New to Einstein@home

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Lee Oyston Out

New to Einstein@home

Post by Lee Oyston Out »

I have started to use my computer CPU power to help search for Gamma rays, I have completed several work pieces, but still my account on Einstein shows as they are all in progress.

I have received no credit for the work completed, nor can I find a list of this. I have only been on Einstein project for 2 days, but the program has been left running constantly for this time.

Do you know if there is a delay in completing and validation of work?

Many thanks
Lee
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UBT - Chris Suddick
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Re: New to Einstein@home

Post by UBT - Chris Suddick »

Lee,

Einstein operates a quorum system which means that two people need to complete the same workunit before any points are awarded. If you go to 'Your Account' at Einstein@Home and click on the 'Tasks' link then you should get a list of all the tasks that have been assigned to you along with the status of each one.

Chris.
UBT - Timbo
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Re: New to Einstein@home

Post by UBT - Timbo »

Hi Lee

As Chris mentioned, (and like most projects) Einstein doesn't issue credits as soon as you return a WU as they depend on at least 2 of the same WU's being returned before the credit is issued.

This can take very little time...or it could take up to a week...it just depends on how quickly your PC has processed the task and how quickly someone else has also processed it.

You can see how your tasks are progressing here:

https://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/results.p ... e=0&appid=

regards
Tim
Lee Oyston Out

Re: New to Einstein@home

Post by Lee Oyston Out »

Thank you for the replies.

I have clicked the link provided by Tim and notice one is now waiting validation.

Thanks for the help

Lee
UBT - Mikee
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Re: New to Einstein@home

Post by UBT - Mikee »

The wingman has only just got to his December 26th work units so it will probably be another week before this one is validated.

Mike
Last edited by UBT - Mikee on Tue Jan 05, 2016 7:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Lee Oyston Out

Re: New to Einstein@home

Post by Lee Oyston Out »

I have a query you may be able to help with.

I installed virtual box so I could run as if separate computers. I attempted to set up the virtual machine and I had no idea how. I am fairly computer savvy, but have never done anything with VB before.

I would appreciate any reply on how to make virtual machines on VB so I can run more projects, I am attempting SETTI and EINSTEIN from BOINC and it only allows so many and a lot are freezing.

Thanks in advance

LEE
UBT - Timbo
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Re: New to Einstein@home

Post by UBT - Timbo »

Hi Lee

Looks like you've got your first Einstein credits - congratulations - may they be the first of many :)

re: VB
I've not set up a working VB system, as I don't have enough RAM on my main PC :(

I can see on the Einstein website here:

https://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/show_host ... d=12160356

...that you have a quad core PC with 8Gb of RAM. That should be enough to run at least a couple of instances of VB.

To be honest both SETI and Einstein have native Windows apps so you don't really need to run them in a VB, as you are using up extra memory and processing power when it's not needed.

Note: VB is really only good to use for CPU tasks - if you are using your GPU on projects (such as SETI and Einstein) then this is best done in Windows native mode and NOT in a VB...as the hardware cannot easily be "controlled" as the GPU has to do work to show a display as well as to perhaps do some crunching...and getting it to work in a VB as well, is really tricky (so I'm told !!)).

However, there are some projects that do need to use VB, such as Atlas, vLHC and CMS - so it might be an idea to add those apps.

So, the idea of VB is that you can run a different OS inside the VB and you can then provide it with specific functions...so on a Win 10 box, you could run another version of Windows or indeed any Linux OS inside a VB. Then you can install *another* copy of BOINC for that specific OS and then add specific projects that can make best use of VB.

(So, in essence you would be running BOINC Manager within Windows, plus another copy of BOINC Manager inside the VB).

See here:

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Guest_OSes

I'm sure there must be another forum member who has a better grasp of how best to use VB, so I'll leave it to them ;).

regards
Tim

PS It might be a good idea if you register on the forum....then you will receive notifications of when your posts have been answered, plus you can browse/post on other sections :)
Lee Oyston Out
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Re: New to Einstein@home

Post by Lee Oyston Out »

Hi Tim and others,

Thanks again for your further reply. I have now registered.

The purpose of me running VB was so I can simultaneously run SETI and EINSTEIN WUs as of present this seems to pose a problem with only one instance of BOINC running. I have enough RAM and CPU speed spare to run several instances, but this is not possible without VB.

The other problem I am facing is work which is saying it is running, but is actually frozen, as in the percentage and time remaining stick and do not decrease/increase. This means the run time is increasing without actually processing the work.

I have given 100% max of my processor, even when in use as I do not run large programs. I hope somebody will be able to assist with these issues as I want to be able to process work much faster to my fullest ability. I now have credit from 2 units and look forward to more.

Thanks again for the support.

Lee
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Re: New to Einstein@home

Post by UBT - Timbo »

Hi Lee

Welcome to the forum :)

The problem you are facing is how much work each CPU core can do at any given time. With a 4 core CPU, the best you can do is to run 4 CPU tasks...and given that you have an Intel 5500 GPU too, then you can also run 1 maybe 2 GPU tasks at the same time as well.

BOINC Manager is easily capable of handling the above workload....but running VB to try and coax MORE work out of the CPU's is using it a bit too much !!

Now, usually, running 4x CPU's at 100% plus (say) 1x GPU would make your PC a bit sluggish, as there's not a lot of CPU "time" left over for the OS to keep things ticking over....and given that the CPU's have to manage both the OS, the GPU, BOINC Manager, plus all the various other tasks (such as checking the I/O system, keyboard and mouse, the hard drive(s), display etc, so, there is a limitation as to what can be achieved.

How many tasks had you been *trying* to run concurrently? How many have you *actually* had running without VB? (BOINC Manager will use any CPU's you have in the PC...so in theory, you could have upto 5 tasks running at the same time).

One other thing: Both SETI and Einstein can use your GPU - but you need to "allow" this in the project preferences on each projects website. I would suggest that you allow Einstein to *only* use your Intel GPU (so basically "untick" the CPU preference on the Einstein website) and on SETI website, only allow CPU tasks.

Then BOINC Manager will only download those specific tasks and you'll find that using the GPU on Einstein will result in much shorter times to completion. (As I saw on your Einstein profile that these FGRP4 tasks are taking between 47,000 and 66,000 seconds - which is a long time !!)

I had another thought. The CPU you have is an Intel i5 5200U - I did a bit of Googling and it looks like this is a CPU designed for laptops. If YOU are using a laptop, be aware that crunching BOINC tasks is very CPU intensive and as such, it is quite possible that doing so on a laptop can easily cause it to overheat...and that isn't so good as laptops are quite restrictive in terms of internal airflow...and it is very possible that the plastic casing of the laptop can get damaged if too much heat is generated. I was personally blamed (going back a few years) by a woman who joined BOINC and ran her laptop very hard and caused the laptop case to buckle....and she thought I was to blame :roll:

regards
Tim
Lee Oyston Out
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Re: New to Einstein@home

Post by Lee Oyston Out »

Wow.

Thanks again for your input Tim. Yes I am running a laptop it is a HP Pavilion (fairly new) model. It's just less that 1 year old. I will follow your instructions setting Einstein to GPU and SETI so CPU. I thought it was taking a while, because when I was doing SETI tasks on a much lower spec laptop last year (December 2014) I was having faster results.

I will change the settings and report back to you after the tasks on these new settings have started. The work currently being run is... 4 Gamma rays running. 1 gamma ray "waiting to start" and 1 astro pulse "waiting to start" the ones running are again not progressing.

Thanks,
Lee
Lee Oyston Out
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Re: New to Einstein@home

Post by Lee Oyston Out »

Just had a look on the preferences page on Einstein and cannot find where to change the CPU/GPU settings. I then went to the SETI page and was faced with the exact same page.

Could you please advise?

Thanks
Lee
UBT - Timbo
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Re: New to Einstein@home

Post by UBT - Timbo »

Hi Lee

OK for Einstein:

Go to:

https://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/

log in to "Your Account"

Click on "Einstein@Home preferences"

then go to bottom on next page and select "Edit preferences"

then "select" only the "Use Intel GPU" tickbox
and "select" only the "Binary Radio Pulsar Search (Arecibo, GPU)" tickbox

Go to bottom of page and "Update preferences"

Then in "BOINC Manager" go to the "Projects" tab click on Einstein so it is highlighted and then click on "Update" on the top left.

That's it.

For SETI, it's pretty much the same, except in the "Preferences" tickbox, only select the "Use CPU" option

SETI is here:

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/index.php

Hope this helps

regards
Tim
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Re: New to Einstein@home

Post by Woodles »

Hi Lee,

Not sure if this is related to the 'freezing' workunits but there is also a tick box in Boinc (and on the project websites) to suspend computation when the computer is in use and another option to suspend operation when the CPU use is above a certain threshold.

If the box is ticked, then all the time you're using the laptop (posting on here for example :) ), Boinc will suspend all work and nothing will progress. Similarly, if the box isn't ticked but the usage threshold is set too low then the same will apply.

Mark
Lee Oyston Out
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Re: New to Einstein@home

Post by Lee Oyston Out »

Thanks again Tim.

I have followed your instructions and reset the settings..

Also just seen your message too Mark I will have a look at this in settings. Thanks Everyone, hopefully I can start to build up some credits.

Lee
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