Windows8, GPU's, & RC5

[Brucifer]

So has anyone had a chance to dink around with Win8 and gpu's running rc5??? What I'm looking down the road at is the big bad date in2014 when XP support goes away, and then along with that sad event will be the discontinuance of anti-virus softare vendor's support for XP, ad nauseum. The last time I messed with linux and the rc5 clients, they were not optimised to the same point that the windows gpu driver clients were. Has that changed any?? What to do, what to do..........

[Dirk Broer]

Run rc5 in a virtual winxp box under win8?
Darn virtual boxes have to be taught to see the actual GPU by then.

Run Moo! in Boinc then? Moo! Wrapper brings together BOINC volunteer computing network resources and the Distributed.net projects. It allows a BOINC Client to participate in the RC5-72 challenge.

[Brucifer]

Win8 isn't an improvement there............. what you are suggesting is nothing more than taking a step or ten backwards to run rc5 in spite of win8., and having to spend more money in the process to do it. To be totally blunt about it, it is easier to just say pizz on it and hang it up. just sayin.... :-)

The only thing moving forward in this instance is money out of people's pockets into Ballmer's. His product hasn't improved on anything in the PC world.

[Dirk Broer]

WinXP also brought money into the likes of Gates and Balmer, so I don't exactly see your point?
If and when your hardware is capable of running a BOINC client -and they are there for almost any OS- you can run RC5-72 through the Moo! Wrapper

[AMDave]

I did some DC client tests on Win8 Developer Edition for a couple of weeks when it became available, with mixed results.
I expect many to fall back to prior experience and await Win8 (SP1) and greater uptake before dedicating greater effort to migrating their clients.
ITMT nothing has to change in blazing a hurry.
It's just a matter of time before Dnet re-compile the clients for Win8.

[Dirk Broer]

There's a world of difference between the developer preview (build 8102), the consumer preview (build 8250) and the release preview (build 8400).
They keep improving. In build 8400 BOINC even starts and detects your GPU automatically (unlike the developer preview). Just tapping/clicking the desktop tile brings your 'old desktop', so see the startup screen as a giant 'Start' menu. And the version you can buy as from today is hopefully even better.

[NeoGen]

I can't speak for Windows 8 because I'm a bit negatively biased... I never liked Windows 8 from the moment I saw the first snapshots long ago where they proudly presented the Metro interface.
But to be fair I convinced myself to give it a chance, I have an MSI Windpad tablet (AMD powered! ) and I decided to try windows 8 on it because in all honesty, no matter how you slice it and dice it, the truth is Metro interface was designed for tablet devices and/or touch panels, not regular monitors. So I gave it a fair shot and tried it for a couple of weeks just to see how it would fare...
My conclusion was... as bad as it to handle Windows 7 on a tablet (it came pre-loaded with it), Windows 8 wasn't much better. I'm even ashamed to say that for the first time in my life I had to go online to search google for "how to shutdown windows 8" because it just isn't intuitive at all.

Well, this is just me, but I will stick to Windows 7 for as long as I can, or until they give the users an option to remove the Metro interface. As it is tradition with every version of Windows, only after the second service pack the system will be perfected enough and actually good and reliable to use. Windows 7 doesn't have a Service Pack 2 yet but it should come out anytime now. It has broad compatibility with all current applications and support should last for a good number of years.

But then again, like I said in the beggining, I'm negatively biased...

[Dirk Broer]

Have I got news for you: There won't be a service pack 2 for Win7

[Brucifer]

WinXP also brought money into the likes of Gates and Balmer, so I don't exactly see your point?
If and when your hardware is capable of running a BOINC client -and they are there for almost any OS- you can run RC5-72 through the Moo! Wrapper

Point one wasn't about windows previously putting money into M$ pocket. It is about win8 specifically trying to redefine the whole win concept and cause a massive change, when it isn't needed other than for tablets. PC's are running just fine, businesses are running just fine. Time will tell whether the business world buys into this at all. Win8 is going to cost business a massive amount in switching over.... lots of retraining.

Point two is fine you are one of those that like BOINC. Fact remains there are folks out there that detest it, I'm one of them.

Actually, I don't like windows either! lol I use it only because I can get a bit more production out of the rc5 clients under win than linux. For OGR, it's hard to beat linux, although the win64 ogr client has decent output.

I'll just most likely keep my XP stuff running as long as I can. Once the hardware croaks, and/or support falls off, then I'll either just go to linux for rc5, or just go over to many-cored linux systems for ogr and drop the rc5 effort. Crunching takes bux as everyone knows. Being retired, the bux just aren't there to play the MS software upgrade game. Lots of folks have already left this "hobby", and I don't see much of the horizon that is going to reverse that trend. Just my .01 cents worth is all. :-)

[vaughan]

Adding to Brucifer's observations, I think its about time BOINC matured a bit. It annoys me that there are some projects that can "hog" your PC by somehow tricking BOINC in running one particular project in front of tasks that have a sooner deadline from another project.

Also a reason some people have stopped crunching is the exhorbitant cost of electricity caused by the "greenies". I still reckon this greenhouse gas stuff is a load of hooey. Maybe when some of the 3rd world countries stop polluting so much I may make an effort. In the meantime I follow Le Chatelier's principle - from Wikipedia "If a chemical system at equilibrium experiences a change in concentration, temperature, volume, or partial pressure, then the equilibrium shifts to counteract the imposed change and a new equilibrium is established".

Don't forget one of the most popular non-BOINC projects Folding@Home.