Why does the new BOINC-screensaver look like the wet dream of a 14 year old computer nerd in 1990?
The new screensaver regarded as graphic art is below the floorboards - annoying, poorly proportioned and poorly coloured.
The old one wasn't anything in particular - why go to something worse?
Please introduce a more urbane version - no point in promoting dislike for seti through uglyness.

---

You can configure the look of the screensaver. - It was often asked here in the help desk fourms. With search engine you will find a lot of posts, also it is int the wiki very good documentated....

---

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder......

---

And the beat goes on
Sonny and Cher

BOINC Wiki

The original SETI screen saver was lifted from the Star Trek Next Gen computer panels, and pretty well looked like the wet dream of a Star Trek fan.

But the fact is it burned screens, rather than saved them with its constant use of the same coplors in the same place over 50% of the lit area. At least the new one moves a bit and can use the features folks pay for when they buy ultra-screamer 3d video cards of use exclusively to gamers and a few who need to see their models in 3D.

The MAIN PROBLEM is if you are running the screen saver, you are 1) shortening the life of your CRTs and possibly your LCDs (at least the back light) but worst of all you are.....

CUTTING YOUR PROJECT PROCESSING SPEED IN HALF! Due to design flaws dating back to the IBM-PC and the PC in general that video output would be integrated, and handled, to some degree, by the CPU (vs the old box with the RS-232 ports to connect a separate "terminal" for you new guys) escalated by PC design as practiced by *everyone*, especially Apple, your GPU does not just extract data from your computer and present it, using its oen memory and CPU - it lets the CPU do a LOT of the processing and steals cycles to access CPU memory directly.

A blank screen, or a screen with a static background or another job showing while SETI@ runs in the background uses much less of your computer's resources to do the same amount of SETI work as one that's constantly updating an image of every step it takes.

And, if that weren't bad enough, then it waits while the video card runs its own calculations off the CPU to draw the silly picture.

To really save time, money and equipment, set your machine to go to black whenever no one is doing anything, but programs like BOINC are running in the background. It really is better to leave everything but the disks <and that's really questionable these days> and screens running 24/7, and kicking the screens and the necessity to drive them off whenever you're not looking - set a 5-10 minute time-out depending on your style.

If it's fantasy images you want, skip screen savers and try for a planetarium with a Lazarium show, aided by some recreational pharmecuticals if be your taste.

Meanwhile, maybe someone will build a video card that is acceptable to the standard PCI-EX board running a P4 or equivalent stripped-down core just suffcient that it places *almost* *no* demand on the host computer - hey, just like the 60s&70s! With optimized software, you would probably quintuple your SETI throughput from SETI-with-Screensaver or SETI in background with a lit screen.

---

"Here comes a candle to light you to bed" - Big Brother came a little late, and not from the government but from DoubleClick and other InfoThieves and Brokers: Fight 'em, Ban 'em Make 'em shred the file with your "impersonal" name and address on it!