BOINC

Gilthanis

[H]ard|DCer of the Year - 2014
Joined
Jan 29, 2006
Messages
8,718
So, after discussing things with a few team members, it seems that I have derailed the DC Vault 2 thread and made it into an all out BOINC catch all thread. I would like to correct this by starting a general BOINC related thread so that we can leave the Vault thread to Vault related discussion. I think some members would appreciate that more due to interests.

First, I would like to give a brief run down on BOINC and give a few helpful topics that newbs and veterans both sometimes have trouble with. BOINC is just a client. It does absolutely zero work itself as far as the science and work units are concerned. It is necessary to install this software first before choosing what project(s) you want to support. We have a How To on how to get BOINC and install it. BOINC installation walk through

Next, unlike some DC projects like FAH and DIMES, the BOINC client is used at over 80 DC projects with a wide variety of sciences to choose from. You can find a large list of them here: All Inclusive DC Project list It is best to pick something you are interested in as your first project and expand from there. If you feel flooded with options and don't know where to start, feel free to drop a post and the members would be more than happy to help you decide or point you in the right direction. Each project has its own website and can be configured both using the BOINC client and/or the preferences from the project site. So for example if you wanted to attach to WCG, you can set the preferences on how you want BOINC manager to use your system, but you would choose what WCG sub projects you want to support from the settings on the WCG website. You can also use a BOINC account manager such as BAM! located at www.boincstats.com. If you are going to support multiple BOINC projects, the account manager is definitely the way to go.

Third, in the DC world there are 3 types of work units.
A) CPU intensive: This is the most common type of work unit you will encounter. It uses your processor in the traditional manner that most think of computing.
B) non-CPU intensive: This is a work unit that requires very little processing power and typically resides in memory for the majority of it duration. non-CPU intensive work units can usually process alongside CPU intensive work without interruption.
C) GPU intensive: Many projects are starting to use the GP-GPU inside newer systems. These projects usually see a large increase in processing power by using these highly specialized devices. Not all sciences are compatible with GP-GPU's and it also takes someone who knows the programming language to get it up and going.

We have a few other threads that were for posting badge upgrades at different projects. Please feel free to chime in when you have an achievement you want to share:
WCG - Hit a WCG (World Community Grid) milestone? Post it here:
OProject - Milestones for OProject@home
YoYo - YoYo Recognition Thread
GPUGrid - Badges and publications for GPUGrid.net
enigma - enigma@home badges and recognition
Prime Grid - PrimeGrid Recognition Thread
Asteroids - Asteroids@Home badges and recognition
WUProp - WUProp badges and recognition
Numberfields - Badges now for NumberFields@home including top team belts
Radioactive - Not yet created
Citizen Science Grid - Citizen Science Grid badges and milestones
theSkyNet - I'm adding this because the pogs BOINC work contributes to the badges. theSkyNet recognition and trophies
Milkyway - Milkyway badges and Milestones
Collatz - Collatz@home badges and recognition
NFS - NFS@Home badges and accomplishments
BitcoinUtopia - BitcoinUtopia badges and accomplishments
SRBase - SRBase Badges and Milestones
Universe - Universe@home badges and recognition
Universe Test - Universe@home Test badges and milestones
Atlas@home - Atlas@home badges and milestones
DENIS@home - DENIS@home badges and milestones
GoofyxGrid@home - GoofyxGrid@Home badges and milestones
Here is an example of what some of the badges look like:
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Some of our members strive to improve our position within a competitive ongoing challenge called the DC-Vault. DC Vault - Home Page Our team is currently ranked 4th within this competition. The DC-Vault consists of select DC projects that include a hand full outside of BOINC as well. We have a discussion thread on the DC-Vault here: DC Vault 2

Our team has also recently (May 2014) taken interest in the Formula BOINC. Our thread on this is located here: Formula BOINC

BOINC can be ran on Windows, Solaris, Mac OSX, various flavors of Linux (including on older PS3's), and Android. Currently only the ARM version of Android is supported, but plans for future offerings should include the x86 version as well (SETI currently has one). You have two options for Android devices. The official BOINC release found here: Download BOINC client software or at the Play Store and then there is nativeBOINC which can be found here: NativeBOINC - Welcome to NativeBOINC! or at the Play Store. If your Android device does not have a battery, you may need to run nativeBOINC. As of 1/8/14 the Berkeley version does not support devices without a battery. Also of this time, I believe the only projects that still has an app for PS3 are YoYo@home and SIMAP. (supposedly WUProp has a PS3 app, but I'm not positive)

If you ever see posts pertaining to "borged", "borging", or any other form of the word "borg", here is a good thread to read: Helpful tips for Borging
If you ever see posts pertaining to "bunkering", here is a good thread to read: Bunkering - Why you should or should not do it

We also have a thread designed for posting helpful tools to keep your DC'ing computers happy or to tweak them as necessary. Though it is titled for BOINC, some of the tools can come in handy elsewhere as well. BOINC useful tools and download locations

We have an older thread for configurations of the BOINC client. It may need updated, but the info is still helpful. It is more for advanced configurations and tweaking. BOINC configurations and How To's

This is a small read to help people understand BOINC point systems when they go to compare them to other projects. BOINC points clarification since many non-BOINC DC'ers seem to compare

We have a thread designed to post all of the team challenges that we are involved or will be involved in. Please check it out and join in the fun. What is your daily production thread

Since we have two team names and there had been unofficial teams created in the past, please see both listings for our stats. HardOCP stats should replace the appropriate stats on the [H]ard|OCP listing.
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Good - I'll move my GPUGrid/DistrRTgen Nvidia issues discussion over here after we finish working on Poem this month...

So where do we want to post discussions about non-vault, non-F@H, non-BOINC DC projects? :D
 
Are there very many that the Commandos are involved in? To be honest, I don't know a lot of them that aren't already in the Vault. I personally don't care if those are discussed here. I just labeled it BOINC because it covered that mass majority. :)
 
So, the order for my dedicated server finally came through today, only took 2 months :rolleyes:
Will be playing with it later, I have an Atom (either 1c/2t or 2c, not sure), 2GB RAM, and a 500GB HDD with 100mb/sec up and down. Specs aren't fantastic but for £3/month, can't complain. Something to play with, anyway, and perhaps I can find a use for it, other than running DIMES of course.
Anyone need some files hosting, or anything along those lines? :) it's dedicated so it seems I can do what I like with it...

Edit: [removed due to not wanting to break any rules]
 
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So, the order for my dedicated server finally came through today, only took 2 months :rolleyes:
Will be playing with it later, I have an Atom (either 1c/2t or 2c, not sure), 2GB RAM, and a 500GB HDD with 100mb/sec up and down. Specs aren't fantastic but for £3/month, can't complain. Something to play with, anyway, and perhaps I can find a use for it, other than running DIMES of course.
Anyone need some files hosting, or anything along those lines? :) it's dedicated so it seems I can do what I like with it...

Edit: I also have two L5520s going spare right now, had no interest when trying to sell them...if they'd be of use to anyone, speak up, if you cover shipping they're yours if you crunch for [H]. Hope that's not breaking any rules!

Here is an idea for it: http://owncloud.org/
I'm thinking of setting one up in the near future. Think Dropbox only better. And if you by a detector, you could run it at QCN, Radioactive, and WUProp while letting it do some other project that has light demands like Asteroids...Any possibility of putting a GPU in it?

Also, I think if you are posting the item for [H] members is is supposed to go to the FS/FT section. However, I don't know if this actually breaks any rules or not.
 
Here is an idea for it: http://owncloud.org/
I'm thinking of setting one up in the near future. Think Dropbox only better. And if you by a detector, you could run it at QCN, Radioactive, and WUProp while letting it do some other project that has light demands like Asteroids...Any possibility of putting a GPU in it?

Thanks, I'll have a look at Owncloud. I was thinking of using it for additional backup space and sharing files, but it's not something I tend to need much. I can't attach or change hardware, it's in a data centre and I'm just renting it, but other than that it's mine so I can do what I want with it, software wise. I probably will put it on Asteroids, and of course attach to WUProp anyway. I was just mulling over whether it could be put to any other uses, having some storage and a fast connection.

Also, I think if you are posting the item for [H] members is is supposed to go to the FS/FT section. However, I don't know if this actually breaks any rules or not.

Fair point, I was just posting to see if they would be of use. Will remove it for now in case it does break the rules, but I can't post in DC FS/FT due to not having a [H] badge.
 
Well, hopefully it is the 2 core version or better yet 2 core/4 thread. Honestly, it wont be a high producer anywhere for obvious reasons, but you may just want to slap Linux on it and put it towards a Linux only BOINC project unless you want it to go towards the Vault. Then, I would put it on something that you don't mind "wasting" the electricity on. Anything using Virtualbox would be probably too demanding on it. This would also be a good system to put RNA on since you don't have to worry about down time. Unfortunately, you would have to pay attention to deadlines and go to their forums to ask for extensions. The new VM work units they are testing is supposed to automatically get extensions some how as well as check pointing. But, thinking of Atom processors on RNA is a very thin line to cross. CPDN has the long deadlines but they have had a lot of issues lately. I hate babysitting machines running it these days. Once I hit that 1 million point mark, I'm done with them. Before switching staff, they were awesome. Now they just having nothing but issues.

I would focus on Asteroids, enigma, and eventually when they get back to work Subsetsum or put it on a badge project that awards you badges by run time like WCG.
 
I know it won't be a high producer, but it's only costing me £3 a month, no electricity or other ongoing costs. It has Ubuntu installed already, so I just plan to make use of it however seems best. I think Asteroids or Enigma seems like a good shout due to its low processing power but at least it'll run 24/7.
 
I am not sure how I missed it, but YoYo added another math project. It searches for odd weird numbers. Evidently, it was added on 9/7/13. Woohoo...another badge to chase. OProject already has a sub project for this, but apparently YoYo is using a different algorithm and search range. http://www.rechenkraft.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=13024
 
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I have the Atom server running Asteroids now, starting to get to grips with Linux a very, very small amount. Installed BOINC which was a breeze, then set up BAM at last and attached it to that, got it running WUProp and Asteroids shortly afterwards.
It's an Atom 230 so single core with HT, not a dual core, but it's something :)
 
Which version of Linux did you go with? I find Ubuntu easy to get BOINC on if you get it from the repository. I'm also seeing Asteroids as being down right now and can't upload work... :mad:
 
At the time I had it installed with Ubuntu Server 64 bit, whatever the latest version is. I was given a bewildering array of choices in a drop down box, basically any flavour of Linux I wanted, or Windows Server for an additional fee for licensing, or I could provide my own license. I went with Ubuntu because it's supposed to be quite easy, and yeah it's not too difficult now I've got to grips with using the basic commands. Obviously there's no GUI I could use so I'm doing everything through shell, definitely a good way to learn if nothing else :)

I've returned work to Asteroids in the last couple of hours, just manually updated on this laptop and it sent two completed units, so it looks like it's back up now if it was down earlier. Maybe I just got lucky and missed its downtime.
 
Mine still wont upload. At least not the ones on my netbook at work. It is possible they are blocking something because I know I had problems downloading Muon work from YoYo while other YoYo work would download just fine. I will check it when I get home on my network.

Yeah, I have never tried the command line or headless versions of Linux. I figured if the GUI versions were irritating, then the command line was probably just as bad or worse. Maybe some day I will get bored enough to learn it, but it kinda feels like taking a step back to the old DOS days...lol
 
I'm going completely command line, it actually wasn't too hard.

I found this helpful - http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Installing_BOINC_on_Ubuntu
Once installed, the boinccmd tool can do pretty much everything the GUI can - http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Boinccmd_tool

So basically, I just ran "sudo aptitude install boinc-client" then "boinccmd --join_acct_mgr URL name password" (obviously replacing those with the BAM URL and my details) and away I went. Seems to be working according to BAM, I'll check it again tomorrow to see how it's going but it certainly attached to WUProp and Asteroids quickly as instructed through BAM. Without BAM it would definitely be a real pain though, not necessarily difficult just very tedious.
 
If I'm reading it right, this Atom is taking about 10 hours to do an Asteroids unit. I just had to do a manual update as it hadn't sent any completed work, was getting a little worried that it had taken like 24 hours. It must be doing 2 at once though due to the HT, because it's returned 4 tasks since about this time last night, so I guess it's doing about as well as expected. Better than nothing!
 
Thanks for that, seems roughly in line. My Atom is a 230 so slightly different but not too much. Run times are around 35k, I see yours varies between about 28k-88k.
 
It probably depends on what work unit I get and what else is running next to it since I run multiple projects. That and the limited ram means it may get slowed down due to swapping and such. I haven't really looked at comparing them since they usually just sit there until we are ready to go somewhere that requires a lot of waiting.
 
Due to looking into going from Verizon to Straight Talk within the next month, I'm thinking of picking up a Galaxy S3. So, that would be 4 more part time ARM cores and my Bionic would become a full time dual core ARM. I just with these phones were cheaper. $400 can buy a heavy producing GPU.
 
Due to looking into going from Verizon to Straight Talk within the next month, I'm thinking of picking up a Galaxy S3. So, that would be 4 more part time ARM cores and my Bionic would become a full time dual core ARM. I just with these phones were cheaper. $400 can buy a heavy producing GPU.

Not sure on the Straight Talk Galaxy S3 and if it's any different from the AT&T one, but the US version only has two cores, not four like the Int'l version. When I tried WCG last week, I didn't like how it behaved on my phone so I got rid of it. Might end up trying BOINC on misc PCs that are no good for Folding.
 
Not sure on the Straight Talk Galaxy S3 and if it's any different from the AT&T one, but the US version only has two cores, not four like the Int'l version. When I tried WCG last week, I didn't like how it behaved on my phone so I got rid of it. Might end up trying BOINC on misc PCs that are no good for Folding.

You are correct. It is a dual core. Too many phone specs in one day I guess. Since it is one of the best on ST and has Android, I'm kinda limited on the choice. My wife is dead set on this switch. I would rather not switch at all. What troubles did you have? Did you try nativeBOINC and see if you had similar issues. I have heard results can very from device to device on which works better or at all. I've had pretty good luck with my Bionic on both. The only issue the Bionic had was with nativeBOINC restarting the phone when I shut the app down. However, this may have been issues with just my phone. A factory reset corrected the issue once.
 
Not sure on the Straight Talk Galaxy S3 and if it's any different from the AT&T one, but the US version only has two cores, not four like the Int'l version. When I tried WCG last week, I didn't like how it behaved on my phone so I got rid of it. Might end up trying BOINC on misc PCs that are no good for Folding.

You are correct. It is a dual core. Too many phone specs in one day I guess. Since it is one of the best on ST and has Android, I'm kinda limited on the choice. My wife is dead set on this switch. I would rather not switch at all. What troubles did you have? Did you try nativeBOINC and see if you had similar issues. I have heard results can very from device to device on which works better or at all. I've had pretty good luck with my Bionic on both. The only issue the Bionic had was with nativeBOINC restarting the phone when I shut the app down. However, this may have been issues with just my phone. A factory reset corrected the issue once.
I second the NativeBOINC suggestion. I tried the official Android BOINC client didn't like the controls (or lack thereof), and switched to Native BOINC. I've never looked back! I have noticed an issue with our current Vault push, however, that if the "leave in memory" setting is on, Asteroids keeps doing something to drain my battery when unplugged. I have to disconnect and reconnect the client at times. I don't think it's Native BOINC, as no other project does it, I think it's a miscoding in Asteroids.

And while the dual core 1.5Ghz on these S3s is a great processor, it's still pretty dang slow! I'd definitely spend money on any PC equipment before acquiring anything more for BOINC on Android. I'm even considering stopping using my single core Galaxy Tab, as it takes Days to process what this S3 does in hours...
 
I'm not buying the devices for DC'ing...just using what I already have as I upgrade or acquire new for other reasons. ARM is making good progress, but still isn't quite ready to replace high end work horses.

However, for reference of how far they are coming along, we have devices like this that could probably be used and they are really cheap: http://www.amazon.com/DIAOTEC-antennas-Cortex-A9-processor-Mali-400MP4/dp/B00ECBY5VS
 
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24 cores is very tempting and that is a good price if you have a case (or cheap cardboard box) and a power supply for it. You may want to ask knreed for some stats. He has done it recently here: https://secure.worldcommunitygrid.org/forums/wcg/viewthread_thread,35305_offset,40

That would probably be the best resource. If I'm reading the stats right, and I have been wrong before, I would guess 4k/cpu/day (8425HE in that FS thread) on average. A 6376 would get about 8700/cpu/day if the charts are right at BOINCStats. I only mentioned the 6376 for comparison.

Too bad the board doesn't have a PCIe for a GPU. Then I would be really tempted. :)

And I'm guessing those numbers are the BOINC points....so WCG points would be multiplied by 7 of course.

WUProp stats can be located here. http://wuprop.boinc-af.org/results/...eron+Six-Core&modele=8435&tri=projet&sort=asc
I selected the 8435 since the 8425 wasn't an option. I'm guessing very similar.

The biggest problem I have with BOINCStats and WUProp when it comes to stats is that they don't say if Intel chips had HT turned on or off. That info is the best I can do. Sorry.
 
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That sounds about right. I'm getting 3.5k/cpu/day WCG points with 22 cores. This would more than double my output. Unfortunately I don't have a adequate PSU and I doubt it would fit into my Antec 300 case. My initial thought was to consolidate my home machines a bit. Not sure how loud it would be in my basement. I agree that is a good price. Nice addition for one of the Commandos.

Statistics Date Total Run Time
(y:d:h:m:s) Points Generated Results Returned
10/04/2013 0:021:08:50:55 66,509 117
10/03/2013 0:023:22:16:57 70,937 135
10/02/2013 0:026:06:14:44 75,458 156
10/01/2013 0:022:22:16:56 67,697 99
09/30/2013 0:023:06:26:02 70,193 103
 
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I agree that it would be a good buy. Hopefully they change the rules to that section soon so that the Commandos that don't have FAH points can participate... If my garage was insolated, I would go server hardware like that. However, I see the future in GPU's and hopefully WCG puts more effort into pushing projects in that direction.
 
The rules don't say anything about buyers having FAH badges, only sellers. It looks like anyone can buy from there. I have a FAH badge so that's not a problem.
 
The impression I and others have gotten is that members of the [H]orde are FAH contributors where as the rest of us are referred to as Commandos. That is why it has been requested for a revision. To clear up the intent of the rules and qualifications thereof.
 
Awesome, way to go!

My SR-2 build is finally in progress...got interrupted yesterday by a birthday of all things (my little cousin's) and made slow progress due to one task taking a LOT longer than anticipated. Not sure if I'll finish it today but I hope so.

Edit: also, got my power bill for the last quarter, after a bit of back and forth. I submitted my meter readings, they said they didn't look right, I said they were right in that they didn't match the last quarter, because the last quarter included April where it was really cold, so the expensive storage heaters were on a lot. This quarter we only used £12 on heating because it's mostly been warm, sometimes uncomfortably so. They did the exact same thing on our last bill, actually, for much the same reason as the heater usage changed from over winter. Anyway, finally got them to sort it out, and our bill was just under £100, which was amazingly low. That'll change soon enough...but at least we've built up a nice amount of credit to eat into. We shouldn't need to run the heaters as much this winter, either, not with 2 Xeons and 2 7970s heating the main room ;)
 
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Curse you birthdays!!!!!

But seriously, that's incredibly low considering. I just got my last months bill, and the wife decided I need to start shutting things off occasionally. Apparently three 7970's use a lot of power. Whatever! Science is priceless I says, power is pricy she said. She won, naturally.
 
Curse you birthdays!!!!!

But seriously, that's incredibly low considering. I just got my last months bill, and the wife decided I need to start shutting things off occasionally. Apparently three 7970's use a lot of power. Whatever! Science is priceless I says, power is pricy she said. She won, naturally.

Well...run a long extension cord from your neighbors house. I'm sure they wont mind. :D

OK...fine...send all of the 7970's my way and possibly a good solid motherboard and I will see what my wife will let me get away with. LOL Maybe even hide one under my desk at work. Shhh...it is just my space heater for the upcoming months. Hmmm... now I had a mod idea.... ;)
 
Still making slow progress, more parts and possibly some drilling required. I'm pushing back my ETA till Sunday, hopefully that's the latest it'll be...I always have to do things the awkward way :D

Yeah I was really happy with that power bill, sure will be interesting/horrifying to see next quarter's.

My server's Atom is doing alright at Asteroids, seems to be slowly levelling off at around 180RAC which is about what I expected I guess. Still haven't got DIMES working on it though, been busy with other things.
 
Yeah...my Atom's run because they are really too slow for regular internet browsing. However, they are great for building up BETA badge run time at WCG. :D
 
Heh, indeed. I do have a use for the server now so it'll at least be doing something other than BOINC, although that will be low load. I think it'll be worth keeping anyway, for £3 a month, and I'll probably find more uses for it in time anyway. It's just handy to have a dedicated machine somewhere, even if it's low spec, with a few hundred GB of storage, a nice fast connection, and a different IP etc.
 
Finally! The CPU app is fairly efficient, though a GPU app will add a huge measure of efficiency. I saw they were down for maintainence recently, hopefully this is part of the process!
 
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