It should show total points for a project you have already contributed to but added later to a new client as well as the points that you have made after adding it. Right now it just shows the points you've made in total.

BOINC already cleans up temporarily used files. These are in the slots directories which will be cleaned up as soon as the task is done.

If you mean that there's models left over in the CPDN directory (for instance), that's a thing that the project can take care of by deleting old files every so often (Einstein uses this method).

Yes, the slots directory is clean. I was referring to the \Application Data\BOINC\projects directory, which is full of outdated files. Is housekeeping on this directory a responsibility of the project or the BOINC client?

Is housekeeping on this directory a responsibility of the project or the BOINC client?

The project.

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It would be nice if the column size would be saved after exiting the manager. I adjusted the size of many columns so the text fit and could be shown fully but after exiting and restarting the manager all the changes were lost.

Another thing that would help would be to make the columns "standard windows style"... :) By that I mean making them react to resizing the way they for example do in explorer.exe i.e. you can see the resizing live, that makes it easier to adjust the size to cover the text. Probably not the best description, but just try adjusting the columns size in explorer and you'll se what I mean.

I even think it has been that way in earlier versions of BOINC. If so, why was it changed? This new columns also make it easier to miss the resize area, it's just 3 pixels where the cursor changes to the resize symbol. Maybe it could be made bigger.

I know that's probably not that important, but since it has been different before, going back to the way clumns were handled in earlier version might be easy?

Hi all, I am not sure this is the right place to post this, but I figure if someone else had this same wish, this could go on the wishlist.

A nice feature for multicore processors would be dedicating one core entirely to one project, while allowing the other(s) to alternate on the others.

Find a more detailed explanation of what I mean below (already posted on this thread)

Hi,

I too have been wondering if it was possible to dedicate one processor entirely to one single project, and leaving the other one shift between the other projects I am interested in.

It turns out that it is not as easy as one would think, mainly for two reasons.

1) Tasks that would run on high priority, be it needed or not. (Spinhenge and Magnetism@home just to mention a couple)
Boinc seems to prioritize these projects especially if the client has another long task (i.e. any climateprediction) in his queue.

2) High number of projects partaken in: even if you set resources on a 50/25/25 type scheme, there will be some project taking over the one you have set for maximum resource share.

Dedicating processor time on the proportion of the resources is probably a long term kind of thing.
Maybe many users, like myself and Bur would agree to give other projects a hand on the condition that this does not affect their favorite project.
I feel this is not achieved with the current solution.

Dedicating a core to one project exclusively would allow the other to crunch for all the other projects, while boinc benchmarking would allow for download of tasks that can be finished by that single processor and not interfering with the first one for finishing high priority tasks.

Does this make any sense? Is it too hard to implement in Boinc Manager?

Thanks

Does this make any sense? Is it too hard to implement in Boinc Manager?

The problem is to lock a process on to a core is Operating System specific and Boinc tries to run on all systems. Same reason that cpu idleing operates at one second resolution.

I'd like to suggest two features I'd like to see in the BOINC Manager:

(a) Adjustable "Snooze" timing. Sometimes we just need to pause BOINC in order to complete some quick process such as a critical install or upload; at other times we may want longer pause time than the pre-set value, for example, if we need to make sure things won't interfere with a 3-hour backup process.

(b) "Projects" and "Tasks" listings: The capability of sorting the current project listings according to a column title of our choice, either ascending or descending. (For example, list projects in order of increasing time to completion, or by decreasing report deadline, or by progress or by project name).

Two requests................

When "Tasks" is selected would it be possible to show the total number of tasks in the lower tool bar?

Also when in the "Transfers" tab would it be possible to show the total number of tasks to be transfered on the lower tool bar?

Thanks

Here is my request.......

Under Tasks, Boinc displays CPU Time...and because of CUDA projects would it be possible to display both GPU Time and total Elapsed Time?

I know that not everyone uses CUDA, so maybe these would only be displayed if Boinc detected a CUDA compatible GPU.

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MAIN PC:
Q6600 @ 2.40GHz - Windows 7-64Bit 4GB RAM - BOINC 6.6.38 Win64 - 9800GX2 190.38
NETBOOK:
N280 @ 1.66GHz - Windows 7-32Bit 1GB RAM - BOINC 6.6.38 Win32

Okay, I have another one...

Switching between applications; is there a minumum time that cause Boinc to ignore this?

For example, I had a CPU based WU with only 36 seconds (99.770%) until completion, because Boinc switched to a new Application. And when the WU resumed it took approximately that amount of time to complete.
Would it not be better if Boinc were to ignore the Switch over, until after such a WU was finished.

1. Any WU with less than 5-10 minutes until completion or
2. 5-10% of the Switch over time.

Either of the above would be suitable.

In the past I have had dozens of WU's like this, waiting to resume.

Greetigs,
I scanned the open taks list and did not find this. I apologize if I missed it.

My suggeation is to have a command button(s) available in the left pane of the task list tab, that will allow setting priorities to individual tasks in the task list, especially a command to "run until complete".

Now that multicore CPU's are common, this would allow for much greater flexibility in managing several projects on a single box:
1) where it can be seen that a workunit may not be returned within the specified deadline.
2) trying to complete one projects tasks without having to suspend another project entirely,
3) or suspending individual tasks of that 2nd project, which can be quite cumbersome when managing tasks that number 30 or more, as well very inefficient utilization.
4) provides the user a better option to avoid aborting tasks to achieve the same, if the only alternatives are #2 and #3 above.

Thank you.

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proud member of "The Pirate Fleet" Distributed Computing Team...

Greetigs,
I scanned the open taks list and did not find this. I apologize if I missed it.

No reason for apologies, the more votes and precise descriptions, the higher probability some volunteer will try to grab the job and implement it. Even better to push it into the tasks list ;-)

My suggeation is to have a command button(s) available in the left pane of the task list tab, that will allow setting priorities to individual tasks in the task list, especially a command to "run until complete".

It was already suggested multiple times in the past, e.g. in the previous incarnation of My Wish List, additionally a conversation "Suspend" status needs its alternative about the same topic is just now being broadcasted on the BOINC Developers List channel.

Peter

I first posted these two questions over on the Einstein boards and was encouaged to post here:


I was wondering the other day why BOINC does not finish the WU it has already started on the project is working on, rather than starting a new WU and crunching on that first. Should not BOINC give priority to those WUs it has already started first? I would think so; after all, it would get older the work out the door quicker, and more importantly, out of the cache. It is certainly not a big deal, but I would think it would help on the margins.

I recieved the following from Alinator in answer to my query:

"Simply put, the CC work scheduler is designed to accommodate the wide range of projects, settings, and preferences possible, while at the same time avoiding missing any deadlines if at all possible.

For the situation you mention two possible reasons come to mind:

1.) The newer task has a shorter net time to deadline than the current work onboard, therefore is seen to be under time pressure right from the start.

2.) One of the conditions where the CC will run a full scheduling simulation is when new work has been fetched. This also results in debt being recalculated and updated. Many times this will result in 'short pitting' one or more tasks which are currently running and resuming others and/or starting new ones depending on the outcome of the STD recalculation.

HTH,

Alinator"



While I understand much of this explanation, I think my query can be accomodated as well. Alinator's explanation is great for the "why" but why not write a simple priority into the code to push the waiting work units out the door quicker based on CPU time already completed? I think it would help the cache, and the other calculations can easily be accomodated for subsequent work units.


My other query regards writing a simple right-click to reconfigure the interface under each of the tabs in BOINC manager. I am talking about the project, application name, team, etc. under each tab. I would like to delete some of those catagories, and expand others to my liking. I think something like this would be well recieved, since we all have our own preferences about what information is displayed under each tab. Is this possible?

I was wondering the other day why BOINC does not finish the WU it has already started on the project is working on, rather than starting a new WU and crunching on that first. Should not BOINC give priority to those WUs it has already started first? I would think so; after all, it would get older the work out the door quicker, and more importantly, out of the cache. [...] why not write a simple priority into the code to push the waiting work units out the door quicker based on CPU time already completed? I think it would help the cache, and the other calculations can easily be accomodated for subsequent work units.

You can tell your client about your wish by setting the "Switch between applications every .... minutes" preference to some large number, say 24 hours, or the longest task your host is usually crunching. This way you will prioritize already started tasks and try to finish them first before starting another ones.

Peter

While I understand much of this explanation, I think my query can be accomodated as well.

The problem with it is that on some projects, while BOINC is showing that it estimates the task will only take another 5 minutes, they actually run for another day (or more).

BOINC will really try everything in its power to get all the tasks in your cache back before their deadline is up. And so it can happen that older tasks stay in limbo, while newer tasks go first.

If you just let it continue without interfering, you'll see that BOINC will do it.

My other query regards writing a simple right-click to reconfigure the interface under each of the tabs in BOINC manager. I am talking about the project, application name, team, etc. under each tab. I would like to delete some of those catagories, and expand others to my liking. I think something like this would be well recieved, since we all have our own preferences about what information is displayed under each tab. Is this possible?

It's open source software, if you know how to do it, you're welcome to do so. I doubt the developers will want to do it, especially with regards to the cross-platform compatibility. I'm not sure, but do Macs have a right-click button these days?

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The problem with it is that on some projects, while BOINC is showing that it estimates the task will only take another 5 minutes, they actually run for another day (or more).

I understand this, but the true or false 'time to completion' doesn't really go to my point.

BOINC will really try everything in its power to get all the tasks in your cache back before their deadline is up. And so it can happen that older tasks stay in limbo, while newer tasks go first.

If you just let it continue without interfering, you'll see that BOINC will do it.

True, but my point is to finish the started ones first to keep the cache relatively cleaned out with less 'waiting to run' clutter. My own thinking is that this would be much better for newer users who are wanting less clutter and especially their first work out the door ASAP. For us who have been with it for a while, the statistical reality is really no different.

A famous man once said: "A cluttered beach doth not beckon the soul."

What about giving the scheduler a "forecast"?
The PCs I run @work are NEVER on at weekend, but since the scheduler takes an average, I often see WUs over deadline on monday (even after setting a low buffer)...
It would be easier for me, if I could set "working hours" for each day similar to the local settings dialog.
I do NOT want to become BOINC inactive out of this hours, this should be considered "extra time" which the scheduler does not take into account when calculating the remaining time to the deadline.

hm, may be phrased too complicated?
Here's an example:
I set working hours to 07:30 to 16:30 for MO to FR, none on SA/SU.
Let's say a WU has a deadline of tomorrow 17:00 and needs 9 more hours, we need to go into panic mode - we have only 9 hrs tomorrow, even less if the PC is not "always on". The WU must be finished before 16:30 or it will be too late. May be we're lucky and the person on that PC arrives at 7:00 already, but the scheduler should not rely on this, even if it happens every day...

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cu/2
Torsten

What about giving the scheduler a "forecast"?

If you set the network usage preferences to "connect every 2 days" BOINC should do something similar. I never checked the code, but from what I read in various threads, the deadline problem should not occur then. The "drawback" would be that BOINC downloads enough tasks to fill this time (I don't know how big your current cache is), but the simulation could take the weekend into account. Perhaps the "Network usage allowed" section, including Day-of-week override should be filled in too.

Perhaps you can "experiment" a little with those values ;-)

Gruß,
Gundolf

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Computer sind nicht alles im Leben. (Kleiner Scherz)

Hi Gundolf,

What about giving the scheduler a "forecast"?

Perhaps you can "experiment" a little with those values ;-)

Oh, I did a LOT of experiments already...

Not sure if I tested "allow network...", will check again. But even if I set it to "3 days" the planned connection will be on a weekend in some time. May be 7 days would help on this, but this will make a HUGE cache, don't know if this is good...? Unfortunately the day-of-week-override is a local setting, at least I can't find it in BAM.

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cu/2
Torsten

I was wondering if it would be possible to add a way to start a particular work unit instead of letting Bionc choose one at random. There have been times when I had a work unit that was almost finished, however Bionc would choose to start 2 different work units (I have a Dual Core System). It would be nice if I could say right click with the mouse Choose to tell Bionc to run the work unit I selected.

Other than to Pause/Suspend the running results, no, not at this moment.
It is due to how the Task scheduler works. When you get new work in, it calculates according to the debt values in client_state.xml if these results will end in time for their deadline. If they won't, they get selected to run immediately.

We're busy though trying to work the developers into such a manual option. Don't expect it any time soon though.

Hi. I like this option combined with the option of "run until completion". I think for us with laptops with Dual Core, we need an option to select 1 task, and tell BOINC to run it ON THIS CORE until completion. This way, I still have the other core available to switch among the other projects I have.

I'd like this option specially to run climate prediction. I'd like to run these tasks non-stop on one the cores.

Maybe an option based not on task but on project? So I select one project and assign it one core, and let the other core for all the rest.

Regards,

Leo