Lol... I have four machines on a shelf that are connected by a KVM switch; up until a few months ago it was an old VGA/PS2 one, so I was using a ball mouse as all my optical ones were USB. Well now I feel three thousand years old, thanks. :^)

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This is an alert to IBM Field Engineers that went out to all IBM Branch Offices. The person who wrote it was very serious. The rest of us find it rather funny, and some of us remember all too well.

Abstract: Mouse Balls Available as FRU (Field Replacement Unit)

Mouse balls are now available as FRU. Therefore, if a mouse fails to operate or should it perform erratically, it may need a ball replacement. Because of the delicate nature of this procedure, replacement of mouse balls should only be attempted by properly trained personnel.

Before proceeding, determine the type of mouse balls by examining the underside of the mouse. Domestic balls will be larger and harder than foreign balls. Ball removal procedures differ depending upon manufacturer of the mouse. Foreign balls can be replaced using the pop-off method. Domestic balls are replaced using the twist-off method. Mouse balls are not usually static sensitive. However, excessive handling can result in sudden discharge. Upon completion of ball replacement, the mouse may be used immediately.

It is recommended that each replacer have a pair of spare balls for maintaining optimum customer satisfaction, and that any customer missing his balls should suspect local personnel of removing these necessary items.

To re-order, specify one of the following:

P/N 33F8462 - Domestic Mouse Balls
P/N 33F8461 - Foreign Mouse Balls

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

I've been running ball less for the last 24yrs now. :-D




Oh, I'm also talking about mice too, but I never replaced their balls (I just got sick of cleaning the crap out of them). ;-)

Cheers.

Out of interest did anybody receive any ghost tasks around 20 Sep 2019, 23:19:07 UTC? I received at least 117. I allowed my new 3900 X to get some CPU work however I cannot see how I got so many ghost tasks. Just wondering was I the only 1

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Out of interest did anybody receive any ghost tasks around 20 Sep 2019, 23:19:07 UTC? I received at least 117. I allowed my new 3900 X to get some CPU work however I cannot see how I got so many ghost tasks. Just wondering was I the only 1

No I haven't had any issues with the scheduler. You just must be very lucky to hit the RTS buffer when tasks went missing on the server. Might have been a few microseconds late in your request that somebody else grabbed all those tasks before you got to them.

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

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

Not quite that old of a mouse but I still use a Logitech Trackman. My co-workers are constantly trying to steal it. But since I'm the only one with one, it's pretty easy to see who took it.

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Out of interest did anybody receive any ghost tasks around 20 Sep 2019, 23:19:07 UTC? I received at least 117. I allowed my new 3900 X to get some CPU work however I cannot see how I got so many ghost tasks. Just wondering was I the only 1

No I haven't had any issues with the scheduler. You just must be very lucky to hit the RTS buffer when tasks went missing on the server. Might have been a few microseconds late in your request that somebody else grabbed all those tasks before you got to them.

Thanks Keith, I have cleaned up now so other people can process them. In total there were 232. Some were GPU and some were CPU

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Out of interest did anybody receive any ghost tasks around 20 Sep 2019, 23:19:07 UTC? I received at least 117. I allowed my new 3900 X to get some CPU work however I cannot see how I got so many ghost tasks. Just wondering was I the only 1

Looking at them, they weren't Ghosts- Ghosts are where the Scheduler thinks you got them, but didn't.
These ones were all errors where you got them, then they timed out. They reached their deadline before you processed them.

Created         20 Sep 2019, 19:19:34 UTC 
Sent            21 Sep 2019,  1:07:44 UTC 
Report deadline 21 Sep 2019,  1:10:17 UTC

A deadline 3min after it was sent doesn't make much sense. You didn't make any changes to your computers date around that time?

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Grant
Darwin NT

Out of interest did anybody receive any ghost tasks around 20 Sep 2019, 23:19:07 UTC? I received at least 117. I allowed my new 3900 X to get some CPU work however I cannot see how I got so many ghost tasks. Just wondering was I the only 1

Looking at them, they weren't Ghosts- Ghosts are where the Scheduler thinks you got them, but didn't.
These ones were all errors where you got them, then they timed out. They reached their deadline before you processed them.

Created         20 Sep 2019, 19:19:34 UTC 
Sent            21 Sep 2019,  1:07:44 UTC 
Report deadline 21 Sep 2019,  1:10:17 UTC

A deadline 3min after it was sent doesn't make much sense. You didn't make any changes to your computers date around that time?

No my date and time are set correctly. I'm going to put it down to bad luck. I just checked one of the results in errors and two copies have been sent out with the right return date. Beats me. Appreciate your help with this Grant

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I have had this very same thing happen to me on several occasions. I could never figure out the cause and just chuck it up to a scheduler hiccup of some fashion. There was never anything wrong with any host. Just bad luck or bad timing. Who knows?

So this is not a one-off, it happens to others sporadically.

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

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

I have had this very same thing happen to me on several occasions. I could never figure out the cause and just chuck it up to a scheduler hiccup of some fashion. There was never anything wrong with any host. Just bad luck or bad timing. Who knows?

So this is not a one-off, it happens to others sporadically.

I am am aware this is annoying for you Keith but it is good for me to know. I am wondering now whether or not I needed to go through the process of freeing all of my results or whether it would have done it by itself without having to wait for 2.5 3 months

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As has been mentioned, those tasks were not actual "ghosts" as they actually arrived on your host. So no need to run through the recovery protocol.

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

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

As has been mentioned, those tasks were not actual "ghosts" as they actually arrived on your host. So no need to run through the recovery protocol.

Great. Funny thing is though I actually never saw them on my system. When I did the recovery process they came through as expired in my results log. I am pleased they have gone to other people

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As has been mentioned, those tasks were not actual "ghosts" as they actually arrived on your host. So no need to run through the recovery protocol.

Great. Funny thing is though I actually never saw them on my system. When I did the recovery process they came through as expired in my results log. I am pleased they have gone to other people

Did those WUs download/get allocated before you ran the Lunatics installer?
Even so, the Lunatics installer makes an app_info.xml file that allows the selected applications to process work that's been allocated to other applications, so it should have still been possible to recover them if they were ghosts.

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Grant
Darwin NT

As has been mentioned, those tasks were not actual "ghosts" as they actually arrived on your host. So no need to run through the recovery protocol.

Great. Funny thing is though I actually never saw them on my system. When I did the recovery process they came through as expired in my results log. I am pleased they have gone to other people

Did those WUs download/get allocated before you ran the Lunatics installer?
Even so, the Lunatics installer makes an app_info.xml file that allows the selected applications to process work that's been allocated to other applications, so it should have still been possible to recover them if they were ghosts.

Note the only thing that I added was a commandline for my GPU but that was after this had happened.
I went through the recovery process but they all displayed as expired in my event log

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I was seeing messages on my news feed about Chromebooks running into "end of OS updates" because of "how old" they are. Apparently it is an interaction between the manufacturers choice of a "start date" and 6.5 years.

Well my ASUS c300m just popped that message up. I guess I will have to resort to the "Windows 7" solution (keep running till the hardware won't boot).

Tom

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A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association).

31 out of the top 100 Seti processors are running 16 or more cpu threads.

And there are 46 of them in the 100-200 range.

It seems we have a lot of 2990wx's and even more 1st gen threadrippers. A lot e5-26xx server cpus/mb's. And maybe a half dozen or so of those 80 thread combos.

Tom

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A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association).

31 out of the top 100 Seti processors are running 16 or more cpu threads.

And there are 46 of them in the 100-200 range.

It seems we have a lot of 2990wx's and even more 1st gen threadrippers. A lot e5-26xx server cpus/mb's. And maybe a half dozen or so of those 80 thread combos.

Tom

Why don't you comment on the #3295 issue regarding how BOINC is not keeping up with multi-core or multi-cpu hardware platforms.
I put in my two cents of comment.

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

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

31 out of the top 100 Seti processors are running 16 or more cpu threads.

And there are 46 of them in the 100-200 range.

It seems we have a lot of 2990wx's and even more 1st gen threadrippers. A lot e5-26xx server cpus/mb's. And maybe a half dozen or so of those 80 thread combos.

Tom

Why don't you comment on the #3295 issue regarding how BOINC is not keeping up with multi-core or multi-cpu hardware platforms.
I put in my two cents of comment.

+1 and I did.

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A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association).

I have seen a few EPYC servers on the top hosts list but when I do a search on the cpu page none are found.....

https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/show_host_detail.php?hostid=8813927

Tom

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A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association).