Predictor Current Status -- 28-Jun

[BC]

Just to let you all know that we are moving back up in our standings in Predictor. We were 8th & 9th places...

We're firmly back in 8th for recent points (RAC) and gaining fast on 7th. Our total points are growing great! Once we cross into 7th place for RAC, we'll be able to catch up with 7th place overall standing.

Thanks to everyone who's recently joined in and helping out. Please keep up the GREAT job.

We have US-Distributed far behind in our dust, but I don't trust them... Also, the changes going on at Predictor could leave us all at 0/0 again as they switch to full Live mode. I don't have any info about what will happen... Only those officially on the Alpha team do (which I'm trying join) When "Live" mode happens we want to be ready...

Thanks everyone for helping out / chipping in the spare cycles... it's greatly appreciated! Special thanks to our team founder and top contributors for getting us off to a great start.

BC.

PS/FYI... Predictor runs (as default) BOINC 3.07 GUI with a 3.06 application (no checkpointing in the application until it is 3.07 or 3.08)...
They did just upgrade to the 3.19 front-end.

On the PC side, the BOINC 3.19 GUI is very stable and since Seti/UCB is down due to database/performance issues (I think their database got overwhelmed) having gone "live", it's not possible to grab a copy of 3.19 GUI. If anyone wants a copy of 3.19 for windows, please let me know.

From now on, I will try to keep copies of all OS's for AMD's until they return to a more stable operation.

[WienerDog]

ill probably shift back to Predicter once they go live.
Never got to crunch on something from the git go,,be kinda kewl

[BC]

First, that subject sounds awefulll.... but are you running D2OL ?

Your points are part of what got us up to where we are. You and Miltman did the bulk of the work.

Are you passing the gavel??? :)

(ducking...lol)
BC

[em99010pepe]

Don't worry about US-Distributed . They are going for first place in lifemapper.

[BC]

Thanks for that info Pepe... GREATLY appreciated!

Please forgive my newbie igorance, but where are we focusing and in what priorities?

Should I help maintain a strong presence in Predictor, or is my help needed elsewhere? I've 2 boxes right now.... waiting for the 3rd. When that arrives, it's coming right online after initial break-in/burn-in.

If my 'sins' can be overlooked, I *can* dig out a 2.4G P4 to help with something that nobody would see. It would just look funny in a list of AMD's :)


There are other 2 other 'toys' here, but the CPU ID's can't be published yet.. I'm really sorry. When given the 'ok', i'll have them online before the end of that day.

Please let me know guys... where can I help the most?

Thanks,
BC.

[em99010pepe]

If you want you can help us in D2Ol. :lol:

Personally I don't like to run DC projects that are in beta or alpha phase.
I ran a few weeks ago MD5CRK in the beta phase and when it started for real all my work went to garbage, stats went to zero. That time we were the first team....

pepe

[BC]

Ok,
Will do. I will (if nobody minds), crank up another cpu for D2OL. I'll have D2OL ready for all 3... but split 2 & 1 for now. I will adjust (with concurrance) when Predictor goes live.... I doubt it's going to go beta for long, if at all.... it's been Alpha too long and already has the "Live" front end software on it. It's just waiting for the 3.07 or 3.08 'checkpointable' code w/ SSL fixes (which will come when they get Seti fixed).

Speaking of D2OL... I got an email from their admin.... Seems they want to do more upgrading / fixes, but can't because Sengent won't give the resources. Anyone have any info on that?

BC

[WienerDog]

sorry took so long to respond, but yes im doin D2OL right now...thats if i can keep from killing my boxes :evil: just had another HD die on me

[em99010pepe]

Speaking of D2OL... I got an email from their admin.... Seems they want to do more upgrading / fixes, but can't because Sengent won't give the resources. Anyone have any info on that?

BC

I found this in D2OL forum:

Question
Originally posted by Karlston:
Hi,
Is there a new version? Do we need to download anything to update it?

Answer
Originally posted by kb9skw (moderator)
Nope, no new version of the software.

[BC]

We are moving up on Predictor... The tweaking is helping... Thanks to all.

We're 7th now in RAC and 8th in total credits.

We have to increase RAC from 973/day to over 1140 if we want to gain ground on 7th overall standing. We've overrun 'Generic Team' (FBK) with no trouble.

I'm VERY impressed with what we are doing even at this alpha stage.
I am anxious as to what will happen when phase 2 "Charmms" comes into play... That should put us very very close to beta & live (Fingers crossed)..


Again,
Thank you everyone...

BC

[BC]

sorry took so long to respond, but yes im doin D2OL right now...thats if i can keep from killing my boxes :evil: just had another HD die on me

Weiner,
Any pattern to the failures? Are they running too hot or is it age?

If heat.. I have some suggestions. Also think I saw you post that
you changed the air flow.... if it's temp... please PM me and we'lll see
what we can do cheaply in each chassis.

BC

[WienerDog]

no not heat.....cheap LOL
it was a used 8 gig i picked up for 15 bucks :oops:
i bought some used drives from a 'puter repair place here where i live,just to get my boxes going. 2 have died.
i got my moneys worth outta them....but im gonna just bite the bullet and buy new ones now

[BC]

no not heat.....cheap LOL
it was a used 8 gig i picked up for 15 bucks :oops:
i bought some used drives from a 'puter repair place here where i live,just to get my boxes going. 2 have died.
i got my moneys worth outta them....but im gonna just bite the bullet and buy new ones now

ok, fair enough....

FYI: I finally got the link to my web page in the A64 hardware forum.... tried to embed my original page with Pepe's help, but can't get it right.... The link is good, the embedding is NOT my forte... I don't do enough HTML... He might give it a try...

I *have* to learn this "Human Terrifying Mystical Language". LOL



BC

[BC]

To All:
Over the past few days, the ramping up & tweaking of the other teams on Predictor has become very noticable.

We are not putting much effort on it for understandable reasons.

We were gaining ground and had moved up to 7th place, but are now
back to 8th/9th places as other teams start coming in (mostly
the nation-wide / large teams from other projects)


May I ask that we consider getting ourselves at least signed up, everyone get established and ready for the kickoff? I don't see it as being too far off. Also, the sudden overwhelming presence of other BOINC based teams is something I would take as a hint. I recognize some users as being members of the testing team.

I have a weird feeling this might be hanging in "alpha test" longer than normal because Seti is dealing with all the beta-level issues. Prime example being the jump to the 3.19 (LIVE) front-end. That's a big jump for an 'alpha-test' project. Isn't it?

May I ask for comments???????


BC

[Beerknurd]

I'm ready for anything... Just let me know!!!!!

[em99010pepe]

Anybody knows how to install Predictor in a computer with no internet access?

(it's always my problem :-( )

[BC]

Pepe,

If you have dialup at least, you can tell predictor (or any BOINC project) to prompt before connecting and prompt before disconnecting. It will also download as much work into the buffer as you want.

If the host has NO internet, or proxyed internet access, then the host may not be used without LOTS of effort... The reason is this: BOINC uses a special encryption code to uniquely ID the host (probably has the MAC address in it somewhere). The only thing you could do would be to download a bunch of files.... copy (CD R/W) to another host for processing that has IDENTICAL setup (*HW AND SW*) aka... a mirror copy. do the work and then copy back.

This was done to prevent the cheating that happened in Seti 1. BOINC *ONLY* accepts work units from the host it sent it to. BOINC will only process WUs on the machine it was sent to. Duplicate returns are ignored and possibly lock out the host (project option). There is also a limit of 50 WUs per host / day. Cheating requires tremendous effort and time. BOINC has been designed / coded that it is quicker to process the data for real than to cheat.

Private LANs with a single access point are different because each host has a working MAC address in the ethernet port. Each host is uniquely identifyable and will be given work and work will be accepted back from that host.

The system is essentially foolproof. I know of only 1 way to cheat and can tell you (looking at the code) that it would take time to figure out the 'private key' used to generate the cypher code sent with the WU.
If my information is correct, the 'private key' changes as well... so it's like hitting a moving target.

Has this answered your question? If not, please try again and give me an example of how the computer(s) you have are setup (internet wise).


BC.

PS: Pepe, you alreadyhave an account there... so you did it once... and you are here on the boards... where's the other PC?

[em99010pepe]

This is my configuration:

One AMD 1,1 Ghz with ADSL PCI card
One AMD 2200+ with no internet access

I usually make two installations of a certain DC program. For example: I have in the 1,1 GHZ two installations of D2OL. One is used by the 1,1 GHZ and the other one is a temp D2OL installation to send results from the 2200+.
I just have to copy res directory from the 2200+ to a CD-RW and paste it into the temp directory.

You answered my question and i see it is going to be difficult to use predictor in my 2200+. Thanks.

[BC]

This may be one of the crudest methods going... but since you use Win/98.... why not get one of those 'laplink' or host-to-host parallel connectors... and do a host-to-host connection... You can then get the second PC out to the internet.

If the ADSL PC has win2k or XP, then use internet connection sharing over the same parallel port and you will be fine. :)


problem solved..... 100K bytes/sec MAX data throughput, but it will work.
Predictor files are at most 100K... you just get a bunch of them... most files are 1-5 K bytes..... and the result files are 5-6K bytes.



BC

[em99010pepe]

Forget that BC. The only way is to buy a wireless router.

[BC]

That is one solution.... I was thinking of the cheapest way out.

why not just buy an ethernet card and switch? thats
faster than wireless AND cheaper.

[em99010pepe]

The computers are in opposite sides of the house.



why not just buy an ethernet card and switch?


Probably that is what i'm going to do after buying a computer to my room. The internet cable goes directly to my room and then goes to my parents room ( by a hole in the wall) where the computer is.

[MatthewS]

Im ready to join Predictor and help move AMD Users stats up but only one problem! Create new account is disabled! : (