Posts by YoDude.SETI.USA [TopGun]

21) Message boards : Number crunching : Remote Desktop = bad? (Message 35542) Posted 12 Jan 2010 by YoDude.SETI.USA [TopGun] Post: I use "Real VNC". There are probably others that are better, but it works without killing things so I just keep using it. Yo-
22) Message boards : Number crunching : Milky Way, Project unfriendly..... (Message 35187) Posted 8 Jan 2010 by YoDude.SETI.USA [TopGun] Post: That would be VERY NICE but DA and the BOINC team do not want to do it. This change has been suggested for years but DA et all have shot it down repeatedly. Then DA and the BOINC team should consider getting some new management because if they won't fix the obvious, then it's time for whoever has the responsibility, to step down. .....And here is where the problems ultimately reside. Yo-
23) Message boards : Number crunching : Milky Way, Project unfriendly..... (Message 35183) Posted 8 Jan 2010 by YoDude.SETI.USA [TopGun] Post: Assume you set BOINC to queue even a minimal amount, let's say .1 day of work. That's 2.4 hours. Also assume for the sake of argument that you activate MilkyWay and Collatz and set MilkyWay to run 90% and Collatz 10%. What happens is that BOINC will DL it's allowed limit of 16 minutes of MilkyWay WUs. Then to fill that 2.4 hours it will DL over 2 hours worth of Collatz. Since BOINC is currently designed to process GPU WUs in a FIFO manner it will run the 16 minutes of MilkyWay and then proceed to do the 2+ hours of Collatz. Lets also assume that I have my "switch between projects" set to 60 mins. (default). In your example, the MW WU's get completed first, in 16 minutes, then the manager starts running Collatz because all the MW WU's are done and continues to run Collatz until there are none left. When the manager starts running the 2 hours worth of Collatz WU's, it should stop after 60 minutes, upload all the results, report all the results, switch back to MW, D/L 16 more minutes of work and run the WU's until they are all completed and then switch back to Collatz. Ideally, if the cache runs out or even low of WU's before the 60 min timer is up, the manager should be uploading and downloading (at a reasonably slow rate) new WU's to keep it's cache full, up to the point the 60 minutes is up and then report any remaining completed WU's and switch to Collatz and run that project in the exact same manner for 60 minutes. The way I see it, if I have my manager set to switch between projects every 60 minutes, it should do that and run a project for 60 minutes or until the cache runs dry and there are no WU's available. If the cache does in fact run dry, then it should switch to the other project, reset the timer to 60 minutes and go. Again CPU and GPU projects should be considered separate. As far as the "resource share" thing goes, I haven't seen it make any difference whatsoever in how the manager works, no matter what I change the settings to. So far as FIFO goes, yeah well, wouldn't it be better to have the manager run WU's with the closest due date rather than "X"-project got the WU's DL'd first, so we'll run them to completion? This is just my personal take on what I've seen and the way things "seem" they should be. Yo-
24) Message boards : Number crunching : Milky Way, Project unfriendly..... (Message 35155) Posted 7 Jan 2010 by YoDude.SETI.USA [TopGun] Post: In my personal opinion, it really shouldn't matter what the cache size is. 1. The code should be smart enough to distinguish between CPU and GPU WU's. They should be considered separate entities. 2. The code should also utilize the "Switch between Projects" option and actually switch between the projects like it says it should. 3. The cache size should be set for each project and not all projects as a whole. To me, it seems like that should take care of it. Yo-
25) Message boards : Number crunching : Milky Way, Project unfriendly..... (Message 35141) Posted 7 Jan 2010 by YoDude.SETI.USA [TopGun] Post: Hi Trav, no I've been running MW with ATI 4870's in this box but I have another that runs GPUGrid with nvidia 9800gt's, The Cuda app wasn't available at the time I started running MW and I got a really great deal on these ATI's I have now. Also, please keep in mind folks, it's not the project I have a problem with, it's the way in which the Boinc manager handles the MW WU's while trying to run any other project. I still have MW set to run WU"s anytime it'll go fetch the work. The Boinc manager just won't go get the work if there's any other project running and that includes CPU only WU's from other projects. I will try the latest release of the ATI apps to see if that helps. Yo-
26) Message boards : Number crunching : Milky Way, Project unfriendly..... (Message 35068) Posted 4 Jan 2010 by YoDude.SETI.USA [TopGun] Post: Well I'm back on my soapbox for a moment and then I'll get off.... From the very beginning of starting work on the MW project, there's been nothing but headaches. Granted it's only been for several months and during that time I've managed to collect quite a pile of credit for my computer efforts. I thank the project for that and it shows I'm willing to do a part to help out. During this period, I've seen credit lowering, longer work units, compatibility problems with other projects and the list goes on..... Everyone on this forum knows what I say is true here, yet still, I have MW scheduled to run WU's but when running ANY other project, the MW WU's stop flowing and the ONLY way to get the system to run them is to have to continually babysit the project and futz with it and the other WU's to get MW to run. Well...I've had enough of that. I'm not going to futz with it any longer. I still have MW set to run, but guess what? I'm not suspending any other project or altering my system configuration any more in any attempt to get MW to run on MY system. I'm tired of all the BS and crap I've gone through to try to reach a "happy medium" with MW and ANY other project that I've finally come to the point where I just don't care any longer if MW runs on my system or not. I'm currently running Aquas and Collatz WITHOUT ANY conflicts or need to change/alter/modify any of the configuration files to get these projects to run harmoniously together. Yet, AT ANY TIME I try run run MW-WU's, I always have to either have only one project running (guess which) or, I HAVE to suspend EVERYTHING else to get MW to run, or even request new WU's. There's something wrong with that and as far as I can see, it's within the MW project itself and no other. Why this is, I have my idea that the MW project wants EXCLUSIVE cpu time. Given the time frame to complete WU's, yeah, I think maybe it needs to be that way. Guess what, I have other projects I'd like to run also and they aren't ALWAYS MW! I have NO problem whatsoever running WU's for MW, but if you want exclusivity, it's not going to happen with me any longer. I am still attached to the project as I believe the work to be done is useful. The project is not suspended. The project is allowed to download new tasks. The project has equal resource sharing with any other project I run. The door is open yet MW fails to step through it and be a part of the bigger picture which is to share our computing power with ALL other projects equally and faithfully. I want to help, but the project continually keeps me tied down to itself if I want to run the WU's and I just can't have that any longer, there's more than one project that needs work too. My CPU power is here to work with you, not for you. Yo-
27) Message boards : Number crunching : Credit lowering (Message 30919) Posted 15 Sep 2009 by YoDude.SETI.USA [TopGun] Post: Well I guess I might as well throw in my two cents worth in also. My personal feeling is one of...Why lower the credit? Why not all the other projects raise there's to fall more in line with MW? I see it somewhat like this...if you have a fast computer with all the bells and whistles, you can crunch a crap load of work in no time at all (figuratively speaking anyway). If you have a slow dog computer, then you get crappy credit for endless hours of work being done. Generally, this is the way it works, which is all good and fine. What this means to me is that the ratio of credit for all project should (and likely needs to) be standardized based on throughput of WUs vs the amount of time spent on any project. This evens the playing field for everyone for any project. It also means that because people are credit hungry, some will leave, some will stay. I think people all have a basic competitive nature about them and when they do something, practically anything, that gives them some form of reward, they tend to strive harder and do more to get an edge over others doing the same thing. Tiger Direct knows that I've spent $1200 on a new core-i7 box just for this reason, more credit as fast as possible. There are many people running "farms" of boxes just to try to get to the top of the hill and maybe even take down those Big Guys with a gazillion credits. My point being with this, is that a lot of people will likely tend to go where ever they can to get the most credit as they can, whether or not they may or may not think the particular project they abandon or join is worthwhile in any other sense. This may sound as though, those people that are in that competitive mode, are heartless towards anything but the credit. Some may see that as true, but guess what?! Those people that are going for the highest paying credit projects are still doing the favor of (whatever) the project, the crunching to get the work done. And though it may not be MW or SETI, they will find a nitch somewhere that they are happy. With that in mind, it really doesn't matter what project they are doing so long as it makes them happy and the work gets done. The heartless people are the ones that get pissed over everything and quit Boinc altogether because of something like a lowering of credit that just displeases them to no end. Those people that are credit hungry (like me) also tend to spend money on faster and more computers to get the job done. This is over all a good thing for everyone. It stimulates the economy a little (for, computer purchases, shippers that deliver the computers and you know the electric company just loves it, ISPs aren't complaining either and don't forget the projects are getting worked on more and more because of it) and so it's all a good overall thing I think. If nothing else, you get a kickass computer to play with!!! Me personally, I like WUs that go fast and don't take FOREVER to do. This is one of the reasons I chose MW as a place to get some work done. I have another box crunching GPUGrids, but to me they are so painfully long and time consuming, I can't bare to even look at the manager screen other than to just simply make sure the project is still running properly. Recently they did a nerf to their project, but not by lowering the credit, but by making the WUs longer. I was pissed, but I didn't leave the project and the work is still getting done. MW pisses me off with this, but guess what?...I'm still here :) At least, that's my two cents worth. Yo-
28) Message boards : Number crunching : 6.10.1 Posted. (Message 30267) Posted 6 Sep 2009 by YoDude.SETI.USA [TopGun] Post: Guys...and gals.... It all boils down to ONE THING..... If you have a setup that's working, DON'T CHANGE IT! Let someone else be the guinea pig and when you finally see positive results, then MAYBE try it out. Of course, this is just personal opinion. [Insert maniacal grin here] Yo-
29) Message boards : Number crunching : Catalyst 9.7 released (Message 29726) Posted 26 Aug 2009 by YoDude.SETI.USA [TopGun] Post: Looks like we have nearly the same system going. I'm sticking with 9.6 for the time being however. Not having any issues as long as I don't disconnect my monitor and reconnect it. That causes all running GPU WUs to crash and get the dreaded "compute error".
30) Message boards : Number crunching : 36 pages of work I don't have? (Message 29725) Posted 26 Aug 2009 by YoDude.SETI.USA [TopGun] Post: Ok, For some reason I have over 36 pages of WUs showing up in my tasks list that I don't have or have already completed. The dates range from 8.22.9 to 8.25.9 and the oldest ones are starting to show up as "Timed out, no response" in red. These are tasks I have already received credit for, so far as I can tell, so why do they still show up green and "In progress" when they are completed? Running 6.4.7 client and milkyway 0.19
31) Message boards : Number crunching : Small WUs is doing it again! (Message 29430) Posted 16 Aug 2009 by YoDude.SETI.USA [TopGun] Post: Current_result = UNHAPPY While Current_result <> HAPPY call Complain_a_lot call Read_forum call Check_for_new_result(new_result) if new_result = HAPPY then Current_result = HAPPY Wend
32) Message boards : Number crunching : Website slow for anyone else? (Message 29425) Posted 16 Aug 2009 by YoDude.SETI.USA [TopGun] Post: Yes the site has been very slow lately. I can't seem to cache any WUs at all and I see I'm constantly running short. I haven't seen a "Ready to start" WU since yesterday and even then, when I did get a full cache, it was only once during the day and then back to just a few, sometimes only 2 or 3 WUs running at a time.
33) Message boards : Number crunching : Conflict MW (ATI) & Aqua CPU (Message 29304) Posted 13 Aug 2009 by YoDude.SETI.USA [TopGun] Post: Personally, I hate to have to micromanage the Boinc manager. Apparently, this really seems to be a manager "conflict of interest" or some such thing. Some would call it a bug. Others tend to think it's the WUs of different projects causing the problems, but I am convinced it's strictly a problem to do only with the manager itself and how it handles the projects. Might there be an alternative manager that we can run these projects on that doesn't exhibit these problems? Or, is this something that simply just needs to be fixed? In any case, we shouldn't have to deal with these headaches. In fact the Boinc people and the project people that come up with stuff should be paying us for doing their work for them. I have to pay dearly for the electricity to run these projects and I do this out of the kindness of my heart and the belief that these projects will one day help the world as a whole, if not already. The least they could do is give us a manager that actually runs the projects they way we'd like it to. Half the setting don't seem to do anything, the rest seem to be broken and those that actually Do, do something, seem to do very little. Rant - disabled Yo- :)
34) Message boards : Number crunching : Conflict MW (ATI) & Aqua CPU (Message 29292) Posted 13 Aug 2009 by YoDude.SETI.USA [TopGun] Post: As a follow up on my previous post on this thread, I have the following to report. After several hours of flawless crunching of MW WUs and Aqua running, I have noted that upon completion of the Aqua WU, the Boinc manager would not report the completed task even though the upload was successful and without any intervention. I had hoped that the manager would simply report the completed task and fetch a new Aqua but it just didn't happen. At this point I removed the remaining Aqua from suspension thinking that that may do the trick but alas, that didn't work either. The Aqua WU started running at this point, but the manager still wouldn't report the other completed WU. This left only one choice. I had to suspend MW for a brief period, click the "Update" button to force the manager to report the Aqua WU and fetch another WU. Which is exactly what happened. Once the new Aqua was downloaded, I suspended it and then removed MW from suspension. Everything went back to running as I had made note of in my previous post. Having to do this "trickery" every eight to ten hours is much more manageable than having to have to do it every twenty to forty minutes by manipulating MW to do the same thing. I noticed that after doing this, some of the MW WUs were sitting there "waiting to run" which had me a little worried, but eventually, everything came back into play and now I can go back to bed. Yo-
35) Message boards : Number crunching : Conflict MW (ATI) & Aqua CPU (Message 29280) Posted 13 Aug 2009 by YoDude.SETI.USA [TopGun] Post: Well guys, I may have come up with a simple "work around" for the MW/Aqua problem. It seems there's a few other folks that are having a lot of trouble keeping MW WUs running in companion with Aqua. I too suffer from this problem. After reading this thread (and others) and trying MANY different configuration setups, I seem to have finally come up with something that seems to actually (sorta) work. Please keep in mind, this is not a "fix all" for this problem, but so far, seems to allow MW and Aqua to run together in seeming harmony. Currently, I had two Aqua WUs. One, running in "high priority" the other, "waiting to run". Additionally, I have several MW WUs running. When the MW WUs finish, in this situation, the manager does not fetch new work (usually) and even if it does, they just sit there "waiting to run" forever (if they are newly fetched WUs) or, they sit there "ready to report", forever. We all hate this and yes, manually it can be overcome if you plan to be a boinc manager, babysitter. Screw that! Here's what I've done: 1. In the cc_config.xml file, add or edit the line with ncpus to read: <ncpus>5</ncpus> Thank you goes to someone else for suggesting this idea. I'm running a quad core so this reflects one more cpu than actually exists. Doing just this alone, made the manager start running a second Aqua in parallel with the first (that was already running), both running in "high priority". Of course, at this point, there's no hope at all for any MW WUs to ever get done AND the second Aqua WU runs HORRIBLY slow, though it does progress and almost seems to be stalled, but it is not. Next........ 2. Suspend one of the two running Aquas. Being that I already had one of the Aqua WU at about 25% completion, I suspended the newly started WU. At this point, I let MW continue to run thinking, "yeah.....right". To my surprise after all the MW WUs completed, uploaded and were reported, the manager actually went and got more MW WUs and they actually STARTED on their own! Currently, I have the one Aqua WU running in "high priority", the second "suspended", a full cache of MW WUs and three WUs running (I only have a single ATI 4870 in the system ATM) my settings are to run 3 WUs on the single card and I can only cache 16 WUs at a time. Eleven MW WUs (normally twelve) are being reported as "running" while only three (which is normal for my setup) are actually gaining progression. WUs are being reported, new WUs are being downloaded and set as "Ready to start". When the currently running WUs complete, "Running" WUs that were not gaining progress begin to show they are (only three at a time, but that is still normal for my setup). "Ready to start" WUs switch to "Running" and everything looks to be quite normal and running very smoothly. On a final note, I don't claim to be a "guru" or "know it all" and someone else may have already suggested this idea, I don't know. What I can tell you, is this, for the last hour as I've watched the progression of WUs through my system, MW WUs and Aquas are running together without complication. If something falters, I'll let ya'll know. Meanwhile, happy crunching! Yo- On edit, here's my MY app_info.xml file: - <app_info> - <app> <name>milkyway</name> </app> - <file_info> <name>astronomy_0.19_ATI_x64f.exe</name> <executable /> </file_info> - <file_info> <name>brook.dll</name> <executable /> </file_info> - <app_version> <app_name>milkyway</app_name> <version_num>19</version_num> <flops>1.0e11</flops> <avg_ncpus>0.1</avg_ncpus> <max_ncpus>1</max_ncpus> <cmdline>n3 w1.1</cmdline> - <file_ref> <file_name>astronomy_0.19_ATI_x64f.exe</file_name> <main_program /> </file_ref> - <file_ref> <file_name>brook.dll</file_name> </file_ref> </app_version> </app_info> and my cc_config.xml file: - <cc_config> - <options> <exclusive_app>ehshell.exe</exclusive_app> <exclusive_app>Crysis64.exe</exclusive_app> <no_gpus>0</no_gpus> <ncpus>5</ncpus> </options> </cc_config>
36) Message boards : Number crunching : Gee guys, what's happening? (Message 29156) Posted 10 Aug 2009 by YoDude.SETI.USA [TopGun] Post: Okay, sounds good. Now if I could just keep AQUA from messing up the manager all the time, I'd be happy LOL
37) Message boards : Number crunching : Gee guys, what's happening? (Message 29051) Posted 8 Aug 2009 by YoDude.SETI.USA [TopGun] Post: Did they nerf the credit being given out or am I just getting shorter WUs? In the past I have been getting 74 credits per WU almost without exception. Just today (which started today), I notice that I'm only getting 25~35 credits per WU. I do see the claimed credit and CPU time has gone down, so I can only assume these latest WUs are shorter, or is everyone seeing this behavior also?

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