[Shaktai]

A new client will be released to the beta team tomorrow. It has been extremely stable for the alpha testers. The next Alpha client will be the first of the proposed "release" builds. It is hoped that the testing cycle for each build will be about 3-4 days.

What that means is if no significant problems are found with each subsequent alpha build, then a new build will be released to the Beta team every 3 to 4 days, with each subsequent version coming closer to public release. Based upon the status of the current Beta client, and barring a really nasty bug raising its head from out of the blue, it looks like we might see public release in June. (My speculation)

WARNING: If you are the kind of person who must have immediatly viewable credits, you will probably not like SETI-BOINC. The validation process of BOINC takes time. Typically it will take 2 to 4 weeks for your credits to catch up to your actual production. Likewise, if you quit the project, you may continue to acrue credits for 2 to 4 weeks after as pending credits are validated.

This does remove a lot of the "instant gratification" that many DC'rs thrive on. However, it also makes cheating extremely difficult, and makes for very good science. This applies to the SETI-BOINC project, but other projects (Climate Prediction, Folding@Home) may have other credit schemes, so it is not a "locked in" limitation.

However, if you like SETI and can have a little patience for the first couple of weeks to build up steam and if you hate cheaters, then you will like SETI-BOINC.

[reader50]

Has there been any word about AltiVec optimizations, or SSE for that matter?

[Shaktai]

Originally posted by reader50:
Has there been any word about AltiVec optimizations, or SSE for that matter?

While there is no word on Berkely providing optimized clients, the core client source code is available for compiling by third parties. (This is different from the specific application, like SETI, etc.) Apparently though, some custom compiled and highly optimized clients have been made by third parties for specific Intel and AMD platforms, and have seen some impressive speed improvement results.

It is important to keep in mind that actual project applications may or may not be optimized, depending on the developer. The beauty of BOINC is that by having a standardized Core Client, this frees up more resources and time for specific project developers to better optimize their actual project applications.

So, the short answer is yes, this is a very real possibility. In fact, not only can the core client be optimized for a specific CPU, it could even be optimized for a specific OS version.

Right now, there is very heavy debug code in the alpha and beta clients and applications, especially for windows, so not much sense in playing with it until a debug free near release client is available. It looks promising. The current dual G5's unoptimized, go head to head with quad Xeon boxes running linux, or high end dual Athlons on Linux.

Now, if I could just find a "novices" tutorial on how to compile clients from source code.

[[APi]TheMan]

Originally posted by Shaktai:
The current dual G5's unoptimized, go head to head with quad Xeon boxes running linux, or high end dual Athlons on Linux.

Heck yeah.

So what is the Berkely Open Infrastructure for Network Computing anyways? I guess I'm confused about how you said in another thread that the Climate Prediction.net project is getting added to BOINC. So is "SETI-BOINC" a separate project from SETI, or is SETI getting ported to this networked computing API?

[Shaktai]

Originally posted by [APi]TheMan:
Heck yeah.

So what is the Berkely Open Infrastructure for Network Computing anyways? I guess I'm confused about how you said in another thread that the Climate Prediction.net project is getting added to BOINC. So is "SETI-BOINC" a separate project from SETI, or is SETI getting ported to this networked computing API?

BOINC - Berkely Open Interface Network Computing.
Basically BOINC is a framework. It provides the core client that handles networking, stats and all the project overhead, and the project developers only have to develp an application that runs within that network. This reduces the amount of time and resources required by specific project developers. SETI will move to BOINC when the platform is complete. SETI Classic will close down. All points from SETI Classic will be archived for history, but under BOINC SETI stats will be reset to zero. SETI unfortunately was very susceptible to cheating and work unit fraud. This one issue alone damaged the project. BOINC was developed as a platform that is very resistant to cheating and work unit fraud. It is also more adaptive to the fast changing world of computer platforms, processors and operating systems.

Climate Prediction is planning to use the BOINC platform to replace their current system. So they will only have to write a client application that runs within the BOINC framework. One of the beauties of BOINC is you will actually be able to set it up to run multiple different projects, and designate how much time or power you want to go to each project. Of course you don't have to do multiple projects, you only sign up for what you want.

Think of it like a car with interchangable engines and an adaptive suspension. You can change engines any time you want to accomodate different needs. For the various projects, they only have to design the engine that meets their needs and drop it in, they don't have to re-design the entire car every time. The rest of the car will adapt to the type of engine that is running.

[[APi]TheMan]

Originally posted by Shaktai:
BOINC - Berkely Open Interface Network Computing.
Basically BOINC is a framework. It provides the core client that handles networking, stats and all the project overhead, and the project developers only have to develp an application that runs within that network. This reduces the amount of time and resources required by specific project developers. SETI will move to BOINC when the platform is complete. SETI Classic will close down. All points from SETI Classic will be archived for history, but under BOINC SETI stats will be reset to zero. SETI unfortunately was very susceptible to cheating and work unit fraud. This one issue alone damaged the project. BOINC was developed as a platform that is very resistant to cheating and work unit fraud. It is also more adaptive to the fast changing world of computer platforms, processors and operating systems.

Cool. I'm down. Thanks for the brief.

[Shaktai]

ALMOST PRIMTIME: SETI BOINC is almost here.

The new Seti@home production website is now setup at http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah/ -- NOTE: The website is there, and you can "activate" your account or start a new account, but there is no work to be done yet.

Seti Classic profiles and team information have been transferred over. This means that if you activate your account instead of setting up a new account, it will show your original SETI start date, and an archive of your SETI Classic data

EXAMPLE:
SETI@home member since 13 Jun 1999 19:28:11 UTC
Country: United States
URL: http://www.eagles-nest.org
Total credit: 0.00 (This would be BOINC credit)
Recent average credit: 0.00 (default ranking in BOINC is by recent average credit. Ranking by total credit is still available.)

SETI@home classic workunits: 1,694
SETI@home classic CPU time: 12,814 hours
(note, a record of Seti classic points is maintained, but it is not added to SETI BOINC. Seti Boinc will reset all users to zero)

If you have an active SETI Classic account, and your e-mail address of record is still active, you can simply "activate" your account under SETI BOINC. However, if your e-mail address is no longer correct, and you are unable to correct it, then you will need to register a new account, in order to get a BOINC account key.

PLEASE BE AWARE that Seti-BOINC has not been released yet. It is still a work in progress. The site I linked to will be the new site. It is still being tested. The software is still Beta software.

Here's some good links to have a look at in order to get ready:
- Paul D. Buck's BOINC owner's manual
- Paul D. Buck's website manual.
- BOINC Beta test site.