Some help with SETI/BOINC on a Mac

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Profile Richard Baran

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Message 1645279 - Posted: 22 Feb 2015, 13:19:48 UTC

I have an older Mac laptop I just got. I know very little of Mac OS, but was able to get a version of BOINC installed. My problem is how do I get it to connect to SETI? Can anyone provide a step-by-step 'checklist' for getting it up and running? Thanks!



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Message 1645282 - Posted: 22 Feb 2015, 13:23:30 UTC
Last modified: 22 Feb 2015, 13:26:41 UTC

Off to Number Crunching this post should go for better advice.
Meow.

Not that you did anything wrong, Richard.
It's just that the geekheads mostly hang out in the NC, not as much here.

They can give you good advice, I am sure.
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Message 1645285 - Posted: 22 Feb 2015, 13:42:38 UTC - in response to Message 1645282.  
Last modified: 22 Feb 2015, 13:47:27 UTC

Hi Richard.

Should be fairly straight forward to install the BOINC on a mac.

First, connect to the internet with the mac. Don't use any window machine to download the software. If you attempt to download from a window's machine it will download the windows version of BOINC


Once you are on the internet just go to the home page of Seti here and download the installer. It will send you the mac installer.

Next, let it run.

It will install the standard Boinc in the simple view.

Once installed and running you will see the "add project" at the lower right hand side of the page.

Click and add the seti@home project. It will connect and download the appropriate applications for seti

Be aware, currently Seti only runs Astropulses on the GPU. So since there are no APs the GPU will not get any work at this time.

No Multibeams for GPU currently but they may start Beta testing some apps in the next 2 months so there is hope on the horizon.

Seti will use the CPU for both AP(when they start again) and Multibean.

You can determine which you want to run in your preference section of your account settings.

You will also probably find that your MAC will heat up pretty quickly if you allow seti to use all of the CPU cores. I would recommend a cooling pad if you have one.

Also, if you plan on using the MAC for anything then decrease the amount of cores being used or change the preferences to use only when not in use. Otherwise you will see the computer lagging very significantly.

I run 2 MacBook Pros and they tend to get very hot.

Zalster

Edit.. DO NOT UPGRADE TO CUDA 6.5... I would recommend staying with whatever the current version you have. If you do, you will find it won't run any apps on the GPU
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Message 1645289 - Posted: 22 Feb 2015, 13:56:43 UTC

Thanks for moving this to an appropriate 'room'. I wasn't sure where to post so I picked the least-defined room to start!

First, this is an older iBook G4.

Second, the install went fine, but opened directly to the BOINC manager, which(in simple view) gives me the following:

"Error: Unable to connect to the core client"

and a popup window which states:

"BOINC Manager - Connection Status

BOINC Manager is not currently connected to a BOINC client. Please use the 'Advanced\Select Computer...' menu option to connect up to a BOINC client."

I go there, set the computer name to 'localhost', apply my password, and select 'connect'.

And continue to get the "BOINC Manager - connection status" popup window.
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Message 1645291 - Posted: 22 Feb 2015, 14:00:43 UTC - in response to Message 1645289.  
Last modified: 22 Feb 2015, 14:01:10 UTC

I would exit bonic and move BOINC and the installer to the trash and delete them.

Restart the mac and download a fresh installer.

Sounds like something got corrupted on installation so I won't trust that installer again.

Reinstall with a new installer and lets see what it does

Zalster
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Message 1645292 - Posted: 22 Feb 2015, 14:02:42 UTC - in response to Message 1645289.  

Thanks for moving this to an appropriate 'room'. I wasn't sure where to post so I picked the least-defined room to start!


You are quite welcome, friend and fellow Setizen.

I knew if I pointed you here, you would get the help you requested.

Good crunching now.....meow.
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Message 1645298 - Posted: 22 Feb 2015, 14:50:31 UTC - in response to Message 1645289.  

First, this is an older iBook G4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBook#iBook_G4_.28.22Snow.22.29

"iBook G4 ("Snow")
Apple added a PowerPC G4 chip to the iBook line on October 23, 2003
"

I don't think SETI@home have current applications for PowerPC CPU
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/apps.php
 


- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
 
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Message 1645299 - Posted: 22 Feb 2015, 14:51:09 UTC - in response to Message 1645289.  
Last modified: 22 Feb 2015, 14:59:32 UTC

Thanks for moving this to an appropriate 'room'. I wasn't sure where to post so I picked the least-defined room to start!

First, this is an older iBook G4.

Second, the install went fine, but opened directly to the BOINC manager, which(in simple view) gives me the following:

"Error: Unable to connect to the core client"

and a popup window which states:

"BOINC Manager - Connection Status

BOINC Manager is not currently connected to a BOINC client. Please use the 'Advanced\Select Computer...' menu option to connect up to a BOINC client."

I go there, set the computer name to 'localhost', apply my password, and select 'connect'.

And continue to get the "BOINC Manager - connection status" popup window.

An old PPC Mac. Hmmmm, I haven't tried BOINC on a PPC machine. Those machines can only use the CPU and it will be very slow especially on a laptop. If the installer works the way it does on an Intel Mac there should be an uninstaller in the extras folder. Run the uninstaller and it will list the other files you need to delete, pay attention to the preferences location. After deleting the preferences restart the machine and install BOINC again. The first time it runs it should ask if you want the Program to make Internet connections, choose Allow. That should work.

Mac OS/X 10.3+ : 7.00 : 29 May 2013, 21:14:00 UTC : 206 GigaFLOPS (Slow)
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Message 1645306 - Posted: 22 Feb 2015, 15:15:49 UTC

I uninstalled then reinstalled BOINC 6.12.35.

The manager came up immediately, connected automatically, and appears to be running normally. Thank you all for your help. I'll let you know how it behaves!
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Message 1645307 - Posted: 22 Feb 2015, 15:17:00 UTC

My G5 up until a few months ago when I took it out of service ran fine on 6.12.35. As for a G4, it has been a long time since I ran boinic on one. Even the G5 was only able to produce a RAC of around 400 and a G4 would produce less. The internal GPU on the G5 didn't support computing and it was the latest offering from Apple on the PPC platform.
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Message 1645308 - Posted: 22 Feb 2015, 15:17:43 UTC

ID: 7342432
Details | Tasks
Cross-project stats:

BOINCstats.com Free-DC richard-barans-ibook-g4.local 0.00 0 6.12.35 Power Macintosh
Power Macintosh [Power Macintosh Model PowerBook6,7] [AltiVec]
(1 processors) --- Darwin
8.11.0
22 Feb 2015, 15:12:28 UTC
ID: 7183018
Details | Tasks
Cross-project stats:

BOINCstats.com Free-DC Owner-PC 1,245.18 425,729 7.4.36 AuthenticAMD
AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1045T Processor [Family 16 Model 10 Stepping 0]
(6 processors) AMD AMD Radeon HD 7850/7870 series (Pitcairn) (1024MB) driver: 1.4.1848 OpenCL: 1.2 Microsoft Windows 7
Home Premium x64 Edition, Service Pack 1, (06.01.7601.00)
22 Feb 2015, 14:09:56 UTC


The Mac is also appearing on my active computer list. Thanks everyone!
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Message 1645310 - Posted: 22 Feb 2015, 15:28:48 UTC - in response to Message 1645308.  
Last modified: 22 Feb 2015, 15:29:56 UTC

PPC..man, that brings back memories....

after the performa, next was this baby that I had for years..Didn't have the heart to throw it away.. Someone else did it for me while I was gone :'(



Edit..

Glad you got it up and running Richard. Yeah it's going to be slow but faster than it used it be, lol
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Message 1645311 - Posted: 22 Feb 2015, 15:33:08 UTC

Thank you again MacPros!

I got this as 'payment' for fixing up a computer for an older couple in my neighborhood. They wanted a desktop, and I had a bunch of parts, so I built one that they could use and they insisted I bring this little iBook home.

I know literally nothing of MacOS operation, so this has been a challenge for me so far! I guess I should go get a "...for dummies!" book now!
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Message boards : Number crunching : Some help with SETI/BOINC on a Mac


 
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