Hello.
I heard of SETI@home so i downloaded it, and at 15. of December 2014 i started to run BOINC program or whatever that is, an so far i have 2084 credits and 97,33% average.
Could somebody please explain to me what does all of that means (in the layman terms). I just know that i set the whole thing to work at 100% CPU, and no restrictions in memory, and i allocated a 20 GB of space on my disc.
I understand the global idea but i dont understand all the units and projects...and so on.
For example, if i watch the screensaver when it works i dont understand what are the moving graphs in top left corner end all of the writing around it.
The same is with the graph in all colors across the screen, and also what is with the frequencies.

I would appreciate if somebody could explain to me in laymans terms just so i can understand what am i doing.

If you want replay to me on my mail: vvvasso@gmail.com

Regards, Vanja.

---

The simple answer - others may come along and give you a more complex one....

What we are doing is processing the data collected from one of the receivers on the Arecibo radio telescope, looking for patterns that are "not natural" in their timing or waveform in the hope that we might detect the signs of an alien (intelligent) life-form. Several analysis techniques are applied to each data set in a hope of detecting that strange waveform.


The graphics are a representation of the data being processed, the peaks are time/frequency peaks (well sort of, but that will do as a starter), the colours mean absolutely nothing, they are only there to make things look pretty.

---

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

Hello.
I heard of SETI@home so i downloaded it, and at 15. of December 2014 i started to run BOINC program or whatever that is, an so far i have 2084 credits and 97,33% average.

This is just to give you an idea of what you're contributing to the project. Credits don't have any value in the real world, they serve only to get an idea how your computer is performing against other similar systems.

Could somebody please explain to me what does all of that means (in the layman terms). I just know that i set the whole thing to work at 100% CPU, and no restrictions in memory, and i allocated a 20 GB of space on my disc.
I understand the global idea but i dont understand all the units and projects...and so on.
For example, if i watch the screensaver when it works i dont understand what are the moving graphs in top left corner end all of the writing around it.
The same is with the graph in all colors across the screen, and also what is with the frequencies.

I would appreciate if somebody could explain to me in laymans terms just so i can understand what am i doing.

This is just a graphics representation of a small sliver of data being analyzed and wont show if you found ET. It is beyond my understanding of the analysis that being done. I haven't looked at the graphics for years.

If you want replay to me on my mail: xxxxx@gmail.com.

I suggest you edit your post to remove your e-mail unless you like spam. No one on the bulletin board will e-mail you. They will only answer you here.

Regards, Vanja.

Well thanx for the replay, but the 90& of the question is still unanswered...

---

Thank you for the suggestion, and I tried to remove my mail but i cannot edit my post no more.

This will take you to the old seti site. The only reason i post it is it explains the graphics portion. Just click anywhere on the screensaver that is shown and it will explain. Just use the back key to move back to the screensaver shot.

http://seticlassic.ssl.berkeley.edu/screensaver/index.html

I kind of wish they had brought over alot of this FAQ section to the new Seti@home site.


Zalster

Zalster thank you very much, now i am a little bit more familiar with what i am doing. Thanx once again.

---

Well thanx for the replay, but the 90& of the question is still unanswered...

Credit and RAC (recent average credit, thus not a percentage!) are explained in the User Wiki at http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Computation_credit

---

Hello!
Now i have only two tasks left. One is on 80 % and the other one is waiting to start. Must i do something to get another month worth of tasks or will it do automatically? If do please tell me what, cause i am a total newbie at this.
So please hurry up,cause i will be left without a work in a few hours.
Thank you very much.

Regards, Vanja.

---

This project has not always got enough work for everyone. For the past couple of months now it has had database problems and server space problems both affecting the possibility to give out work on a regular basis.

Reading the newest Panic! thread, it seems that the servers are now dropping connections. You can probably see that in the Event Log (CTRL+SHIFT+E). So it's very well possible your BOINC isn't able to get work because of that.

There's nothing we can do about that, while the few Seti volunteers that work at Berkeley also have weekend. They may try to fix it from home, and if they cannot, it'll just have to wait till Monday. No hurry.

If you want your computer to do work, there are plenty of other projects with work to choose from. Just add a second project.

---

Hello!
Now i have only two tasks left. One is on 80 % and the other one is waiting to start. Must i do something to get another month worth of tasks or will it do automatically? If do please tell me what, cause i am a total newbie at this.
So please hurry up,cause i will be left without a work in a few hours.
Thank you very much.

Regards, Vanja.

Hi Vanja :) I got a bit lost in my early days too. Have PM'ed you with what MIGHT be the problem. Just in case you're not familiar with the pm's yet, top of the page is a link to your inbox. Hope it helps :) Took me about a week to find mine :) anything technical though - I can't help with at all. EVERYONE else here is better at that :) Good luck.

Bear in mind today is "outrage day" so the servers will go down for awhile.

Hello again...
OK now, i still can not get any work from SETI@home. I dont want no other project but this one.I am a newbie, ok, but can plesae somebody tell this newbie how to fetch work from SETI cause its been 4 days from my last job.
I am clicking "update" several times a day and still no jobs from server, i have read quite a bit about BOINC and SETI@home so now i am a little bit more familiar with what i do and what i want to do. I am very much interested in SETI and the whole idea behind it but i am not an astronomer, not even a self thought but plain simple layman who wants to contribute as much as i can to the whole idea of SETI, so SETI@home is a perfect project for me to participate.
So my BOINC Manager is: Version:7.4.27.(x86)
wxWidgets version: 3.0.1.

If anyone knows how can i get some job or work for me to do please speak now, or be forever silent...(lol...)

Thank you in advance,
Vanja.

---

The work fetch is completely automated... no need to pound on the Update button. If you're not getting any work, then it means BOINC doesn't think you need more at the moment.

Be forewarned that there are times when the project's servers crash or simply have no work available, so by choosing to work only for SETI, there will be times when there is simply no work to hand out.

my BOINC Manager is: Version:7.4.27.(x86)

Best update to 7.4.36 which is the new recommended (and has been for the past week or so), as that'll fix a couple of things, including one with parts of the download mechanism. http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dl/boinc_7.4.36_windows_intelx86.exe

You can download it, then install it directly over 7.4.27. No need to uninstall anything first.
And while Seti was out of work for the past hours -- or technically, a server hung -- you should've been able to get work in the mean time.
While it's all right to post what BOINC version you have, better is to post a snippet of the event log showing what BOINC does and answers back. CTRL+SHIFT+E for the log.

---

Thanx guys, in the meantime i took one more project ( Milkyway@Home) and tried to do some work after i created an account and all, but still i cant get no work. So it isnt a question of SETI but I think that it is a question of BOINC cause it is impossible that there is no work for me in 3 projects(the other day I accepted the pogs.skynet.org and the same thing, no work).

---

As you suggested i downloaded a 7.4.36. version of BOINC manager and still nothing. But there is one more question i didnt ask... while i still had a quite big ammount of work for SETI and now again, i keep getting notices from server telling me: for example i need 20.00 MB of space cause now i have 0.00 MB of space but that never was true or a problem, cause i allocated much more than 100 times as much for SETI projects. And now i get a few similar messages like:

MilkyWay@Home N-Body Simulation needs 50.00MB more disk space. You currently have 0.00 MB available and it needs 50.00 MB.
21/01/2015 19:56:32

So WTF and who is crazy here, and why do i still cant get no work from non of the 3 of the projects?
Thankx in advance,and sorry for being difficult.

Vanja.

---

Ok,

You currently have 0.00 MB available and it needs 50.00 MB.

would explains no downloads.

Check your Computing preferences settings.

Mine are
Disk: use at most 20 GB
Disk: leave free at least 0.1 GB
Disk: use at most 10% of total

NOTE: If you've been messing with the BOINC Manager local preferences, that would override website based preferences.

i keep getting notices from server telling me: for example i need 20.00 MB of space cause now i have 0.00 MB of space but that never was true or a problem,

Well that would be the source of your problem then. Not sure why you don't think it is true or a problem when the message is clearly telling you what the problem is.

cause i allocated much more than 100 times as much for SETI projects.

Where did you allocate the disk space? Did you specify online or in local preferences? Local preferences override online settings, so you'll need to check to be certain.

There might be a hint to your problem in your last message - do you have profiles enabled on your PC, and if you do have you got resource share limits set?
Another action - check the permissions to your BOINC data folder - make sure that is set to "all users" and "execute".

---

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

No,everything is OK, enabled on PC, not online,in local preferances, and the permissions are ok, set to all users, that much i understand, i might be a newbie regarding BOINC and SETI and projects, but i pretty much understand my computer i am a web designer...

---