I have been using BOINC for a few years and just thought I should maybe update my software on my current Pis. I also just got a new Pi5 for BOINC.

What is the best, correct, or current way to install BOINC on a Raspberry Pi?

Up until now, I have used 32-bit PiOS Buster and Bullseye (I tried Bookwork 64-bit but was getting graphic distortion in the BOINC GUI).

Up until now, I have installed BOIC by doing this command:

sudo apt-get install boinc-client boinc-manager -y

Then if bullseye I would also add this command once installed:

sudo systemctl enable boinc-client
sudo systemctl start boinc-client

Recently, I started fresh with a couple of Pis and installed a new 64-bit PiOS Bullseye, but I have been getting compute errors on Einstein@home.

I wasn't getting errors on 32-bit.

My question is: what is the best way to install BOINC for the most compatibility for projects? Should I use 32-bit or 64-bit?

What is the best method to install BOINC? Is the install command I use not right?

Should I continue with PiOS, or should I be using Ubuntu Desktop 23.10 (64-bit)? I've never used Ubuntu, so I'm not sure if that's viable. I just wondered if it was more compatible. I would prefer PiOS, to be honest.

I also like having the GUI (desktop), as I like to remote into my Pis to check status.

Many thanks

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My question is: what is the best way to install BOINC for the most compatibility for projects? Should I use 32-bit or 64-bit?

If you install a 32-bit OS, you can only run 32-bit tasks.
If you install a 64-bit OS you can run both 32- and 64-bit tasks, provided you have an alternative 32-bit platform in the cc_config.xml and have downloaded the 32-bit libraries.

You can always set your ARMv8 crunchers to crunch 32-bit tasks via

sudo dpkg --add-architecture armhf
sudo apt update --fix-missing
sudo apt install libc6:armhf libstdc++6:armhf zlib1g:armhf libfuse2:armhf libgomp1:armhf libboinc7:armhf

to be sure you get all, edit you cc_config.xml to have these lines on a ARMv8 system

<cc_config>
    <options>
        <alt_platform>arm-unknown-linux-gnueabihf</alt_platform>
        <alt_platform>armv7l-unknown-linux-gnueabihf</alt_platform>
    </options>
</cc_config>

Mind you: with the newest and latest upcoming ARMv9 SOCs running 32-bit taks will no longer be possible! (only applies when you are crunching on the latest high-end smartphone: Cortex-A510, Cortex-A710, Cortex-A715, Cortex-X2, Cortex-X3, Neoverse N2, Neoverse V2)

If you run a 64-bit OS on a Raspberry Pi 3, or a 4 with 1 or 2 GB of RAM (perhaps even with 4GB), be sure to install ZRAM as well:
add the following lines to /etc/sysctl.conf (and then enable in real-time with the appropriate commands.)

vm.vfs_cache_pressure=500
vm.swappiness=100
vm.dirty_background_ratio=1
vm.dirty_ratio=50

To enable these settings temporarily without rebooting, use the following commands:
sudo sysctl -w vm.swappiness=100
sudo sysctl -w vm.vfs_cache_pressure=500

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