Posts by Fritz

1) Message boards : Number crunching : Because you asked.... (Message 16913) Posted 18 May 2007 by Fritz Post: Master Aaron set me to laughing. I currently connect to several projects that are out of work. All it's done to my efforts is generate no returns for the projects not looking for returns...the rest still supply WUs to crunch and are happy to credit my account with credits once in a while. Make hay while the sun shines, use the hay to make other things while waiting for the sun :P Keep on truckin' Fritz
2) Message boards : Number crunching : New Hosts are Multiplying ! (Message 16725) Posted 17 Apr 2007 by Fritz Post: This thread has the answer
3) Message boards : Number crunching : New computer database entry created on each connect (Message 16686) Posted 9 Apr 2007 by Fritz Post: A server side script can merge the ghosts with very few legit farms of identical machines getting crunched into 1 host. The rule for merging is that the two hosts will be combined if 1) Their machine description is identical 2) The first date work is assigned & last date work is assigned or returned define a range that does not overlap. If the date ranges for two hosts overlap then it will be very rare for one machine to be both hosts. (I have had one machine connected as two seperate hosts each accepting work, so I know it's not impossible, just very rare :P ) Start with the first entry for each account and compare until all remaining hosts have been merged/rejected. Repeat with next remaining host ignoring those that come earlier in list. When done move to next account & repeat Timing is similar to an optimized bubble sort, but that will be a concern only for accounts with large numbers of legit hosts. It is an algorithm that can be implemented with a fairly small amount of script code and allowed to run as a background batch job until done. This allows that old laptop that got 115 credits 2 yrs ago to remain & legit hosts with 0 credits will be unaffected unless they appear to be identical to another host on the same acct. Of course the XML parser should be modified also to prevent a repeat, but even with the bug remaining, the script can be run once every few months to clean up the mess.
4) Message boards : Number crunching : Trojan used by dishonest BOINC cruncher (Message 16626) Posted 26 Mar 2007 by Fritz Post: Grrr I was really out of it when I posted that last. My thoughts on the matter are the same, but here is the real text from that post. The mistakes I put in the last post are fair evidence of why the mob should not go on a rampage before doing some fact checking. <quote>This thread is closed. Please do not create a new one. Since this thread was first created I have deleted two other threads incorrectly accusing volunteers of cheating. If someone has installed the boinc client on machines that they do not have permission to that is wrong. I have no way of knowing if this has or hasn't happened. Just because "some guy" posted something on the internet is not good enough reason to take any action against anyone. dlb</quote> The major complaints I keep seeing are "I started a new thread discussing Wate and it was deleted". Not surprising since they asked that people treat the problem as handled & get on with their lives. As for false accusations, their final statement says it well; "Just because "some guy" posted something on the internet is not good enough reason to take any action against anyone" One of those banned said he had 7 new threads deleted ... maybe the Admins just got tired of swatting flies and put up screens,
5) Message boards : Number crunching : Trojan used by dishonest BOINC cruncher (Message 16610) Posted 24 Mar 2007 by Fritz Post: Nightbird If you read the final message in the thread linked to, you will find that the Admins there banned 2 people for posting false accusations. They also state that where there is no evidence they cannot assume a breaking of the rules. That seems to be fair enough. I haven't looked at their message board rules, but if there is mention of posting false or unsupported info that harms, or is intended to harm. another user, that would justify the 2 banishments mentioned. If Admins there declared the matter closed and asked that new threads beating this dead horse not be created, then it would be well within their rights to delete threads as they appear, again haven't looked for this, but they have stated that they are dealing with the person who has been proven to have violated their rules and from the Admin's comments & Pscheofer's complaint they are containing the issue in a manner they deem best.
6) Message boards : Number crunching : Fairer distribuiton of work(Flame Fest 2007) (Message 16516) Posted 10 Mar 2007 by Fritz Post: Fairly new with this project, but I see WUs in my results. The technique that works for me is: Connect to 13 projects, set cache size to .001 days and look at the stats page every so often. I've had to raise the resource share for CPDN so that it will finish on sched & on my old 1.8Ghz P4 limit the projects worked on, but aside from that there is no micro-managing necessary. Work comes in...WUs are crunched...Credits are added to the various accounts as earned. I don't see 3+ page lists on the tasks tab ... maybe 1 or 2 at a time per active project, perhaps 7 or 8 projects with a WU or 2 in progress at any given time. Looking at results pages I occasionally find impressive lists of same day returns, but I find the credits add up quite nicely while I'm ignoring the whole thing :P
7) Message boards : Number crunching : Extremely short WUs (Message 16480) Posted 8 Mar 2007 by Fritz Post: Normal too that you got several ... they tend to be similar when close in the sequence.
8) Message boards : Number crunching : LHC Creating new user hosts at a high rate (Message 16479) Posted 8 Mar 2007 by Fritz Post: Updating the server may help. I have had this same problem on PrimeGrid & ExtremLab is reporting it in their news. They have seen it linked to an update of the Boimc client on the home machine. This is how I got the problem, updating to Boinc 5.8.11. The symptom was a new CPID every day, a new PrimeGrid host entry every day and one machine connected to PrimeGrid as two seperate & independent computers. It also had PrimeGrid listed twice in the Boinc manager project list. It didn't affect any other project in my case. If my experience is any indication I'd say this is likely a fairly common headache.
9) Message boards : Number crunching : I think this cruncher has a problem (Message 16463) Posted 7 Mar 2007 by Fritz Post: Not sure if it's a related error, but after updating to Boinc Manager 5.8.11 I had Primegrid creating a new CPID & host computer entry daily. Also managed to connect the same machine, using the same email to that project twice so I had two different PG entries in my projects list. Detatching one of the PGs cleared up the problem, but was a little strange while it was going on.
10) Message boards : Number crunching : Versions for x86_64 platforms avaible ? (Message 16461) Posted 7 Mar 2007 by Fritz Post: Here comes a newbie question: My Dell Dimension uses this processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4600+ [x86 Family 15 Model 75 Stepping 2] But my version of Windows XP Pro is the common 32-bit version. Can a native 64-bit Application run on my machine? What about a 32-bit application that can still take advantage of my 64-bit chip? I'm hoping that my pricey chip isn't going to waste... Your chip is not going to waste. I have a Dell with P4 1.8Ghz & an HP with Athlon 64x2 4200+ socket 939 ... both running WinXP Pro 32bit. The difference in credits is around 8 to 1 in favor of the Athlon. On CPDN the speed diff is roughly +30% for each Athlon core vs the P4. So on that project the advantage is only +160%. AMD designed the Athlon64 series to perform as well at 32bit as it does with 64bit, so until XP64 and Vista mature you're faster with Win32. Going to Linux you would get a 64bit version snd use 16bit, 32bit & 64bit apps, but as noted several times you won't see a noticable performance difference unless the programmer optimized for 64bit. In a few cases 64bit can be slower.
11) Message boards : Number crunching : Because you asked.... (Message 16458) Posted 4 Mar 2007 by Fritz Post: [...]prune out the millions of unwanted hosts from the db before the real migrate, perhaps only migrating those hostids that have ever submitted work. Need to do some searching to find the info again, but this ghosting is showing up in other projects. At least one 'got rid of the ghosts' by running an automated merge based on simple criteria All hosts with same owner, same machine specs and have no overlapping dates were considered one machine and merged. This would effectively rid the system of almost all ghosts. Pruning would only eliminate the ghosts that did no work. Merging then pruning systems that had never received work would get few more since there will be cases where the machines reported specs changed.
12) Message boards : Number crunching : Please note: this project rarely has work (Message 16457) Posted 4 Mar 2007 by Fritz Post: LHC isn't the only one that has droughts. I connect 13 projects ... Usually have work from 7 or 8 of them at any given time :) As stated above, if you want your machine constantly working and connected to only one project, then connect to something like SETI or ClimatePrediction that has enough work to last for years. When supporting projects that have intermittent work then you'll want to connect to several of them so that you are giving your unused resources to work that is needed while you wait on the one you really like.
13) Message boards : LHC@home Science : Close Account (Message 16456) Posted 4 Mar 2007 by Fritz Post: Quantum Win 3.x and earlier were DOS applications that operated as GUI desktops. This is the way the Linux GUI systems still work. Win9x tied the GUI very tightly to the underlying MSDOS The NT kernel was an attempt to design a system that included the entire OS in a single application. On an NT machine MSDOS is supported by emulation. WinXP integrated the Win9x APIs into NT and the DOS based systems have now been officially abandoned. NT has a command line & GUI, but the integration is so tight that they are 1 system rather than 2 tightly integrated systems that worked together as the Win 1.x-3.x & Win9x Windows were. If you are brand new to Linux I would suggest getting a distro with the Gnome desktop. Advanced Linux users tend to dislike it due to it's not giving you as many ways to get things done. For a beginner this is good as the learning curve is not quite as steep. Later when you've gotten comfortable you'll probably want to switch to the K desktop (KDE)which is the most popular of the GUIs that give you much more freedom to do things exactly the way you want. Whichever one you get you will have a full featured command line Linux. Before settling on a distro, read the forums that support the various distros available and try to find a user community you're comfortable with. Each of the distros has strengths & weaknesses. Some distros make it easy to install applications, others assume you are a power user and will be customizing any install so they offer little or no handholding ... which works for you is one of things you'll be learning :)

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