SETI Sprint Challenge for Timbo 27th-31st March

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi all

This might sound a wee bit cheeky, but I thought I'd ask.

SETI@home is going into hibernation on 31st March 2020 and I'd really like to get to the 10m mark and I'm at 8,002,620 already so I'm 2m shy of hitting this target...and in the time available, I cannot see me getting close using my own resources.

(With the hosts attached to my account at present, I can maybe muster 100k-150k credits per day so, (and assuming SAH makes tasks continuously available) over the next 5 days, I can maybe earn a further 600k, leaving me about 1.4m short - though I do have 1829 tasks "awaiting validation" so, that might earn me another 100k or so?).

So, I thought I'd ask forum members for "donations" of GPU power.

I propose the following:

I can provide you with a "special" SETI XML file, that you copy into your BOINC directory (having made a backup copy of your existing SETI XML file first if it exists).

The "special" XML file contains my "weak account key" that would then allow you to crunch SETI tasks on my account...once attached to my account, I can then set any "donated hosts" to a profile that only allows GPU tasks to be downloaded to your host machine(s).

And then perhaps, with your help, I can hit my target.

Once SETI stop providing tasks, on/after 31st March, you can finish crunching any remaining tasks and then delete the special file and re-instate your current SETI XML file and thats the end of the Sprint. (Of course if you are already crunching SETI tasks, then this request is not aimed at you...).

So, that's the Challenge. I know it's a lot to ask, but I thought that it might be my only chance esp if SETI doesn't come out of hibernation. So,any takers?

And of course, in the future, if you want to achieve a specific target on any project, then the reverse can apply and I would be more than willing to add some credits to your account, so that you reach your target.

regards
Tim

PS: If you feel like sending me a PM, rather than responding to this message then please feel free to do so. ALL donations can/will be made anonymous if required. I'm not asking for CPU donations, as these tasks can take maybe an hour or three and the credits are not particularly rewarding - however GPU tasks take far less time (maybe 5-10 minutes each) and earn similar credits per task (compared to CPUs).

[damienh]

Hey Tim,

I'm happy to do something for you. I tend not to crunch 24/7 on my older GPUs and am not hugely attached to my existing GPU projects otherwise.

I recall that there was some special SETI-optimised BOINC version as well?? That sounds a bit more complicated though.

[UBT - Timbo]

Hey Tim,

I'm happy to do something for you. I tend not to crunch 24/7 on my older GPUs and am not hugely attached to my existing GPU projects otherwise.

I recall that there was some special SETI-optimised BOINC version as well?? That sounds a bit more complicated though.

Hi Damien

Thanks for the message and interest.

There is an optimised SETI application for Windows, that can be found here: http://mikesworld.eu/download.html. There used to be special versions for Linux, but in recent times I believe the project-supplied Linux app works very well.

So, basically one adds the SETI project, to BOINC Manager, then quit BOINC Manager and then run the "Lunatics installer 0.46" exe (which is the latest version). It then interrogates your CPU and GPU hardware in the PC and it installs specific optimised apps for you after which it creates a special app_config.xml file to ensure it will work with the correct apps. You then re-start BOINC Manager and leave it to download tasks.

It is actually very easy to do and highly automated.

(There is of course an optimised BOINC Manager for Linux based hardware - http://www.arkayn.us/lunatics/BOINC.7z - but that's a separate topic). (Useful installation info here: https://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/for ... p?id=83274 ).

I'll ping you a PM with some further info.

regards
Tim

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi all

It's THAT day and SETI@home is likely to stop issuing tasks sometime today.

As of now, the total on my account is showing I have 9,517,892 credits - a mighty jump up from the "start point" on this Challenge (which was 8,002,620).

So great progress has been made and I am (and always will be) extremely grateful to both Mark and Damien for loaning me most of their crunching power in order for this account to have increased its total so quickly over the last few days.

There are a limited number of hours left before SETI goes into hibernation and with luck the target might well be reached...though I don't know when this might happen, as no-one from SAH has actually said how the hibernation will be enacted.

But this little Challenge has been a bit of fun and in these strange days, having some fun is what makes life a little bit more interesting.

regards
Tim

[Woodles]

Hi Tim,

I'm always happy to help out any and all team members with a worthwhile target.

Pity there weren't a few more members signing up for this, it'll be a shame if you miss the target by a few tasks

Mark

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi Tim,

I'm always happy to help out any and all team members with a worthwhile target.

Thanks Mark - generous to a fault !!

Pity there weren't a few more members signing up for this, it'll be a shame if you miss the target by a few tasks

Mark

Perhaps I should have mentioned the "computing fee" I was going to pay in return for assistance? - it was something like £1 per credit, IIRC? (At least that was the amount PM BoJo said he'd arrange to pay me as he said I was "enouraging the masses to stay at home and crunch SETI@home" )

After all, if we're going to bankrupt the country by paying everyone 80% of their salaries and giving handouts to airlines, train companys, and the rest, we might as well include everything and every task - coz every little helps !!

regards
Tim

[Woodles]

Pity there weren't a few more members signing up for this, it'll be a shame if you miss the target by a few tasks

Perhaps I should have mentioned the "computing fee" I was going to pay in return for assistance? - it was something like £1 per credit, IIRC?

I thought there was mention of chocolate Hobnobs? ....

[damienh]

Unless I'm mistaken ... WE MADE IT

My boinc client is showing over 10m for you now Tim! I'll await your confirmation and then roll off this and onto some speculative pre-bunkering for today's sprint announcement.

[Woodles]

Boincstats has Tim at 8,541,343

Seti has Tim at 9,971,944

Never thought of checking the client

10,021,805



I've suspended any SETI tasks that haven't started and gone back to backup projects for now. Say the word Tim and I'll abort these tasks so others can reach their targets from the re-sends.

[UBT - Timbo]

Boincstats has Tim at 8,541,343

Seti has Tim at 9,971,944

Never thought of checking the client

10,021,805



I've suspended any SETI tasks that haven't started and gone back to backup projects for now. Say the word Tim and I'll abort these tasks so others can reach their targets from the re-sends.

Hi Mark

Yup - target reached !!

It had got to 10,084,784 a couple of mins ago so, the target has been reached

WOW - I'm pretty much in a state of shock as to how many credits have been added to the account in just a few days... in the early hours of 26th March I had 8,002,620 credits plus a few pendings....and just a week later the total it is now over 10m....

There are around 3,825 in the "pendings" and 500 in the "inconclusives" so the total will increase anyways so the 2,000 in the "caches" can be let go of I would have thought.

In the meantime, I will make a public "Thank You" to both yourself and Damien from your help with achieving this, as it was fairly obvious it couldn't have been done by my own hosts and I needed some assistance.

re: outstanding tasks.

I'd be tempted to abort any that haven't started yet...as you say, there could be someone else trying to reach a milestone...and with no new tasks likely to be forthcoming, they will fail in their mission. Plus any credits earned on my account are now superfluous, unless we want to aim for 20m !!!!

best regards
Tim

[UBT - Timbo]

I thought there was mention of chocolate Hobnobs? ....

Hi Mark

Would that be one choccy Hobnob biscuit per task or a whole packet per....?

I think we might have to come to some sort of compromise?

How about a free aeroplane? There's some second hand one's parked up at Gatwick that I could offer?

regards
Tim

[Woodles]

Yup - target reached !!

It had got to 10,084,784 a couple of mins ago so, the target has been reached

WOW - I'm pretty much in a state of shock as to how many credits have been added to the account in just a few days... in the early hours of 26th March I had 8,002,620 credits plus a few pendings....and just a week later the total it is now over 10m....

Seems a few people had some free hosts and far too much time on their hands

In the meantime, I will make a public "Thank You" to both yourself and Damien from your help with achieving this, as it was fairly obvious it couldn't have been done by my own hosts and I needed some assistance.

No worries, it's been fun (I'm sure I had some nails at the start of this challenge?)

re: outstanding tasks.

I'd be tempted to abort any that haven't started yet...as you say, there could be someone else trying to reach a milestone...and with no new tasks likely to be forthcoming, they will fail in their mission. Plus any credits earned on my account are now superfluous, unless we want to aim for 20m !!!!

Now your taking the mickey!

Tasks aborted, that's another ~100k credits the rest can fight over.

Regards,

[Woodles]

Would that be one choccy Hobnob biscuit per task or a whole packet per....?

Perhaps I should have mentioned the "computing fee" I was going to pay in return for assistance? - it was something like £1 per credit, IIRC?

We were talking in terms of per credit

I thought I'd heard that Tesco had relaxed their item buying limits?

How about a free aeroplane? There's some second hand one's parked up at Gatwick that I could offer?

I haven't got an airplane, might have to extend the garage though but luckily petrol is relatively cheap now so it shouldn't be a problem filling it up.

[UBT - Timbo]

We were talking in terms of per credit

Hi Mark

oops - my bad.... I wasn't trying to pull the wool over your eyes - but it takes me an hour or two to fully wake up...

I thought I'd heard that Tesco had relaxed their item buying limits?

Damn...

I haven't got an airplane, might have to extend the garage though but luckily petrol is relatively cheap now so it shouldn't be a problem filling it up.

You won't get far on filling a plane up with PETROL !!

But I know of a firm based in NE Scotland who have some workers with nothing to do...so they can lay a nice pipeline down the North Sea, then follow the Great Ouse down to Cambridgeshire...then if you can build a refinery in the "extended" garage, then you can have a much fuel as you like...and you can make as many fuel variants as you need to...so some for the plane, some of the car, some for the BBQ...just make sure the Chancellor of the Exchequer doesn't find out as he'll clobber you for fuel duty...

regards
Tim

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi all

So, apparently SETI@home does still have some NEW tasks available, (but in limited numbers) according to this from Eric Korpela last night (abt 9pm UTC on 1st April):

The last chunk of new SETI@home work has gone out. There's still a little astropulse to be split when disk space clears. Beyond that, there's only resends when validation fails.

Thanks for staying 'til the end.

As per this on the SAH message boards

https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_t ... id=2042379

This is obviously a little bit contrary to the original announcement (early March) of the hibernation and the subsequent message (on 3st March) from Eric that said:

As promised, we've stopped the process that puts new data into the queue today. Data distribution will continue until the files shown on the status pages are done. We'll be accepting results and resending results that didn't validate for a while.

https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_t ... id=2042009

So, I might be able to further increase my total credit....11 million maybe LOL !!

regards
Tim

[UBT - PennyQ]

Yup - they are still sending bits of work out! I just got a couple...

02/04/2020 10:58:07 | SETI@home | Sending scheduler request: To fetch work.
02/04/2020 10:58:07 | SETI@home | Requesting new tasks for AMD/ATI GPU
02/04/2020 10:58:09 | SETI@home | Scheduler request completed: got 2 new tasks
02/04/2020 10:58:11 | SETI@home | Started download of 26mr20ae.11830.13155.11.38.165
02/04/2020 10:58:11 | SETI@home | Started download of 09no11ae.16923.95748.7.34.250
02/04/2020 10:58:16 | SETI@home | Finished download of 26mr20ae.11830.13155.11.38.165
02/04/2020 10:58:16 | SETI@home | Finished download of 09no11ae.16923.95748.7.34.250

Penny

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi Penny

Yup - there wil be some resends being sent out - tasks that never completed before their specific deadline or aborted tasks.

So, there's still a chance to improve one's total credit, but work will slowly dry up, maybe over the next month or two, as some of the deadlines were going into late June,

If they are not crunched/returned, they will be sent out again maybe early July ?

Hey, maybe we can do a "SETI Sprint for Penny" to get you up to the 1 million mark ?

regards
Tim

[Woodles]

Hey, maybe we can do a "SETI Sprint for Penny" to get you up to the 1 million mark ?

I'll sign up to that

Have to get it set up soon though or they'll be no work available.

[UBT - PennyQ]

Thanks for the offer, but I am not too fussed about credits and I am sure that everyone's computing power can be better spent on more worthwhile stuff at the moment!
Penny

[Woodles]

Fair enough Penny, thanks for the response.