It is worth remembering that the project has NEVER guaranteed us a "never ending" supply of tasks.
The advise, from the project, is to have at least one standby project, so that if one's main project runs out of tasks, for whatever reason. This can be achieved by setting your standby project priority to zero, thus it will only get tasks when required.

Yes, I know and why I have Einstein and MilkyWay as my backup projects. I just might relegate SETI as my backup project and push Einstein as primary.

I have an additional Linux partiton which helps me to avoid running out of work.
Of course it needs some training of boinc.

---

With each crime and every kindness we birth our future.

It is worth remembering that the project has NEVER guaranteed us a "never ending" supply of tasks.
The advise, from the project, is to have at least one standby project, so that if one's main project runs out of tasks, for whatever reason. This can be achieved by setting your standby project priority to zero, thus it will only get tasks when required.

Yes, I know and why I have Einstein and MilkyWay as my backup projects. I just might relegate SETI as my backup project and push Einstein as primary.

I have an additional Linux partiton which helps me to avoid running out of work.
Of course it needs some training of boinc.

Putting together either a Linux partition or a new Linux computer along with Petri's special sauce app has me intrigued. I don't think I have seen any comments from Linux users about any inability to get the server to send them work. Probably the only way to get around my work issue problem.

---

Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

Putting together either a Linux partition or a new Linux computer along with Petri's special sauce app has me intrigued. I don't think I have seen any comments from Linux users about any inability to get the server to send them work. Probably the only way to get around my work issue problem.

For the last couple of weeks or so I've only had to swap the application settings around once a day, or once every 2 days to keep my cache up. Till this morning when it was nearly empty and I had to change the settings back again from what I had done last night.
:-\

There seem to be a few VLARs around at the moment which is probably impacting the ability to get GPU work.
And I don't recall seeing even re-sends for Guppie work over the last few days either. Someone else must be picking up those re-sends.

---

Grant
Darwin NT

I have the exact same sympathies. SETI will always hold a special place in my heart since it got me started with distributed computing back in Classic days. I agree completely on the credit mechanism at Einstein. Makes absolute sense and best shows the lunacy of CreditNew here at SETI.

Agree 100%, but DA is God, until that changes, business as usual.

And some of us just take da lumps and carry on with the business at hand.
I am sure Dr. Anderson is aware of all of the complaints leveled in his general direction.
Just having reached the 830 MILLION credit marker, it appears to have been working OK for me.
I am not about to complain that it could be 850 million credits.

Meow.

. . Fair enough, but the discrepancy is MUCH greater than that.

Stephen

<shrug>

Down to 7 GPU tasks on one computer now. Not getting any work when requested. Guess I will have to sit and play the project toggle game for 15 minutes now.

. . Now I am disturbed, I have been getting regular work for over 24 hours and I presumed they had sorted out the problem (after the previous day without new work). So it bothers me that the bug is still alive and living in SETI@Home. I hope it sorts out for you soon.

Stephen

<Shrug>

Both my rigs have been going well at keeping their caches up and I have a few GBT resends as well as several AP's in them.

Cheers.

Thanks Dog that we are so well informed about what's wrong with the Breakthrough Listen lack of work.
If we weren't, we might have been a little bit frustrated.
Especially since we've been told that there is now an abundance of data, in this post:

SETI@home Fall 2016 Fundraiser

.....The abundance of data has made our funding needs a little more demanding this year......

. . I think that refers to the abundance of data coming from the telescopes, not the abundance of data coming from S@H to us minions.

Stephen

:)

While you feel you can't sit back and let BOINC do its thing there are those, like myself, who are quite happy to let BOINC do what it does - I can't remember the last time I did anything other than watch my top ten cruncher work its way through whatever tasks have been sent by the servers, on which ever processor that the server sent those tasks to. Indeed only one of my crunchers gets any more attention that that - my daily driver, and that just gets BOINC shutdown when it is doing money earning work.

. . That must be sooo boring ... LOL

Stephen

:)

reading different topics on this forum shows that some people are relying on what Keith is doing to get work while others are not having to go through this like rob is saying.

It seems this particular problem is affecting some more than others... most of us are here because seti@home was our first project... and I think most of us are still here because it is a good community....

despite the issue with lack of work, the unfair credits system (even if you don't care about it, it is a problem), and whatever else is bothering you... if it wasn't for the community and what this project represents, why else would anyone stick to a project that returned 0 results since 1999?

. . Kind of says it all, but just what does it say about us? LOL. Sad Nerds or visionary dreamers?

Stephen

:)

It is worth remembering that the project has NEVER guaranteed us a "never ending" supply of tasks.
The advise, from the project, is to have at least one standby project, so that if one's main project runs out of tasks, for whatever reason. This can be achieved by setting your standby project priority to zero, thus it will only get tasks when required.

. . {Ears pricked up!}

. . Ok tell me more. I have been manually swapping between projects by setting NNW on the undesired one and then suspending it. If there is a better and more seamless way I would like to know. Is there a way (or need) to tell it at what point to change between them ? Or for that matter any other settings that need to be considered?

Stephen

??

Under your project preferences you can set a "Resource share" for that project.

Mine is set as 100 for SETI and 0 for my backups projects so those backup projects only get asked for work when I have no SETI work for a certain resource.

Cheers.

For the most part, BOINC does its thing fairly well ... other than some occasional issues with project priority scheduling. It's a pretty robust underlying architecture for distributed computing projects now. I don't think I have done anything to MilkyWay in at least a couple of years. It just downloads new work and applications without my intervention and just runs. Always have work. Same pretty much for Einstein. You just have to monitor any new campaigns that pop up occasionally and are automatically enabled in your project preferences which you might have to turn off if you don't want that work. It too doesn't seem to have any problems creating work for its clients barring the occasional server maintenance periods. Also, I like that they always announce scheduled server maintenance well in advance of the date and nobody is ever surprised of the temporary interruptions in delivering work. I wish SETI was run as well these days. Lately, SETI is always in crisis mode, running to put out fires constantly. I am having buyers remorse over my yearly contribution to the project. I'm wishing my money had gone to Einstein last year. I know that I am not the only one who has become disheartened with the project. I might be joining Zalster over at Einstein as my primary project.

I agree that this has a great support community and one of the reasons I remain so far. There is very little traffic in Number Crunching over at MilkyWay. Same for Einstein in Cruncher's Corner which has a bit more than MW. Some of that is because not much changes except for the occasional application update. Mainly there is little forum traffic because the projects JUST work and don't need much troubleshooting input from forum members.

. . Oh Keith! While I know the frustration with the seemingly constant "playing catch up" these days it saddens me that you are feeling so put out. Remember, this project runs MOSTLY without much system based funding, relying on contributions from outside such as companies but mostly from individuals like us, and not all involved with the project bother to give anything. Such limitations restrict the ability to increase/enhance the project infrastructure but it seems to me the current troubles are more a product of a change rather than through neglect. I think we need to bear with them through this. I know nothing of the Milky Way project (but strangely now fancy something sweet) or the science over at Einstein, but I am sure both are worthwhile. But it is the primary objective of SETI that matters most to me. For what it is worth I have 0.0000000000 doubt that there is other life in the Universe, nor that some/much of it has intelligence. The big question is, did that strange little switch that flicked on in our species and made us obsessed with abstract concepts and sciences get thrown in any of the other life forms out there? Since it will be a long time yet (if ever) before we can go out there and see for ourselves, then this project is our best (and possible only) chance of ever answering that question. {putting soap box away} So please guys hang in there.

. . And for those who consider talking about problems in these forums to be some kind of heresy, dare I say grow up. The only way to get past problems is by dealing with them not by ignoring them. For those not affected, good for you! For those who are affected an answer needs to be found. At the moment the problem seems to have cleared up for me, but if not for others than a full solution is yet to be found and really needs to be. If not fixed that little hole in the roof can collapse a whole building ...

. . My two cents worth ...

Stephen

:)

Yes, I know and why I have Einstein and MilkyWay as my backup projects. I just might relegate SETI as my backup project and push Einstein as primary.

I have an additional Linux partiton which helps me to avoid running out of work.
Of course it needs some training of boinc.

Putting together either a Linux partition or a new Linux computer along with Petri's special sauce app has me intrigued. I don't think I have seen any comments from Linux users about any inability to get the server to send them work. Probably the only way to get around my work issue problem.

. . Sounds like it's worth a try! :)

Stephen

:)

Putting together either a Linux partition or a new Linux computer along with Petri's special sauce app has me intrigued. I don't think I have seen any comments from Linux users about any inability to get the server to send them work. Probably the only way to get around my work issue problem.

For the last couple of weeks or so I've only had to swap the application settings around once a day, or once every 2 days to keep my cache up. Till this morning when it was nearly empty and I had to change the settings back again from what I had done last night.
:-\

There seem to be a few VLARs around at the moment which is probably impacting the ability to get GPU work.
And I don't recall seeing even re-sends for Guppie work over the last few days either. Someone else must be picking up those re-sends.

. . Hi Grant,

. . I had one yesterday :) They are quite rare these days.

. . But it is bizarre, 2 days ago when you were able to get new work my caches all ran dry, now you are running out again my my caches are filling on each attempt. Touch wood! But it seems that this issue tends to move between a limited number of users on a localised basis (not geographically) so is possible there is some currupt data/system pointer that is being moved along a limited path within the assignment process??

Oh well

Stephen

<shrug>

Under your project preferences you can set a "Resource share" for that project.

Mine is set as 100 for SETI and 0 for my backups projects so those backup projects only get asked for work when I have no SETI work for a certain resource.

Cheers.

. . But what if the alternate projects floods your caches with their work and you cannot get new work for the primary project when it becomes available? My issues in changing back from E@H were the need to set NNT and wait for the cache to process through or abort them to get back to SETI. Can this be avoided?

Stephen

??

. . Oh Keith! While I know the frustration with the seemingly constant "playing catch up" these days it saddens me that you are feeling so put out. Remember, this project runs MOSTLY without much system based funding, relying on contributions from outside such as companies but mostly from individuals like us, and not all involved with the project bother to give anything. Such limitations restrict the ability to increase/enhance the project infrastructure but it seems to me the current troubles are more a product of a change rather than through neglect. I think we need to bear with them through this. I know nothing of the Milky Way project (but strangely now fancy something sweet) or the science over at Einstein, but I am sure both are worthwhile. But it is the primary objective of SETI that matters most to me. For what it is worth I have 0.0000000000 doubt that there is other life in the Universe, nor that some/much of it has intelligence. The big question is, did that strange little switch that flicked on in our species and made us obsessed with abstract concepts and sciences get thrown in any of the other life forms out there? Since it will be a long time yet (if ever) before we can go out there and see for ourselves, then this project is our best (and possible only) chance of ever answering that question. {putting soap box away} So please guys hang in there.

. . And for those who consider talking about problems in these forums to be some kind of heresy, dare I say grow up. The only way to get past problems is by dealing with them not by ignoring them. For those not affected, good for you! For those who are affected an answer needs to be found. At the moment the problem seems to have cleared up for me, but if not for others than a full solution is yet to be found and really needs to be. If not fixed that little hole in the roof can collapse a whole building ...

. . My two cents worth ...

Stephen

:)

How can you say that we aren't seeing neglect when the last Technical News post from staff was from almost 1 year ago.

If you read my profile dissertation, you will see the reasons for my interest in MilkyWay and Einstein. Basically MW is mapping out the structure of the galaxy by looking at the effects of gravity on the tidal streams of all the satellite galaxies we have consumed over the lifetime of our little galaxy. The science is helping figure out what influence dark matter in our halo has on the tidal streams and might give us some insight into just what dark matter and dark energy is. Einstein's purpose is pretty simple, find evidence of gravity waves and how they interact with matter. Already has proof of gravity but that didn't come directly from its distributed computing efforts but additional separate research. Both projects have produced publishable results. SETI can't say the same so far. I still have hope though it will eventually.

As an amateur astronomer, one realizes just how big the Universe is and the likelihood that other intelligent life has occurred at some time in its past. I think all the professional astronomers have reached the conclusion that EVERY star has planets now. It's just the inherent nature of solar system building. We can then conclude that the chances of life occurring elsewhere have almost a 100% probability considering the unfathomable number of planets that must exist in the Universe. Even at minuscule probabilities, the likelihood of other intelligent life occurring has to be considered.

My $0.02

---

Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

I know it's not everybody's cuppa.
But the kitties have the crunchers locked on Seti only.
If the project goes to sleep, so do the crunchers.
Not a problem really.
If something goes wrong, I attempt to contact Eric or Jeff.
Most times, I get through to them and repairs are made.
If I cannot, or if the problem requires physical interaction at the colo, sometimes it takes more time.

I am very happy with the level of uptime on this project as of late.
Things do go south once in a while, but not too often.

Some have invoked the name of other projects being better managed.
Bullroar. They have nowhere near the server traffic that Seti does. Not even close.
Fractions of the users Seti has.

IF you wish to leave, do so quickly and quietly. Please.
This has been my project for many years, and if the science is worthy, shall be until I pass away.
So, please do NOT tell me how much better things are elsewhere.
If that is your true feeling, go there now.
And do not trouble me with your spit again.

Meow.

---

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

Under your project preferences you can set a "Resource share" for that project.

Mine is set as 100 for SETI and 0 for my backups projects so those backup projects only get asked for work when I have no SETI work for a certain resource.

Cheers.

. . But what if the alternate projects floods your caches with their work and you cannot get new work for the primary project when it becomes available? My issues in changing back from E@H were the need to set NNT and wait for the cache to process through or abort them to get back to SETI. Can this be avoided?

Stephen

??

My backup projects are only allowed to pickup half a day's worth of cache at anytime.

Cheers.

. . But what if the alternate projects floods your caches with their work and you cannot get new work for the primary project when it becomes available? My issues in changing back from E@H were the need to set NNT and wait for the cache to process through or abort them to get back to SETI. Can this be avoided?

Stephen

??

Unfortunately, that seems to be an issue with Einstein sending too much work when it has low resource settings. If you set the project up with even a moderate share of resource slice, then it will eventually settle down and you won't get overfilled. That mostly has to do with how BOINC works. You have to do a little bit of monitoring now to keep that from happening with low resource share and some NNT periods. For a while when they had BRP4G work flowing, I got around that by limiting how much drive space BOINC was allowed because the BRP4G tasks were so large. It would prevent too much work from being downloaded. But that work is gone and now we are onto Gamma Ray Pulsar Binary detection and those tasks take up very little drive space and the trick I used on BRP4G doesn't work now. MilkyWay has never been a problem because they have a hard 80 task limit per GPU at any time so it's impossible to get too much work.

---

Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

Some have invoked the name of other projects being better managed.
Bullroar. They have nowhere near the server traffic that Seti does. Not even close.
Fractions of the users Seti has.

Rosetta has 3/4 the numbers of user as SETI. Einstein as 1/4 the numbers of users. So not so small fractions as you state.

IF you wish to leave, do so quickly and quietly. Please.
This has been my project for many years, and if the science is worthy, shall be until I pass away.
So, please do NOT tell me how much better things are elsewhere.
If that is your true feeling, go there now.
And do not trouble me with your spit again.

Meow.

And thus the SETI nazi has spoken?? No room for discourse in this forum that doesn't toe the party line in your opinion?

---

Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)