Posts by Jonathan Jeckell

1) Message boards : Number crunching : Can you mix optimized apps *&* SETI server apps? (Message 1876292)
Posted 1 Jul 2017 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
Yes, it is possible if you run the anonymous platform with a correctly configured app_info. It has to point at the correct files and you have to have the files present. You won't be able to get the Mac CUDA 7.5 executable out of the Lunatics installer. You however can download the executable directly from the BOINC directory and hand edit the app_info to use the desired executable. I don't have the URL for that. It has been revealed in various posts in NC over time if I remember. You would also have to manually install the CUDA 7.5 libraries too I believe. I think your best resource would bet at Crunchers Anonymous and talk to Tbar since he seems to be the primary Mac developer.


Thanks. I know you had to install some libraries to use theirs, but I wasn't sure about the ones that came down from the SETI server. It would probably just be easier to use both the AVX and CUDA 7.5 apps from Cruncher's Anonymous, but the stock CUDA 7.5 app is a bit better. But at this point it just might be more trouble than it's worth if I can't figure out my error.
2) Message boards : Number crunching : Can you mix optimized apps *&* SETI server apps? (Message 1876256)
Posted 1 Jul 2017 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
I've had a lot of success using optimized versions of SETI apps from Lunatics & Crunchers Anonymous on various platforms. Each of them comes with an app_info.xml to set BOINC to the local app version.

Is it possible to use one of these clients AND keep using a specific version of the stock, canonical apps from the SETI server?

Specifically I want to use the Cruncher's Anonymous AVX optimized CPU app and the stock SETI NVIDIA CUDA 7.5 GPU app. I don't know about other platforms, but those two seem to be the apex for the macOS platform.

I tried editing the app_info.xml to include the settings for the CUDA app, and plopped the executable file back into the SETI project folder, fixed permissions, etc.

Unfortunately, the client seems to have barfed on my app_info. The logs show that it switched to "using anonymous platform" because of the presence of the app_info.xml, but kicked out errors for every existing task in my queue for the CUDA 7.5 and discarded the work units.

"[error] No application found for task: x86_64-apple-darwin 811 cuda75_mac; discarding"

I can post the xml if that would help, but I compared with another CPU/GPU combo file as a guide. I'll be checking my syntax and spelling to be sure. But right now I'm wondering if what I am trying to do is even possible.

Thanks
3) Message boards : Number crunching : Aborting tasks for Lost Hardware (Message 1851241)
Posted 25 Feb 2017 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
Exactly. If I had merely fried a motherboard or GPU, I'd just be swearing for a few hours fixing it. In this case I no longer have any of the hardware, to include the hard drive. To be more precise, I no longer have access to it.

However, all I am worried about is leaving other crunchers hanging until those tasks time out.
4) Message boards : Number crunching : Aborting tasks for Lost Hardware (Message 1851238)
Posted 25 Feb 2017 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
I normally run machines dry of tasks or abort them manually. But this was an unexpected loss that left a bunch of tasks hanging.
5) Message boards : Number crunching : Aborting tasks for Lost Hardware (Message 1850998)
Posted 24 Feb 2017 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
Is there a way to abort pending tasks when I no longer have the hardware (and client) for those tasks?

The BOINC server will eventually abort them when they time out, but I want to be considerate of my wingman. Someone out there is waiting for their tasks to validate, and I've got about 40 tasks hanging in the queue waiting to time out.
6) Questions and Answers : Preferences : How to select a specific stock, canonical SETI app. App_info.xml? (Message 1841526)
Posted 11 Jan 2017 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
I'll have to keep an eye on that then. I appreciate the various options available to run like this (and miss the v7 AVX, SSE41, SSSE3 stock apps for Mac) but I am seeing substantially superior performance from CUDA 75 on this particular machine.

Thanks again,
7) Questions and Answers : Preferences : How to select a specific stock, canonical SETI app. App_info.xml? (Message 1841481)
Posted 11 Jan 2017 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
I have used an app_info.xml file to run modified versions of SETI before, but was wondering if this will work on the official apps found here from SETI's own servers as well?

Right now there are 3 GPU versions available for Macs with NVIDIA cards
1) CUDA 42 (8.11 (cuda42_mac))
2) CUDA 75 (8.11 (cuda75_mac))
3) OpenCL (8.19 (opencl_nvidia_mac))

Right now I get a mix of all three types from the SETI server. I would like to constrain that to get *only* the CUDA 75 work units.

Can I do that with an app_info.xml, or does that only work for anonymous platforms like Lunatics? And you can't get this level of granular control from the website preferences. They can only allow the CPU or various GPU types to run, not the specific apps.

Thanks in advance
8) Questions and Answers : GPU applications : Is it worth running the Intel GPU app? (Message 1822493)
Posted 7 Oct 2016 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
Thanks! It didn't just give a short answer, I can see how various configurations affected things and why this is a problem.
9) Questions and Answers : GPU applications : Is it worth running the Intel GPU app? (Message 1822251)
Posted 6 Oct 2016 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
Of course, the model of Intel GPU would matter and I forgot to mention that.

I have three machines running HD4000 GPUs
2 i5s (4 CPU threads) running Linux, and 1 i7(8 CPU threads) running Mac OS X.

I also have an i3 with an HD4400 running Windows 10, and it looks like it cranks out twice the credit per clock cycle that the HD4000 does.

So from the data I do have, it looks like the HD4000 GPU equates to the production of about two processor cores. Which seems to put things at break even when it makes CPU tasks take twice as long (and I run another CPU project). So it appears using the HD4000 is definitely a losing proposition with the i7 since it doubles the processing time for all 8 CPU threads and only gives me back about 2 CPU cores worth of performance (it looks like).
10) Questions and Answers : GPU applications : Is it worth running the Intel GPU app? (Message 1822248)
Posted 6 Oct 2016 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
I noticed a long time ago that CPU tasks take more than twice as long when I run the Intel GPU tasks. I captured some data, but not enough to model whether it's more advantageous to just turn the damned thing off.

Caveat: I'm sure more cores (like on i7 CPUs) help compensate for this, but it also slows down tasks on ALL of those cores...so...

Anyway, has anyone captured ~48 hours worth of credit using CPUs and the Intel GPU, and then done the same with just the CPU tasks? This would be easier with standardized work unit credit, like on Einstein@home. The variable credit means I can't just use the run time for the comparison.

Even if you don't have data, any thoughts on this, or the methodology I intend to use (if nobody has looked at this)?
11) Message boards : Number crunching : Toying with idea of "Hackintosh"... (Message 1766904)
Posted 22 Feb 2016 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
By the way, I am pretty sure you can legitimately upgrade to newer versions of OS X if you have an Apple Store account. Just make sure you follow the procedures listed in Tonymacx86 to make sure the kernel and everything carries over correctly.
12) Message boards : Number crunching : Toying with idea of "Hackintosh"... (Message 1766903)
Posted 22 Feb 2016 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
Aside from the challenge, the reason I began building a Hackintosh was for better cooling. I like OS X and it's easy for me to maintain the computers my family uses with this OS.

But Apple hardware is also designed to be sleek and appealing, and has steadily gotten worse for overheating with BOINC projects. That's why I built mine. So I could have the performance and the ability to stick a water cooler into the machine while still maintaining commonality for administration.
13) Message boards : Number crunching : Toying with idea of "Hackintosh"... (Message 1766209)
Posted 19 Feb 2016 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
I built an i7-5820k just for this purpose--to turn it into a Hackintosh. I haven't pulled the trigger on the Hackintosh part yet because I ran into a small obstacle that I haven't had the time to deal with. It's running Ubuntu Linux for now, but it will be a Hackintosh when I get around to it. Another thing that undermined the urgency was the change to the SETI v8 apps. SETI v7 had in-house optimized apps, so I wouldn't have to mess with anything when there were minor updates, plus the information assurance confidence that comes with sticking with the canonical apps.

I'm using info from this site and this post in particular http://www.tonymacx86.com/yosemite-desktop-guides/151670-success-i7-5820k-4-3ghz-2x-gtx-970-ga-x99-ud4-yosemite-hackintosh.html

Keep us posted on your project!
14) Message boards : Number crunching : SETI v8 Optimized Apps for Mac OS X? (Message 1764472)
Posted 12 Feb 2016 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
Thanks for the link for the Mac optimized version for AVX. It certainly seems to be showing a performance leap over the stock version. And, thanks for apparently *making* this optimized version. So far it looks like a 14% boost.
15) Message boards : Number crunching : SETI v8 Optimized Apps for Mac OS X? (Message 1763516)
Posted 8 Feb 2016 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
Thanks for the advice.

1) that machine is an i7 laptop running 8 work units simultaneously as well as an Intel GPU and an NVIDIA GPU. The CPU and the Intel GPU are all running SETI, the NVIDIA is running Einstein. I have noticed that this machine is substantially slower because of the GPU overhead, but am collecting data for cost/benefit vs just running the CPU and NVIDIA GPU. Anecdotally, it looks like the 8 slower CPU units are worth it for the extra credit from the Intel GPU. But this machine is an outlier. I have several running no GPU at all that are getting at best 70% of the credit they were. While I am competitive and like the credit, this is also telling me on an objective level that my machines could be doing a whole lot more science for the entropy I'm generating.

2) I'll check out the CA apps you mentioned. I do appreciate that people are doing that. No disrespect to them, but I'd prefer a canon app from SETI if available.

3) I'd love for Eric to make that a priority, but I understand the guy is in pretty high demand. I wonder if I can bribe him with some quantity of his preferred beverage or something...
16) Message boards : Number crunching : RAC has dropped a LOT (Message 1762669)
Posted 5 Feb 2016 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
Some of my machines dropped by as much as 40% compared to the v7 applications, and that does not include the GPU work.

I really miss the optimized apps for Mac OS X from v7.
17) Message boards : Number crunching : SETI v8 Optimized Apps for Mac OS X? (Message 1762665)
Posted 5 Feb 2016 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
I appreciate everything the development staff has done to make these apps and how difficult it is to produce the optimized versions for all of these platforms. So I don't mean to be trite when I ask this.

Does anyone know if or when optimized versions of the Mac OS X will be available? v7 had versions optimized for SSSE3, SSE4.1, and AVX. I'd be happy if just one of these were deployed soon. I understand there is some work on that with the Lunatics project, but that presents some system management problems as further upgrades come in, as well as information assurance concerns. I'd much rather have a canonical version from SETI direct from their servers.

Right now the Windows version of the v8 app is performing as good as the v7, but the new v8 apps are only producing 40% of the credit for a given CPU time compared to the SSSE3, SSE4.1 or AVX optimized v7 variants for Mac OS X.

So please don't see this as a complaint, but rather an opportunity to optimize the contribution I and other Mac users (I assume most are having the same performance drop--I didn't make any other changes which would cause something like this) are making to this project.
18) Message boards : Number crunching : Optimized apps & updates (Message 1755590)
Posted 11 Jan 2016 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
There is a sticky thread in this forum that shows how to download and use v8.00 Lunaticks optimized applications. However, the official SETI app has moved on to 8.03 in some cases.

I just wanted to know if this requires commensurate updates to the Lunaticks version, which I have not used before this v8 change.

So the question wasn't how to get the Lunatick apps, but whether they need to be updated to keep up with the official platform changes.

Secondly, yes, while there are already apps for intel macs, the official SETI platform used to have three optimized flavors (SSE4.1, SSSE3, and AVX) that were in the official cache that automatically deployed if your computer had the right capabilities. I liked that from a management and information assurance standpoint. Those optimized apps seemed to perform substantially better than the plain vanilla v7 client for 64 bit Intel Macs, but I wonder if the v8 client already has one of those optimizations built in this time. I haven't captured enough performance data so far to tell for sure how these clients are performing in comparison to the v7.
19) Message boards : Number crunching : Optimized apps & updates (Message 1755454)
Posted 10 Jan 2016 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
Sorry if this is answered elsewhere, but I didn't see it.

I installed the Lunaticks optimized v8 applications, but 8.01 on up to 8.03 have been released since then. Are the optimized apps still in play, or do I need to find out if Lunaticks has had commensurate updates as well?

Also, while I understand the immense workload the SETI team is under right now, I wish official optimized versions were available through the actual SETI application channel, like they had SSE4.1, SSSE3, and AVX version available for Mac OSX automatically. No disrespect to the Lunaticks team, but I would feel better from an information assurance standpoint, as well as convenience during updates.
20) Message boards : Number crunching : PPC/Mac OS X Error with SETI v8? (Message 1755452)
Posted 10 Jan 2016 by Profile Jonathan Jeckell
Post:
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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SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and donations from SETI@home volunteers. AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956.