Every v8 SETI work unit is quitting with an error code on my PowerMac G5 (PPC).

I was wondering if anyone else is having the same problem.

Stderr output
<core_client_version>6.12.35</core_client_version>
<![CDATA[
<message>
process got signal 5
</message>
<stderr_txt>
dyld: Library not loaded: /sw/lib/libfftw3f.3.dylib
Referenced from: /Library/Application Support/BOINC Data/slots/0/../../projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu/setiathome_8.00_powerpc-apple-darwin
Reason: image not found

</stderr_txt>
]]>

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Eric Korpela's been notified. He'll get round to it, but a lot of balls are being juggled right now.

I have the same issue on my G4 machines.

Eric Korpela's been notified. He'll get round to it, but a lot of balls are being juggled right now.

Thanks, and I can imagine. I also don't suppose supporting PPC (or other legacy architectures) are really high on his priority list either.

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Please convey my thanks to Eric and the team for the quick turnaround on the fix!

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There is still a lot of work in people's tasks lists, in their accounts on the server, that got discarded due to v8.02 tasks being associated with v8.01 applications. This work will have to time out.

The v8.03 applications have proper v8.03 tasks associated with them, now both on PPC and Intel Macs.

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I received the new 803 app but I am getting (and erroring out) PPC tasks instead of Intel (i686) tasks. I am running OS X "Tiger" on a CoreDuo (not Core 2 Duo) machine. No rush, as I am sure that this is a very low priority problem. I just thought I would let you know.

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Plus SETI Classic = 21,082 WUs

xm, where is the point to use ppc for boinc?
performance / consumption ratio is very terrible.
get about year ago powerbook G4 1.67 gHz / 1 gb ram, and test seti on it, on ibook g4 1.20 ghz, and on
asus eeepc 900 as reference ( celeron 900 mhz).

powerbook g4 1.67 i was a bit slower than even that ancient celeron 900.
ibook is almost two times slower on seti, than powerbook.

core 2 duo 2 ghz intel with cheap nvidia gt630 video is a faster on seti than 10 g4 powerbooks, yet consume only 1.5 times more electricity. than one powerbook g4 ( bit less than 100 watts...)

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Because we can. Because for some of us, it's what we have. Dr. Korpela has stated that one of his goals is to allow older processors to participate, as long as the machine returns good science and the processor/OS can be supported without too much difficulty. It isn't about how fast a Task can be processed, it's about accurate science.

That said, I may have to retire my oldest machine, an iBook G4, from Seti@Home. It currently processes MB v7 Tasks in about 60 hours, while many newer Wintel boxes with faster processors take longer than that to process and return results. But that box is running Mac OSX 10.4, and cannot be upgraded to a newer OS. If I read these threads correctly, Dr. K's oldest Mac OSX is 10.5, and apps built on that OS cannot run on earlier versions. So I may soon be unable to get work for that box. Not because its processor cannot do good science, but because its OS is too old.

xm, where is the point to use ppc for boinc?
performance / consumption ratio is very terrible.
get about year ago powerbook G4 1.67 gHz / 1 gb ram, and test seti on it, on ibook g4 1.20 ghz, and on
asus eeepc 900 as reference ( celeron 900 mhz).

powerbook g4 1.67 i was a bit slower than even that ancient celeron 900.
ibook is almost two times slower on seti, than powerbook.

core 2 duo 2 ghz intel with cheap nvidia gt630 video is a faster on seti than 10 g4 powerbooks, yet consume only 1.5 times more electricity. than one powerbook g4 ( bit less than 100 watts...)

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Donald
Infernal Optimist / Submariner, retired

Because we can. Because for some of us, it's what we have. Dr. Korpela has stated that one of his goals is to allow older processors to participate, as long as the machine returns good science and the processor/OS can be supported without too much difficulty. It isn't about how fast a Task can be processed, it's about accurate science.

about "what we have" - a core 2 duo desktop nowadays can be purchased for less than 50 euro ( or usd) - that was price of electricity to run something like that 24/7 for about 3 months.

about accurate science - modern hardware not do less accurate results, than old one.
but ok, i get your point. you do not bother about energoefficiency, a footprint on ecology, and want to run g4 for seti.
i'm ok with your choice.

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As far as I can see from reading Dr.K's comments about the PPC & other "aged" platforms is NOT the performance of a particular platform, but the lack of suitable hardware, software, time and skills to perform the porting validation and verification needed to get a "main ready" application into the field.

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

Because we can. Because for some of us, it's what we have. Dr. Korpela has stated that one of his goals is to allow older processors to participate, as long as the machine returns good science and the processor/OS can be supported without too much difficulty. It isn't about how fast a Task can be processed, it's about accurate science.

about "what we have" - a core 2 duo desktop nowadays can be purchased for less than 50 euro ( or usd) - that was price of electricity to run something like that 24/7 for about 3 months.

about accurate science - modern hardware not do less accurate results, than old one.
but ok, i get your point. you do not bother about energoefficiency, a footprint on ecology, and want to run g4 for seti.
i'm ok with your choice.

I'm old-school. I use things for as long as I can, as long as they work and do what I want/need them to do. I'm sure I'm not the only one here. My iBook G4 is the oldest of my several computers. The newest is a Core i5/Win 7 box I bought from the County Thrift Store for $120 (USD). Yes, I could afford the newest computers available, but until I NEED to replace one, or need the specific capability of a newer machine, I see no reason to buy a new box. And as long as Seti@Home continues to support these older boxes, I'll use them to crunch.

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Donald
Infernal Optimist / Submariner, retired

As far as I can see from reading Dr.K's comments about the PPC & other "aged" platforms is NOT the performance of a particular platform, but the lack of suitable hardware, software, time and skills to perform the porting validation and verification needed to get a "main ready" application into the field.

Yes, "as long as .... the processor/OS can be supported without too much difficulty". It appears that Mac PPCs, which are only supported up to OSX 10.5, are approaching that point.

But the larger point is that Eric IS willing to continue supporting older hardware/OS that can still produce accurate, useful science for the Project.

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Donald
Infernal Optimist / Submariner, retired

I'm old-school. I use things for as long as I can, as long as they work and do what I want/need them to do. I'm sure I'm not the only one here. My iBook G4 is the oldest of my several computers.

I too as old school. But when my old car consume fuel in month on a price greater, than i can buy newer car, who consumes for all the same one third of old consumption - i do not think long before let old car retired ;)

there is economic and racionality in mind. you can use your grand-grandpa bicycle, as it has no lot worse than modern ones.
but drive everyday with car from 1950, who consume a gallon per mile ( back in 1950 gasoline price be cheap as dirt) is strange thing. especially if you re not millionare :)

but ok, thats only my things about that topic.
BTW, why you not use linux or mac os x ? windows is very terrible OS. I be must work on win 8.1 a year and a half, and that was very terrible experience...;)

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Yeah. My G5 is running 24/7 as a server and still produces respectable results. I am also running a Rasperry Pi B+ and several Raspberry Pi2's for Einstein, and one was running SETI v7 until this changeover.

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Yeah. My G5 is running 24/7 as a server and still produces respectable results. I am also running a

about 3 GFLOPS -that is not respectable, but miserable results, imho.
my server is not top one, and buying for a cheap, but do much better results by consuming less than 100 watts:
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/show_host_detail.php?hostid=7199324
mostly about 20 GFLOPS via Nvidia 630 computing on seti@home v.7 ( astropulse computing rates is much faster, of course...

Rasperry Pi B+ and several Raspberry Pi2's for Einstein, and one was running SETI v7 until this changeover.

with computing power about 0.27 GFLOPS ? it was no sense running seti computing on that thing at all. complete waste of electricity, what means, you put on wind charcoal, oil, or uranium who mankind use to make electricity. that was very valuable resources, and must be preserved, not to be wasted...

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V8.03 runs well on my G4 macs. Does the v8 app use the Altivec processor or is it a generic Mac PPC app?

My dual 1 GHz G4 Power Mac runs a WU about 1/3 faster than my Raspberry Pi 2. The Power Mac uses about 170 Wh. The Raspberry Pi 2 is more like 3 or 4 Wh and mine is solar powered.

V8.03 runs well on my G4 macs. Does the v8 app use the Altivec processor or is it a generic Mac PPC app?

My dual 1 GHz G4 Power Mac runs a WU about 1/3 faster than my Raspberry Pi 2. The Power Mac uses about 170 Wh. The Raspberry Pi 2 is more like 3 or 4 Wh and mine is solar powered.

looks impressive - but rally your powermac is so slow?
based on your computers info, your powermac is 1.57 GFLOPS, and 4 cores ArM ( Pi2?) is 0.88 - almost as twice slower, not by one third.

Also as a solar powered "advanced human", you must know difference between Wh and watts, Ampers, and AmperHours.
in any case, looks like you use it by wrong way :)

for a statistic, my zoopark has:

SETI@home v7 7.00

Ibook G4 1.33 GHz:[Power Macintosh Model PowerBook6,5] [AltiVec]
(1 processors) : 0.85 GFLOPS

PowerBook G4 1.67 GHz Power Macintosh
Power Macintosh [Power Macintosh Model PowerBook5,6] [AltiVec]
(1 processors): 2.11 GFLOPS

Linux machines ( 3.x kernel):
eeepc 900 GenuineIntel
Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor 900MHz [Family 6 Model 13 Stepping 8]
(1 processors): 1.67 GFLOPS

GenuineIntel
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz [Family 15 Model 3 Stepping 3]
(2 processors): 3.22 GFLOPS

nowadays cpu have about 10 - 15 GFLOPS at least. GPU - even more.

Plan to switch to solar too someday, when can make switch to from city. last year buy 30w solar panel, and let to test. in summer is ok, but in winter with short days, and overcast, there is almost no income...;(
need to test wind generator for winter....

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I am curious whether anybody has installed a Linux distro on their old PowerPC macs and gotten SETI v8 to run successfully. I have an old Mac Mini running OS X 10.4, but it needs to be upgraded to 10.5 in order to run SETI v8. However, that will cost a non-trivial amount for me whereas I can get a Linux distro for free.

I am curious whether anybody has installed a Linux distro on their old PowerPC macs and gotten SETI v8 to run successfully. I have an old Mac Mini running OS X 10.4, but it needs to be upgraded to 10.5 in order to run SETI v8. However, that will cost a non-trivial amount for me whereas I can get a Linux distro for free.

All signs point to linux as the primary OS for orphaned hardware like PPC/POWER, SPARC, MIPS, & DEC Alpha, because linux continues to develop. This would eliminate the extra variable of a frozen/obsolete OS version, leaving the CPU/hardware as the only challenge. Yet I can find no projects that currently support linux-PPC. <sad face>