at you it was a self deprecating comment based on this radio comedy sketch.

---

"Life is just nature's way of keeping meat fresh." - The Doctor

Make sure AP is enabled in your website preferences - after that it's luck of the draw.
As TBar has mentioned if only AP is selected you should definitely get some if there are some in the feeder and you should be told if there simply are no AP around.

---

A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read. (Mark Twain)

If you have a day or so's supply of V7 work, try going to preferences and switching everything off except AP6 and accept work from other apps.

It should then give you AP6 if it has any and only give other work when it doesn't have AP6.

If you have a day or so's supply of V7 work, try going to preferences and switching everything off except AP6 and accept work from other apps.

It should then give you AP6 if it has any and only give other work when it doesn't have AP6.

Yep, that worked. Thanks. Reactivated MB V6 and V7. Now just have to wait for, what, 10 "completed" units of each type so the guesstimate of completion time gets closer to the actual so I can 100 cap my caches. Currently V7 MB CPU is guessing at 22hrs50min when it actually takes 4-4.5hrs.

---

"Life is just nature's way of keeping meat fresh." - The Doctor

It's actually "over 10" (11 or more) to have the server-side average in use.

                                                                   Joe

It's actually "over 10" (11 or more) to have the server-side average in use.

                                                                   Joe

Groovy, gotcha Chief. Considering AP CPU is now guessing at 10 days each, it's going to be a while until that uses server side. Like Christmas. ;)

---

"Life is just nature's way of keeping meat fresh." - The Doctor

I previously was crunching w/ Lunatics v0.38. So I downloaded the latest installer and ran it. I'm crunching on a PIII 1400-S w/ GF 2 GTS (so no GPU tasks for me). I just accepted the defaults that were offered.

When I looked, the event log had a 'syntax error' listed. The app_info.xml file had only this line in it:

<app_info>

Moreover, I noticed that there was no AK_v8c.exe. However, there was a AP6_win_x86_SSE_CPU_r1797.exe in the projects folder.

So I made my app_info look like this mow:

<app_info>
<app>
<name>setiathome_enhanced</name>
</app>
<file_info>
<name>AK_v8b_win_SSE_p3.exe</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<app_version>
<app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name>
<version_num>603</version_num>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AK_v8b_win_SSE_p3.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app>
<name>astropulse_v6</name>
</app>
<file_info>
<name>AP6_win_x86_SSE_CPU_r1797.exe</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<app_version>
<app_name>astropulse_v6</app_name>
<version_num>6</version_num>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AP6_win_x86_SSE_CPU_r1797.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
</app_info>

Am I good to go? Is the version number for AP6 correct format? Or should I make it "600"; it previlously stated "505". I restarted boincmgr and the anonymous platform shows up w/out any syntax errors. However, when checking for work it said: none needed. I didn't get or have any WU. I'm uncertain if I'm set properly.

I'm unclear whether the AP6 executable being referenced is the optimized Lunatic image, or merely the ho-hum boiler-plate version.

Secondly, I copied the AK_v8b_win_SSE_p3.exe back into the projects folder. Is that good to go now, or what?

Furthermore, I checked my Seti@Home preferences and it has 4 items listed (all checked):

Seti Enhanced
AstroPulse v505
Seti@Home v7
AstroPulse v6

What's the difference between the last two options? And do I need the v7 checked (given my CPU hardware and lack of GPU processing capability)? And finally, given the second option checked, should I add the following to my app_info:

<app>
<name>astropulse_v505</name>
</app>
<file_info>
<name>ap_5.05r409_SSE.exe</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<app_version>
<app_name>astropulse_v505</app_name>
<version_num>505</version_num>
<file_ref>
<file_name>ap_5.05r409_SSE.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>

If so, then I'd have to copy ap_5.05r409_SSE.exe back into the projects folder too then, right? Or is v505 totally defunct - so don't worry 'bout it - and even if its not, the AP6 executable will deal with v505 WU's properly?

Pretty sure AP 5.05 has gone the way of the dodo, just set that to no in your seti preferences just in case and forget about it.

You should have a three of .aistub files in your project directory, one for V6, V7 and AP (assuming the plan is to do all three). Simply paste one after the other into a blank app_info.xml and remove the excess <app_info>, </app_info> tags so the file only has one <app_info> at the beginning and one </app_info> at the end.

And that should do it. Hopefully. Knock on wood.

---

"Life is just nature's way of keeping meat fresh." - The Doctor

When I looked, the event log had a 'syntax error' listed. The app_info.xml file had only this line in it:

<app_info>

See this message in the v.041 installer thread for the cause of the one line app_info.xml file and a fix that works for XP. Not sure it will work on your Operating System as-is, but something very similar should . You should post this situation in that thread. Richard's working on a fix for the next installer and would have interest in the facts of your case. Of course, you can build one by hand from the aistub files, but the team's interested in understanding cause and cures, and I'm the only one they've had available to troubleshoot so far.

@ Keith: With those long initial estimates, I bumped my cache setting up to a full 10 days just to keep getting work. And those estimates may make it hard to get very many AP tasks at first. Something to consider.

---

Another Fred
Support SETI@home when you search the Web with GoodSearch or shop online with GoodShop.

I previously was crunching w/ Lunatics v0.38. So I downloaded the latest installer and ran it. I'm crunching on a PIII 1400-S w/ GF 2 GTS (so no GPU tasks for me). I just accepted the defaults that were offered.

When I looked, the event log had a 'syntax error' listed. The app_info.xml file had only this line in it:

<app_info>

Moreover, I noticed that there was no AK_v8c.exe. However, there was a AP6_win_x86_SSE_CPU_r1797.exe in the projects folder.

The default app for SSE installation is the Stock 7.00 app, not an AK_v8c app, the SSE apps we tested weren't faster than the Stock app,

r409 AP app was only a v505 app, it's no good for doing AP v6 work, and there is no v505 work,
and the AK_v8b app is only a v6 MB app, it's no good for doing v7 MB work, the 7.00 app can do v6 MB and v7 MB fine, and faster than the Stock v6.03 app too,
If you make sure you're got the following files in your project directory:

setiathome_7.00_windows_intelx86.exe
libfftw3f-3-3_upx.dll
AP6_win_x86_SSE_CPU_r1797.exe
libfftw3f-3.dll
ap_cmdline_win_x86_SSE_CPU.txt

Then you can use the following app_info:

<app_info>
    <app>
        <name>setiathome_enhanced</name>
    </app>
    <file_info>
        <name>setiathome_7.00_windows_intelx86.exe</name>
        <executable/>
    </file_info>
    <file_info>
        <name>libfftw3f-3-3_upx.dll</name>
        <executable/>
    </file_info>
    <app_version>
        <app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name>
        <version_num>603</version_num>
        <file_ref>
            <file_name>setiathome_7.00_windows_intelx86.exe</file_name>
            <main_program/>
        </file_ref>
        <file_ref>
            <file_name>libfftw3f-3-3_upx.dll</file_name>
        </file_ref>
    </app_version>
    <app>
        <name>setiathome_v7</name>
    </app>
    <file_info>
        <name>setiathome_7.00_windows_intelx86.exe</name>
        <executable/>
    </file_info>
    <file_info>
        <name>libfftw3f-3-3_upx.dll</name>
        <executable/>
    </file_info>
    <app_version>
        <app_name>setiathome_v7</app_name>
        <version_num>700</version_num>
        <file_ref>
            <file_name>setiathome_7.00_windows_intelx86.exe</file_name>
            <main_program/>
        </file_ref>
        <file_ref>
            <file_name>libfftw3f-3-3_upx.dll</file_name>
        </file_ref>
    </app_version>
    <app>
        <name>astropulse_v6</name>
    </app>
    <file_info>
        <name>AP6_win_x86_SSE_CPU_r1797.exe</name>
        <executable/>
    </file_info>
    <file_info>
        <name>libfftw3f-3.dll</name>
        <executable/>
    </file_info>
    <file_info>
        <name>ap_cmdline_win_x86_SSE_CPU.txt</name>
    </file_info>
    <app_version>
        <app_name>astropulse_v6</app_name>
        <version_num>601</version_num>
        <file_ref>
            <file_name>AP6_win_x86_SSE_CPU_r1797.exe</file_name>
            <main_program/>
        </file_ref>
        <file_ref>
            <file_name>libfftw3f-3.dll</file_name>
        </file_ref>
        <file_ref>
            <file_name>ap_cmdline_win_x86_SSE_CPU.txt</file_name>
            <open_name>ap_cmdline.txt</open_name>
        </file_ref>
    </app_version>
</app_info>

Claggy

@ Keith: With those long initial estimates, I bumped my cache setting up to a full 10 days just to keep getting work. And those estimates may make it hard to get very many AP tasks at first. Something to consider.

Thanks Fred but you are a few days late to the party. I followed WinterKnight's suggestion and set the preferences for AP only and got a few to "prime the pump" so to speak and then turned V6 and V7 back on.

Once enough MB V7 CPU WUs got classified as "completed", the server side guesstimate freed up more "queue time" which allowed a few more AP and V7 WUs to download.

Then once I had a "completed" AP CPU WU (had one -9 overflow and 2 are pending) I used it's processing rate to set a temporary <flops> value for the AP CPU app which then freed up even more "queue time" so now I have hit the 100 CPU queue cap with 6 AP and 94 MB V7 CPU WUs.

GPU isn't at 100 yet because I have no info on GPU AP app performance, it'll be about two days before the first GPU AP WU is even processed, I have 6 of those pending as well and 44 MB V7. Hopefully the GPU AP WUs won't error out (I see some scuttlebutt on the forums about that) so I can get a functioning guesstimate of it's performance so I can pull the same trick with the CPU AP app and set a temporary <flops> value.

I also set my queue to 10/0.1 days because as it was my original 6 day limit was tight in terms of "queue time" for 100 of either CPU and GPU WUs, because of the longer processing time for MB V7s.

---

"Life is just nature's way of keeping meat fresh." - The Doctor

Mr. White said:

Pretty sure AP 5.05 has gone the way of the dodo, just set that to no in your seti preferences just in case and forget about it.

Roger, that. Unticked the reference to 'AP 505' in Seti@Home preferences.

Mr. White said:

You should have a three of .aistub files in your project directory, one for V6, V7 and AP (assuming the plan is to do all three).

I have four aistubs:

AKv8b_SSE
AP6_win_x86_SSE_CPU
setiathome_7.00
setiathome_7.00_v6

Since I manually copied back into the project folder the AKv8b image and aistub files, I should delete those, right?

Mr. E. said:

See this message in the v.041 installer thread for the cause of the one line app_info.xml file and a fix that works for XP. Not sure it will work on your Operating System as-is, but something very similar should . You should post this situation in that thread...

Roger, that.

Mr. Claggy said:

The default app for SSE installation is the Stock 7.00 app, not an AK_v8c app, the SSE apps we tested weren't faster than the Stock app...If you make sure you're got the following files in your project directory:

...
ap_cmdline_win_x86_SSE_CPU.txt

Then you can use the following app_info:

Roger, that. Confirmed the 'cmdline' file is there. Copy the app_info transmission.

Thanx for all your helps.

[EDIT: after implementing aforementioned app_info, and restarting boincmgr, the following message was in the event log:

6/9/2013 1:36:58 PM | SETI@home | Resent lost task ap_09ja12af_B5_P0_00309_20130609_04621.wu_0

Dunno what that was - I had no Seti WU - but I gots WU now, i.e., local astropulse v6 6.01. Its claiming 351 hr crunch time. That's to grimace proportions akin the old Lattice Project Garli WU's that I crunched back in the day. As long as these WU's can live fat dumb and happy w/ in 1.5 GB phys memory, I'm good to go.]

Initial estimates at running APs are way too pessimistic, and even after a few have been crunched they can be all over the shop.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?