Seeing how there's some misinformation going out on several project forums, by people who read other forums and then think they are informed enough to explain things to new-comers and established posters, I'll try to post some updates and general advice in this thread.

Liability.
When at any time you feel that any part of the post is too strongly worded, that it needs to be reported, that I am addressing you personally, that you are getting angry over something I wrote here, then you better take a step back and contemplate your own situation. I may have hit home.


Problem fixes:
Most of the dire problems with the CPU and GPU schedulers have now been fixed in the latest ALPHA 6.6.38, available for Windows only. What people are tripping over at this time is that BOINC 6.6.38 will now and then request GPU work on projects that have no GPU application.

There is good reasoning behind this work request. It is only done in case the project installs a GPU application from one day to the other, so people who have a GPU and want that project to work on their GPU will get work. It's just a simple check, nothing broken. It won't interfere with requesting CPU work either, all it does is look weird, nothing more.

A problem that has been fixed in 6.6.38 is that result uploads will be grouped together per project, meaning that when a project goes down, it has one timer per project on the retry to upload those results.

Furthermore, the problem of "won't finish in time" has been fixed in 6.6.38.

Expectations and reality.
The biggest problem with new BOINC versions is that people expect:
a) that bugs are fixed.
b) that despite those bug fixes, the way that they are now accustomed to how BOINC works won't change.

I'm sorry to say, but you have to change your expectations on this. Bug fixes will at times change the behaviour of the software. If you can't agree with that, do not run the newer software and stick to something older.

To give an example: Between 6.4 and 6.6 the way that debts are calculated changed. Warnings went up on several forums about this, I eventually added it to the release notes. Did people heed the warning? No. They found their BOINC to work differently than before and so decided it was broken. That the older versions may have been broken is something that never entered their thoughts. Newer versions with bug-fixes will inevitably break something that worked before... or so the reasoning is.

In some cases this is correct, but then you will have to report those problems and new-found bugs to the developers.


I have problems with the latest ALPHA version:
So you have problems with the latest ALPHA version and your first reaction is to post about it on your favorite project forums, explaining to everyone that they should not be using this version because you have problems with it. That is just panic posting.

Your system is not the same as anyone else's system. And even if it were, there are plenty of examples where two exactly the same set up systems had different problems. Don't always make the worst out of it. And if you strongly believe you are in your right to post about this devilish BOINC, do know that you are posting your gripes in the wrong place as a projects forum is really not the place you can expect a BOINC developer to read what you found and for him to react on it.

Here goes for an analogy: You buy a new Volkswagen Beetle and it has a problem with its gas flow. Will you then jump on a general car forums and tell everyone not to buy any brand of Volkswagen, new or old, or will you go back to the dealer and explain the situation to them?

Why then behave differently when it comes to BOINC?


That warning again:
Do not run Alpha BOINC versions if you expect changes to fix problems immediately.

When you find a new behaviour, let BOINC run for an extended time to see if this really is a new behaviour or a problem. It may perhaps be a remnant of how the previous BOINC wrecked things, or may just be something completely different.

When you can't change your view on how changes can be for the betterment of the software, while when you do find new bugs you aren't willing (or can't be bothered) to report problems with it to the correct place then running ALPHA BOINC is nothing for you.

If on the other hand you strongly feel the need to run the ALPHA software but don't want to report any of your findings directly to the developers, then don't complain about the software either. You essentially give up your right to complain about the software if you do not want to inform the developers about it.

You have a strange mentality if you do join these forums to report your problems, but don't want to join the correct place, the mailing list. You expect - in extreme cases even demand - of the developers to fix the problems you have, but you don't post it in a place where they can easily pick up on them and ask for more information or fix your problems.

Some of you are already registered to the Alpha email list, to know when a new version of the application is actually released by the developers, but even then you report your problems only on your favorite project forums or these hallowed pages. Why?


CUDA confusion: Which versions of BOINC do CUDA and which don't?
All versions before 6.4.5 do not detect CUDA capable GPUs.

6.4.5, 6.4.6 and 6.4.7, as well as 6.5.0, do not have separate CPU and GPU schedulers, so all work will be requested by the CPU. Which in some cases may leave the GPU go without work, because of CPU debt problems on the project.

Ever since the publicly released version 6.6.20, BOINC contains separate CPU and GPU schedulers, built into the client.

For Macintosh, there are no working 64bit library sets yet for the latest drivers. The drivers may enable CUDA on Leopard, but without those libraries it won't work. BOINC for the Mac has got CUDA detection built-in though. So as soon as Nvidia releases those libraries, all will be well. You will then have to wait for the projects to release CUDA applications for the Mac.

For Linux, it is a mismatch. It depends on which distro you run:
- can it run the latest BOINC?
- does it have one of the CUDA enabled BOINC versions in its repositories?
- will it have all the drivers and libraries for your card?
- will you need to recompile the client to use Linux emulation?
- and most importantly: will the project have their own science applications that can run on your GPU or will you need to use 3rd party apps through the anonymous platform?

Closing word.
You may not agree with our point of view here, that is your right. I've run this post by all the moderators of these forums, they agreed with me that something had to be said.

Why won't we try and post your information/bug reports to that wretched email list then? Simply because that isn't in our job description. You know all there is to know about your system, we don't. It sucks being the middle man, posting questions and answers to and fro.

Just look at the posts where we try to pull information out of you on what your system is like, what OS, which BOINC version your run, etc. Wouldn't you expect to be given simple information like that when you are trying to help someone else?

I will leave this thread open for discussion. Please be reasonable in your answers. There is no use for this thread to become a flame thread just because you felt I addressed you personally in this post.

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I have problems with the latest ALPHA version!
Sorry I just could not resist
~smiles~
Heidi-Ann Kennedy

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Recognized by the Carnegie Institute of Science. Washington D.C.

Counter point.

I monitor the lists because I like to keep current with what the developers are doing and the direction Boinc is going. I like to know which new bugs have been introduced and which bugs are actively being worked on. I don’t mind risking my system by running Alpha versions, but I rarely report bugs there because the only reply is to turn on this or that debug in a config file.

There are reasons there are fewer than 100 active Alpha testers. I'd like to help more, but like most people, I don't want to learn to use a whole bunch of command lines, especially, since their use is not properly explained for the uninitiated. Unless you're into running Linux or are a programmer, people have long ago, and with good reason, gladly stop using config files and command lines. The average user has never even heard of these.

As I recently suggested to Dr. A, if you want more than a generic bug report, Boinc (Alpha) versions should include an easy to use debug option menu that can be accessed though the GUI. Give the average user a set of usable tools to provide more information. There was no reply. Maybe someone else would have better luck getting a response or action from the devs.

Until then, I will post bug reports here and/or warnings in the most active forum (Seti). What's the use of having a Boinc forum if developers wont look at it and its only use is the same as the projects.

Rant over.

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Boinc V 7.4.36
Win7 i5 3.33G 4GB NVidia 470