ok, great i've made some definite progress here :)
the only issue i'm having is it doesn't seem to like my key...
where can i find said key?

Yep, we're getting there... ;)

The key is what's mailed to you when you join a project (I mean via the project's website, not using BOINC) and/or download its agent. The mail contains your project user name, the project URL and the account key.
Here's what I was mailed for seti (edited to hide the obvious):

Your SETI@home account information is:
Project URL: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu
Account Key: xxx...xxx

User name: bryn
E-mail: xxx@xxx


Save this email.
You'll need the Project URL and Account Key when you run the client software
and to log in to the SETI@home web site.

For further information and assistance with SETI@home go to http://setiathome.berkeley.edu

The key length is 32 chars for Seti, and I received a similar mail from the World Community Grid, the other project I'm running.

Maybe a search of your incoming mail stash will find it, although IIRC you can generally request a reminder of this stuff - you'll likely find info about that on/near the Seti homepage.

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To err is human; to moo, bovine.

pretty unimpressed with BOINC...

Well, this stuff isn't telepathic you know... ;)

And my apologies - I missed something else in your first post: you said you're doing "run_client --attach_project" but it should be "run_client -attach_project"
Just the one "-" is expected.

ok, great i've made some definite progress here :)
the only issue i'm having is it doesn't seem to like my key...
where can i find said key?
much obliged

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pretty unimpressed with BOINC...

Well, this stuff isn't telepathic you know... ;)

And my apologies - I missed something else in your first post: you said you're doing "run_client --attach_project" but it should be "run_client -attach_project"
Just the one "-" is expected.

---

To err is human; to moo, bovine.

running run_client --help reveals the following:
-attach_project <URL> <key> attach to a project

You're providing a URL, but not the key.

thanks for the reply Bryn. Sadly, when i throw the URL + key in it still says the url is an unknown option, it then goes on to inform me that my key is an unknown option as well... pretty unimpressed with BOINC... i don't suppose there's another client out there i can use?

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running run_client --help reveals the following:
-attach_project <URL> <key> attach to a project

You're providing a URL, but not the key.

---

To err is human; to moo, bovine.

ok, this seems asinine to me. I'm trying to run BOINC in the linux console on a spare machine i have
(running BOINC 5.4.11) when i do "run_client --attach_project http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/" i get:
Unknown option: http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/

running run_client --help reveals the following:
-attach_project <URL> <key> attach to a project

so what's the deal? has anyone else had this problem? any advice would be much appreciated ;)