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Number crunching :
One Reason Why People Are Leaving SETI
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Author | Message |
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The Gas Giant Send message Joined: 22 Nov 01 Posts: 1904 Credit: 2,646,654 RAC: 0 |
This wu is one reason why people are leaving or have left SETI@home. I thought we were just having to worry about 4.45 clients, but to still see a 4.19 client out there it's pretty disheartening to think that the project doesn't care about giving credit where credit is due.... Live long and BOINC! Paul (S@H1 8888) And proud of it! |
John Clark Send message Joined: 29 Sep 99 Posts: 16515 Credit: 4,418,829 RAC: 0 |
Agreed, but are these crunchers common? A new script to only take results from the newer S@H clients would improve this. At least you will be able to use the SSE3 version ot the Alex code port and gain some compensation in 3-4 days. It's good to be back amongst friends and colleagues |
Fred W Send message Joined: 13 Jun 99 Posts: 2524 Credit: 11,954,210 RAC: 0 |
This wu is one reason why people are leaving or have left SETI@home. I thought we were just having to worry about 4.45 clients, but to still see a 4.19 client out there it's pretty disheartening to think that the project doesn't care about giving credit where credit is due.... I still (occasionally) trip over a 3.x client that gives zero credit for a perfectly valid WU! If people can't accept that it goes with the territory then that's their loss. F. |
SATAN Send message Joined: 27 Aug 06 Posts: 835 Credit: 2,129,006 RAC: 0 |
Fred we accept it is a risk, but people running clients that old clearly have no interest in the project. This has been discussed so many times. It is about time a cut off point is made with the old clients. When 6.x.x is actually made live them anything older the 5.2 should be defunct. hiamps just posted the e-mail that he gets every year at this time asking for more users, we get messages from various sources saying that Seti needs more crunchers to cope with the amount of data it has. I'm sorry but it is about time something is done. On an average day I reckon I lose anything from 100 to 250 credits due to old versions of Boinc. Granted for my machine it's not a big lose, but if your running an older less efficient CPU that could be a large percentage of your RAC. A lot of people will wonder what the point is letting their computers technically waste energy and CPU cycles when they do not get the full recognition for that. |
zoom3+1=4 Send message Joined: 30 Nov 03 Posts: 65870 Credit: 55,293,173 RAC: 49 |
Agreed, but are these crunchers common? Commoners You say? ;) Oh, My...... Psych, Only kidding. :D The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's |
Fred W Send message Joined: 13 Jun 99 Posts: 2524 Credit: 11,954,210 RAC: 0 |
Fred we accept it is a risk, but people running clients that old clearly have no interest in the project. This has been discussed so many times. @Satan Agreed, this has been discussed many, too many, times. And I don't want to open up the whole can of worms again but this point I must make: I'm afraid I don't agree with your figures. Just because you may be losing 100 - 250 credits per day doesn't mean that an older less efficient machine will be losing the same number per day - rather they will be losing 100 - 250 credits in however long it takes them to rack up 10,537 credits (i.e. your RAC as I write). So we are all losing 1 - 2% of the credits due to us; that's less than the difference between the flavours of Optimised App. And they are still returning valid science. And until they are not returning valid science I suspect there will be little incentive on the project to debar them so this is one recumbent horse that is unlikely to respond to any amount of flogging. F. |
1mp0£173 Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 8423 Credit: 356,897 RAC: 0 |
This wu is one reason why people are leaving or have left SETI@home. I thought we were just having to worry about 4.45 clients, but to still see a 4.19 client out there it's pretty disheartening to think that the project doesn't care about giving credit where credit is due.... I think these machines are basically on autopilot. Maybe a college student that set up BOINC on Mom's computer, maybe a former employee running BOINC (without authorization) on a machine at work, or maybe a "SETI Bumblebee" that went from flower to flower pollenizing as he went (installing BOINC on every computer he walked past). But it doesn't bother me as long as valid science is being returned, and this is part of the risk of crunching just like bad calls by the referee is a part of the scoring in most sports. The odds of hitting one of these ancient clients is pretty small. Not zero, but small. |
OzzFan Send message Joined: 9 Apr 02 Posts: 15691 Credit: 84,761,841 RAC: 28 |
Is there really sufficient data to prove that people are leaving over this? Or is this mostly conjecture in an effort to force SETI into action by making unverified claims? I would say that most crunchers don't even look at their credits that closely to even care. I would also say that it's unfair to claim that people who don't upgrade their BOINC clients somehow don't care about the project when, as far as they know, everything is running fine. Not everyone is interested in checking in every minute of every day for updates and info on server issues. |
Sutaru Tsureku Send message Joined: 6 Apr 07 Posts: 7105 Credit: 147,663,825 RAC: 5 |
BOINC V5.2.5 and earlier don't give you correct credit.. Since when BOINC V5.2.6 is available.. since days? ;-) So I think it's time to ban BOINC V5.2.5 and earlier! :-) |
Fred J. Verster Send message Joined: 21 Apr 04 Posts: 3252 Credit: 31,903,643 RAC: 0 |
IS IT POSSIBLE TO SEND A MESSAGE,oh capsl, through such an old client, that it is OUTDATED AND NEEDS TO BE UPDATED ? Or send an e-mail if the adress is known. Must be SOMEONE, totaly forgotten, where and on what computers he installed BOINC, in 2001 ;), or earlyer. |
OzzFan Send message Joined: 9 Apr 02 Posts: 15691 Credit: 84,761,841 RAC: 28 |
IS IT POSSIBLE TO SEND A MESSAGE,oh capsl, through such an old client, that it is OUTDATED AND NEEDS TO BE UPDATED ? BOINC already sends a message found in the Messages tab if you're using an older version. Unfortunately, with all the messages found there, its easy to get lost amongst all the other data. |
1mp0£173 Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 8423 Credit: 356,897 RAC: 0 |
There are platforms (not Windows or Linux) that do not have 5.x clients available. Newer BOINC clients do not support Windows 9x or NT. I expect something similar on the Mac side of things. |
1mp0£173 Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 8423 Credit: 356,897 RAC: 0 |
Assuming that they haven't abandoned or lost the E-Mail address on file. |
zoom3+1=4 Send message Joined: 30 Nov 03 Posts: 65870 Credit: 55,293,173 RAC: 49 |
Or even gotten a new one or something along those lines. :D The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's |
sygopet Send message Joined: 20 Nov 04 Posts: 16 Credit: 416,599 RAC: 0 |
Here's some personal experience on this matter. Over the past 7 months or so I have processed about 1200 units (1 machine part-time) and encountered a grand total of 9 units where my opposite number has been using Boinc 4.xx leading to a reduction in my granted score. So less than 1 per cent of my units have received (on average) about half the credits they would have received on current versions of Boinc. A reduction in my credit total of less than 0.5 per cent over that period. Individually frustrating, but when you put it in context . . . In that period of time, I have also received no less than 60 units which have failed due to noisy traces giving result overflow. These also often give poor "credit per hour" scores. It has been my practise for the past year, where the user has provided the information, to email the Boinc 4 users that I have encountered gently pointing out how much better the current version of Boinc is (improved presentation, better error handling etc), how easy it is to upgrade, and (finally) how their scores would be doubled. Since I don't keep a record of those people I don't know how successful my campaign has been although I did receive a message from one to say he would be upgrading all his computers as a result of my email - thank you Ed! Peter |
Clyde C. Phillips, III Send message Joined: 2 Aug 00 Posts: 1851 Credit: 5,955,047 RAC: 0 |
It looks like your computer claimed only 41 credits and that there's a possibility that you're running hot just like one of mine. I downloaded PC Wizard SpeedFan to get my cpu temperatures. One is at 83C and is probably throttling back (but not always) to save itself. |
Julyan Bristow Send message Joined: 20 May 99 Posts: 23 Credit: 12,995,792 RAC: 0 |
For me personally the reason for the odd WU giving poor credit was absolutely no contribution to why I have recently decided to seriously ramp down my contribution to Seti and BOINC. It was because I find increasingly difficult to justify running 3-4 computers 24hrs/day when a) there is no feedback to what my contribution has delivered and b) energy costs are just too high to justify a contribution over and above normal computer usage. So now the computers are on when they need to be used and off when they don't. And I have swapped a lot of the remaining resource to Rosetta where I have a feeling that the results are used and valued There was a short period of withdrawal symptoms when my RAC dropped but now I don't care and will certainly be financially better off with immediate effect. |
1mp0£173 Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 8423 Credit: 356,897 RAC: 0 |
This statement always fascinates me, because it seems fairly obvious. It seems to me that in the search for ET there really can only be two possible results: a) we're still looking - or - b) we found 'em. As much as we'd all like an intermediate result, I don't see a way to deliver one, or is there something I'm missing? For a number of reasons, all SETI really asks is that we run BOINC on computers we already have, when we turn them on to use them. I don't run any machine that isn't otherwise engaged. -- Ned |
zoom3+1=4 Send message Joined: 30 Nov 03 Posts: 65870 Credit: 55,293,173 RAC: 49 |
Considering how unimaginably huge space is, I'd be surprised and delighted If We did find them soon, I mean as an example there's a gas cloud with a few stars relatively nearby that was shot by the Hubble Space Telescope, The cloud is bigger than our entire solar system several times over and I think that's an understatement too! So It's going to take lots of time to find ET I'd expect. The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's |
Sutaru Tsureku Send message Joined: 6 Apr 07 Posts: 7105 Credit: 147,663,825 RAC: 5 |
Ohhh nooo.. :-( So we will have BOINC V4.x clients so long as SETI@home is living, or? BTW. Every day min. ~ 60 less Credits.. ;-) |
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