After reading over this forum for a while, I have heard other people mention that they were using different optimized applications for doing the work units.

So far, I have been using the BOINC manager to do my crunching, and as I am beginning to get more interested in this project I am looking for ways to improve.

Should I be using an optimized application? What are situations where it would be beneficial to do so - is it for everyone? Is there any information about this topic available that I may have missed?

Thank you in advance to anyone who may reply.

There is a thread in this section on optimized applications. Being a Linux user, I am using the stock MB SETI@home 7.01 app on one PC and the optimized application Astropulse 6.01 on another PC. It is much faster than the stock Astropulse and it was made by a group of developers called Lunatics.
Tullio

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Thanks for your response.

A follow up question; When you say that you are using the stock app for seti@home, does this mean boinc manager?

I'll have to try to find the forum post you have mentioned.

Edit: I think I found it, couldn't see the forest for the trees!

If you install BOINC, it will d/l the current "stock" applications.
If you use Lunatics (after BOINC install, of course), it will install the current "optimized" apps - when you use the installer, make sure you choose the correct 32 or 64 bit apps.

Note: a possible deal breaker - if stock apps are updated, you get them automatically. If Lunatics apps are updated, you have to change them yourself.
Not a big deal, but not trivial, either.

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does this mean boinc manager?

You are confusing BOINC v7 and SETI@home v7!

There are replacements for the BOINC manager, but that's only the Graphical User Interface and has nothing to do with running the (optimised) applications.

Gruß,
Gundolf

Thanks for your clarifications. As you can see, I am still struggling to learn terminology and the process this project follows.

The way you've described this here sounds pretty easy. I also appreciate the clarification, but having to update lunatics is not a deal breaker for me.

Thanks again! Going go try Lunatics now!

does this mean boinc manager?

You are confusing BOINC v7 and SETI@home v7!

There are replacements for the BOINC manager, but that's only the Graphical User Interface and has nothing to do with running the (optimised) applications.

Gruß,
Gundolf

Oh, yes I am confusing those things. I think I have it straight now, thanks!

After reading over this forum for a while, I have heard other people mention that they were using different optimized applications for doing the work units.

So far, I have been using the BOINC manager to do my crunching, and as I am beginning to get more interested in this project I am looking for ways to improve.

Should I be using an optimized application? What are situations where it would be beneficial to do so - is it for everyone? Is there any information about this topic available that I may have missed?

Thank you in advance to anyone who may reply.

The optimized apps will be faster than the stock apps and the new installer makes it easy to install them; but where the stock apps will auto-update when an updated stock app is available the optimized apps will need to be manually updated. By regularly checking these message boards you will know.

BOINC Manager will still be used it's just the programs that do the actual work will be different.

If you decide to go optimized you need some information about your machine(s) first. Download and run CPUz to find out what instruction sets your CPU has (SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, AVX ...). I'm not familiar with Intel CPUs so I can't tell what yours is capable of.

Next you need the installer, installer for 32 bit Windows and the installer for 64 bit Windows. Shutdown BOINC before you do the install, the installer will do it for you but I like to do it myself.

Run the installer, after clicking through the obligatory 'Yes's, 'OK's, and 'I Agree's you get to choose what to install. From what I understand about the new installer is that any options that you cannot use will be greyed out so you can't screw too much up. Choose the 'highest' (SSE2 instead of SSE, AVX instead of SSE2 ...) option that you CPU supports.

The next section sets up ATI GPU, you dont have one so don't select anything. Just click 'Next'. In the Nvidia section you can choose to process Astropulse and what version of Multibeam (regular SETI work). The stock app is the same as the Optimised app right now and I see that you've already completed some cuda42 work so choose 'Lunatics_x41zc_win32_cuda42'.

Continue through the rest of the install and there you go. You will know if it's working if you look in the startup messages of BOINC and see "Found app_info.xml; using anonymous platform". Also open the Task Manager and you should see a program running called something like 'AKv8c_B XXXXXXX' depending on what option you installed.

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</Tazz>

Thanks very much Tazz for your very detailed instructions. I had gone through the installation once and began getting computation errors, and figured I'd better go back to stock options immediately because I didn't know what I was doing.

But after your instructions I think I have the proper options selected.

A few additional questions for the sake of discussion...

The work unit that is running via my graphics card seems to be running a cuda50 unit and plans to take less than two hours to run it. Not bad!

However, some AP v6.01 and seti@home 7.00 units are saying that they are going to take a lot more time than they did on my stock applications. 18 hours from a seti@home unit, when they'd take about 6 before. 178 hours for the AP work unit, when it used to take about 36 before.

I fear I have still screwed something up here. ;/ This surely isn't expected for something that is supposed to be optimized?

Thanks very much Tazz for your very detailed instructions. I had gone through the installation once and began getting computation errors, and figured I'd better go back to stock options immediately because I didn't know what I was doing.

But after your instructions I think I have the proper options selected.

A few additional questions for the sake of discussion...

The work unit that is running via my graphics card seems to be running a cuda50 unit and plans to take less than two hours to run it. Not bad!

However, some AP v6.01 and seti@home 7.00 units are saying that they are going to take a lot more time than they did on my stock applications. 18 hours from a seti@home unit, when they'd take about 6 before. 178 hours for the AP work unit, when it used to take about 36 before.

I fear I have still screwed something up here. ;/ This surely isn't expected for something that is supposed to be optimized?

Until you have completed and gotten credit awarded for 10 or 11 WUs, Boinc screws up the guess on estimated time.
I would just let 'er rip.......

If things are not settled when you have completed a dozen tasks or so and gotten credit for them, please post again.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Thanks msattler, I'll do just that!

Let the (hopefully) optimized crunching begin!

Thanks msattler, I'll do just that!

Let the (hopefully) optimized crunching begin!

As in most things Seti.
Waiting is.............

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster