On the Q&A pages there is a lot of comments about the BOINC/Seti screensaver, mainly they don't like it, or the emulation as described in the Wiki.

I personally don't like screensavers of any kind, much prefer the blank screen and lowering the electricity consumption, gotta save resources for our grandchildren etc. And most, including Seti's get to very boring.

Also some of them are actually pretty static and therefore don't do the primary job of saving the phosphrous layer on a crt monitor.

I also get the impression that some of those who like the classic screensaver actually sat and watched it. Uhh, get a life!

So please tell me if you can:

How many people actually run them?

Why?

Why you don't find them boring?

If you look at the Seti screensaver do you understand what it is telling you?

In anticipation of a good flaming,

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... the BOINC/Seti screensaver, ...

Nope. I let my system go to a blank screen. Save the CPU cycles for more useful work!

I've listened to a few WUs of interest and carefully looked through them with a spectrum analyser (non-Boinc/s@h software).

I would guess that many find the graphics 'pretty' just like fairy lights... :-)

Cheers,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

... the BOINC/Seti screensaver, ...

Nope. I let my system go to a blank screen. Save the CPU cycles for more useful work!

I've listened to a few WUs of interest and carefully looked through them with a spectrum analyser (non-Boinc/s@h software).

I would guess that many find the graphics 'pretty' just like fairy lights... :-)

Cheers,
Martin

If I spend one more second in front of a spectrum analyser, or even a datalogger it will be one second too long.

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If I spend one more second in front of a spectrum analyser, or even a datalogger it will be one second too long.

I guess you're not one for going fishing either.

Neither am I but many people do spend all day cold and wet to get nary a nibble...

Takes all sorts...

Cheers,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

A friend and I were out hunting, it was a cold and miserable day, snow was coming down at a good rate. We neared a creek, and on the other side was a golf course. there were golfers out in the snow golfing. "golfers, they're not to bright to be out in this weather", I said to my friend.

LOL

(this was stolen from a comic)

... out in the snow golfing...

They have special flourescent orange balls specially for the occasion!

It's the strange mish-mash of people that often make group projects work so well.

Cheers,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

I have special flourescent orange balls specially for the occasion!
Martin

Now I'm worried, better see the doctor

I have special flourescent orange balls specially for the occasion!
Martin

Now I'm worried, better see the doctor

Then you should see the glow-in-the-dark balls they use here to play at night. They also mark the flags with glow sticks.

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IAS - Where Space Is Golden!

I have special flourescent orange balls specially for the occasion!
Martin

Now I'm worried, better see the doctor

Tony, you just found an alien......

I have special flourescent orange balls specially for the occasion!
Martin

Now I'm worried, better see the doctor

LOL, I am the doctor!

Quite a nasty case of missquote there I think... :-P

Cheers,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

I have special flourescent orange balls specially for the occasion!
Martin

Now I'm worried, better see the doctor

LOL, I am the doctor!

Quite a nasty case of missquote there I think... :-P

Cheers,
Martin

SHHHHHH don't tell

While it may be fun to watch the different screensavers for a few minutes, to "see what the project is doing", I can't imagine that _very_ many people actually sit and watch...

However, many find the screensaver to be "reassurance" that something is actually going on. They want to pass through the room and glance over and see "ok, SETI is making pretty colors, so it's working", or "wow, that Rosetta protein is SO close... come on, blue part, go left, not right!"

For the intellectual question "is it working", the "bouncing BOINC" with % complete is adequate, but let's face it, it can't compete with tropical fish swimming around the screen. SETI Classic, Einstein, and Rosetta (and maybe others, I don't know) all "look cool", and people seeing them go "what's that?". Then you can explain, and maybe sign up another host for the project. The SETI/BOINC screensaver just makes people say "ew, yuck - that'd make me seasick!". That's not a slam on whoever wrote it - it's a slam on whoever gave them the requirements...

The developer/scientist mindset is "show as many details as possible", counterbalanced by "don't slow the app down by very much". Having done GUI design and specification for years, and having written screensavers, I think a much better screensaver could be designed that would update maybe once every five or ten seconds, reassure that SETI was working, take very little CPU time, and be pleasing to the eye. Einstein is close. Rosetta, other than too _fast_ an update speed (IMHO), is VERY close. No matter how much you "tweak" the current SETI/BOINC screensaver, you just aren't going to make it look good, unless they add a single "make it look exactly like Classic" setting. (Not that Classic was great, but it's familiar, and better.) If the "but Classic didn't move so it could burn in" problem is really worth worrying about, there are ways to fix that without inducing motion sickness. :-)

If the "but Classic didn't move so it could burn in" problem is really worth worrying about, there are ways to fix that without inducing motion sickness. :-)

Actually Screen burn disappeared more than 5 years ago. Today's monitors really are not likely to have a problem. Screen savers are only for the pretty pictures.

EXCEPTION: If your rich enough to own a plasma screen you will have a burn problem.

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Boinc V7.2.42
Win7 i5 3.33G 4GB, GTX470

On the Q&A pages there is a lot of comments about the BOINC/Seti screensaver, mainly they don't like it, or the emulation as described in the Wiki.

I personally don't like screensavers of any kind, much prefer the blank screen and lowering the electricity consumption, gotta save resources for our grandchildren etc. And most, including Seti's get to very boring.

Also some of them are actually pretty static and therefore don't do the primary job of saving the phosphrous layer on a crt monitor.

I also get the impression that some of those who like the classic screensaver actually sat and watched it. Uhh, get a life!

I don't run a screensaver. I have my system set up to where if it got to the point where it would normally run a screensaver it instead puts my monitor to sleep.

I have a glance every now and then but its something I don't use, I much prefer to just switch the monitor off

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For me....

Screensaver set to blank after 5 minutes (every cpu cycle counts....)
Monitor set to power down after 10 minutes (saves on electricity and heat, not enough for another CPU, but I'm working on it)

TMR's optomised clients removed the graphics anyway.

In anycase, the representation of information in the Seti screensaver is somewhat abstract due to the sampling and spliting process: So IMHO there's little point in watching it, unless you are researching a cure for motion sickness.

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So IMHO there's little point in watching it, unless you are researching a cure for motion sickness.

ROFL! I'm stealing that line...

On the Q&A pages there is a lot of comments about the BOINC/Seti screensaver, mainly they don't like it, or the emulation as described in the Wiki.

There are of course... those who disagree.

Love it. I burnt an image on a CRT when I first started SETI.

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I guess I'm one of the few people who like the screensavers. I don't sit and watch them (except for a new one like Rosetta, I'll watch it for a while), but I like to see them running -- they remind me that Boinc is doing something and not crashed (without opening up the manager), and they give each project a distinguishing feature. A well-designed one can give you some idea of what the science is that's being done. (Einstein's not so good here.)

Yes, they do get boring if one is all you're running. I try to run all the projects that have screensavers on each machine so that they switch around. I've given up on LHC, though. Someone needs to fix it because it takes over your machine. It's also fake, not related to the data you're crunching.

What's more boring than the same old screensaver is nothing at all, which so many Boinc projects give you. There's nothing to distinguish them from each other if there's no graphics. They are just numbers in columns. I guess that's OK for those who only want a stats competition, which seems like the majority of folks.

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So as not to spam, I'll ask in this thread, is there anything in Wiki that tells me how to stop the SETI screensaver from spinning?

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Hullo there.