BOINC for beginers

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Alez
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#1 BOINC for beginers

Post by Alez »

What Is BOINC?

BOINC stands for Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing, and it is an open source program that allows users to assist non-commercial research via internet connected computers.

Basically, BOINC is a client that runs on your computer, which then connects to non-commercial research projects through the internet and downloads tasks - called work units - that need to be computed. The projects provide the data and you provide the horse power.

This then allows BOINC users to choose projects they are interested in, or have a connection to from mapping the stars and galaxies, to research into diseases (like cancer, HIV/AIDS, malaria, leukemia, etc), to complex math and science.

There will be at least a few projects that will appeal most, so have a read through the list and find the ones that appeal to you or post up, you're sure to get a few suggestions :D
the list can be found here http://boinc.berkeley.edu/projects.php.

A few other things worth mentioning for those returning to grid computing after a while away :

BOINC includes proper support for ATI Stream/OpenCL enabled GPUs
BOINC supports CUDA enabled nVidia GPUs
BOINC is slowly begining to support embedded Intel GPU's
BOINC has a built in and configurable WU buffer
BOINC has a user friendly client interface with simple or advanced view to suit different users
BOINC includes adjustable settings for user, project, client, CPU, GPU and internet usage.

Use the idle time on your computer (Windows, Mac, Linux, or Android) to cure diseases, study global warming, discover pulsars, and do many other types of scientific research. It's safe, secure, and easy:

Choose projects here http://boinc.berkeley.edu/projects.php
Download and run BOINC software here http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download.php
Enter an email address and password and connect to your chosen project.
Remember to go to the projects homepage and join TSBT under your account preferences.

If you run several projects, I recommend an account manager such as
BAM!. http://boincstats.com/en/bam/

FAQ and usage instructions for BAM! here http://boincstats.com/en/page/faq

GridRepublic http://www.gridrepublic.org/ is an alternative

BOINC user manual can be found here http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/User_manual

A good BOINC FAQ service can be found here http://boincfaq.mundayweb.com/
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Alez
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#2

Post by Alez »

Some general pointers added below.

If you run several projects, I recommend an account manager such as
BAM!. http://boincstats.com/en/bam/

If you run more than 1 computer, to prevent having multiple ID's in boinc, have the same projects attached on both computers. Simply set no new work or suspend to the projects in boinc manager you are not currently running. There is no need to detach from projects you are currently not running.

It is a good idea to exclude the Boinc directory from scanning by your anti virus software.
c:/programData/boinc/

it's a hidden system folder, if you wish to view it or alter settings in it then...
for windows 7
select windows explorer
organize
folder and search options
view
enable show hidden files folders and drives

If you find your computer running too slow with boinc then change settings in boinc manager > tools >computer preferences >processor usage.
change % of processor value to free up a core. 100% uses all, 50% uses half ie 2 cores on a 4 core system. etc.
change % of processor value or %cpu time if you find your laptop running too hot.

If you run multiple projects on the same computer change switch between projects every ... value to a higher value that suits if you find the manager is jumping between tasks too often.

If you find you are downloading too much work that will not finish before the deadline then change the amount of cached work you have.
boinc manager > tools >computer preferences >network usage.
make the values in min and max work buffer smaller. use min 0.1 and max 0.5 if the computer is connected all the time or regularly through the day.

change the value in tasks checkpoint to memory every ... from default to 900. This will checkpoint tasks to the hard drive every 15 mins and saves a lot of wear and tear on your HD's
boinc manager > tools >computer preferences >disk and memory usage
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Alez
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#3 Re: BOINC for beginers

Post by Alez »

A setup guide is available on our webpages https://tsbt.co.uk/howtoinstallBOINC.html
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