I've been using BIONIC manager for a while now and have found a few features that would be helpful in addition to those which have already been suggested.

1. cpu/gpu meter. Have a meter built in on a separate tab that can track cpu, gpu, ram usage as well as hardware temperatures. Also, a preference that can slow/stop processing if temperatures get too high.

2. Task Info. It would be nice to have another meta data field that allows projects to post a quick summary of what each specific process task is. Something like "Computing prime numbers in the range x to y". I'm not sure if all projects would post this information, but it would be nice to see if some would. I like to know where my power is going specifically.

3. Previous tasks. Have an option in the tasks page that shows completed tasks. Don't keep all of the data from the task on disk, but just the meta data and perhaps a completion report.

4. Compute hours. Showing me how many credits I've earned per task is great because I can see what projects my power is going to. But credits seam to be somewhat an arbitrary number. I would love to also be able to see some more technical number. Something like FLOPS, or CPU hours, or CPU cycles.

Oh and one more suggestion. A temporary speed limits option. That way if I want to watch a movie or play a game, I can restrict BIONIC jobs until I'm done.

1. cpu/gpu meter. Have a meter built in on a separate tab that can track cpu, gpu, ram usage as well as hardware temperatures. Also, a preference that can slow/stop processing if temperatures get too high.

Very difficult to do, since the source code for BOINC, and thus BOINC Manager, is cross-platform the same. This means that with the same source code you can compile the software for Windows, Linux and Macintosh, without too many workarounds and additives.

When there's anything in the client or the manager that needs to rely on a operating system's method of measuring things, an external library file or an application programming interface (API), like is the case with your request, then it cannot be easily done. It'll be more hassle than it is worth.

In the mean time, please check out Fred's BOINC Tthrottle, which can do the temperatures at least. Windows Process Explorer can do quite a bit of the rest you ask for.

2. Task Info. It would be nice to have another meta data field that allows projects to post a quick summary of what each specific process task is. Something like "Computing prime numbers in the range x to y". I'm not sure if all projects would post this information, but it would be nice to see if some would. I like to know where my power is going specifically.

If it can be done, it's probably better to ask the project to do so and for them to provide a button to a web-site showing that info. It's not easy to get all projects to follow the exact same information fields in the database. They don't even all use the same database.

3. Previous tasks. Have an option in the tasks page that shows completed tasks. Don't keep all of the data from the task on disk, but just the meta data and perhaps a completion report.

You can find information about past tasks at the project's web site, under your account, your tasks. Alternatively, there are third party Software Add-Ons that can store all that information. Look at BOINCLogX for instance.

4. Compute hours. Showing me how many credits I've earned per task is great because I can see what projects my power is going to. But credits seam to be somewhat an arbitrary number. I would love to also be able to see some more technical number. Something like FLOPS, or CPU hours, or CPU cycles.

This is a project thing. But I'll see what the developers think of this one.

David: Credits are proportional to FLOPS: http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Computation_credit

We store only credit in the DB, not elapsed time or CPU time.
I suppose we could show FLOPS alongside credit, but I think this would in general be confusing.

A temporary speed limits option. That way if I want to watch a movie or play a game, I can restrict BIONIC jobs until I'm done.

Is already possible. Please see the <exclusive_app> and <exclusive_gpu_app> options in the client configuration (cc_config.xml) file. See this FAQ for examples of its use.

By the way, there's an edit button on your posts on this forum. You can edit your post up to one hour after you posted something.

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1. I see how the cpu meter could be a bit more work. However it could be done. Unfortunately those tools you suggested are only for windows, not linux.

2. Task info is the item on this list that I really am looking for. Is there somewhere else I should suggest this? Perhaps on each of the projects forums that I process jobs for?

3. I've already looked at my past tasks on the individual websites. It just seams obvious to put it all in 1 place in the manager app. Then I don't have to check all 6 of my project sites. But now that you are saying there is so much inconsistency in the databases, I'm not sure if this is possible unless the BOINC manager logs stuff itself.

4. I hope they do implement some sort of more technical number to show me how much processing I'm doing.

5. Those config options are really neat and I will have to play with them a bit. But in addition, I think a simple one-click-does-all button to limit/stop processing would be great. I know I can suspend processing on the activity menu. But I would like to just reduce it while doing things, not totally kill it. It would also be nice to have the button in the task bar menu for quick access.

Thanks for the quick reply

Half the bill can be filled with BOINCTasks [see sticky thread on forum]. You could use that tool to export data and massage it in a spreadsheet, or request Fred to add subtotals. I've long time ago asked him to also store the net efficiency of completed jobs (CPU time as fraction of Elapsed time), for that tells how well a host performs on each science and what project.

edit: BT runs on all 3 main platforms... got it effortlessly running on Linux too (uses Wine)

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Regarding point 1, there is a Windows product called SIV that one of the guys is looking for testers over at Seti. See this message for details. There are some screen shots about half-way down.

As Jord has pointed out this is not something BOINC can do easily and still be cross-platform. SIV is a Windows-only program, but it may provide something useful for you.

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MarkJ

A small modification I would like to see is in the show active tasks tab. Could this be modified to also show completed but unreported tasks? I love the slimmed down nature of the tab, but oftentimes tasks sit unreported without the somewhat cumbersome switching back and forth to check.

Tasks ready to report aren't active tasks. Want to see these? Switch to viewing all tasks. Active tasks are only those Running, Suspended and "Ready to run". Not Aborted, Ready to start, Ready to report, Uploading or Downloading.

Tasks will be reported automatically at:
1) 24 hours before deadline
2) Connect Every X before deadline.
3) 24 hours after task completion.
4) Immediately if the upload completes later than either 1, 2, or 3 upon completion of the task.
5) On a trickle up message (CPDN only, I believe).
6) On a trickle down request.
7) On a server scheduled connection. Used, but I am not certain by which project.
8) On a request for new work.
9) When the user pushes the update button.
10) On a request from an account manager.
11) Report immediately every task, if "No new Task" is set. (6.12.33+)

When they aren't, you either have your network activity disabled, or you have a bug in BOINC. Then it would be prudent to know which version of BOINC you have, which project it is for, whether or not that project is actually up, etc.

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Thanks for the reply and all the great reporting info, Ageless. Allow me to phrase my request another way. Would it be reasonable to change the nomenclature of the "show active tasks" tab to something like "show current tasks" or something similar and include therein tasks that are completed yet not reported? From a project perspective, a task is current until reported. Tasks that have not yet started should be excluded---these could still be seen in the "show all tasks" tab.